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Photo of Zbigniew Cybulski

Zbigniew Cybulski

Actor, Writer
Born November 3, 1927Died January 8, 1967 (39 years)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Zbigniew Cybulski Polish pronunciation: [ˈzbiɡɲɛf t͡sɨˈbulskʲi] (November 3, 1927 – January 8, 1967) was a Polish actor, one of the best-known and most popular personalities of the post-World War II history of Poland.

Zbigniew Cybulski was born November 3, 1927 in a small village of Kniaże near Śniatyń, Poland (now a part of Sniatyn Raion, Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, Ukraine). After World War II he joined the Theatre Academy in Kraków. He graduated in 1953 and moved to Gdańsk, where he made his stage debut in Leon Schiller's Wybrzeże Theatre. Also, with his friend Bogumił Kobiela, Cybulski founded a famous student theatre, the Bim-Bom. In the early 1960s, Cybulski moved to Warsaw, where he shortly joined the Kabaret Wagabunda. He also appeared on stage at the Ateneum Theatre, one of the most modern and least conservative Warsaw-based theatres of the epoch.

However, Cybulski is best remembered as a screen actor. He first appeared in a 1954 film Kariera as an extra. His first major role came in 1958, when he played in Kazimierz Kutz's Krzyż Walecznych. The same year he also appeared as one of the main characters in Andrzej Wajda's Ashes and Diamonds and Aleksander Ford's The Eighth Day of the Week based on a short story by Marek Hłasko. From then on Cybulski was seen as one of the most notable actors of the Polish Film School and one of the "young and wrathful", as his generation of actors were called at the time.

His most famous films, apart from Ashes and Diamonds, include Wojciech Has' The Saragossa Manuscript. He also acted in numerous television plays, including some based on works by Truman Capote, Anton Chekhov and Jerzy Andrzejewski.

Cybulski died in an accident at a Wrocław Główny railway station on January 8, 1967, on his way from the film set. As he jumped on the speeding train (as he often did), he slipped on the steps, fell under the train, and was run over. Before the accident he said goodbye to Marlene Dietrich, a personal friend of his, who was a passenger on the train. He was buried in Katowice.

Known For

  • Ashes and Diamonds
  • The Saragossa Manuscript
  • Night Train
  • Salto
  • Goodbye, See You Tomorrow
  • How to Be Loved
  • A Generation
  • Innocent Sorcerers
  • Giuseppe in Warsaw
  • The Eighth Day of the Week
  • La poupée
  • Ich dzien powszedni
  • To Love
  • Milczenie
  • Three Starts

Filmography

1967
Jovita · as Edward Księżak
1967
1967
Cala naprzód · as Janek
1966
Szyfry · as Maciek
1966
Mistrz · as Director
1966
Jutro Meksyk · as Paweł Jańczak
1965
Sam posród miasta · as Konrad Ferenc
1965
War at Home (TV Series) · as Bystander
1965
Salto · as Kowalski Malinowski
1965
Pingwin · as Łukasz
1965
The Saragossa Manuscript · as Alfonse Van Worden
1964
Giuseppe in Warsaw · as Staszek
1964
To Love · as Fredrik
1964
Rozwodów nie bedzie · as Gruszka (segment 3)
1963
Milczenie · as Roman
1963
Zbrodniarz i panna · as Jan Ziętek
1963
Ich dzien powszedni · as Andrzej Siennicki
1963
How to Be Loved · as Wiktor Rawicz
1962
La poupée · as Col. Prado Roth / The Rebel
1962
Love at Twenty · as Zbyszek (segment "warszawa")
1961
Rozstanie · as Famous Actor
1960
Innocent Sorcerers · as Edmund
1960
1959
Night Train · as Staszek
1959
Krzyz Walecznych · as Tadeusz Więcek
1958
Ashes and Diamonds · as Maciek Chełmicki
1958
The Eighth Day of the Week · as Piotr Terlecki
1957
Koniec nocy · as Romek Brzozowski
1957
Wraki · as Rafał Grabień
1955
Three Starts · as Mietek Leśniak
1955
A Generation · as Kostek

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