Englert, Jan

(1943-)

   Distinguished and well-liked film and theater actor, theater director, and teacher at the Warsaw State Acting School (PWST). Englert appeared in approximately eighty films and in numerous television series. His film debut, at the age of fourteen, took place in Andrzej Wajda's Kanal (1957). Later, some of his best roles were in Jan Lomnicki's films. He played underground fighters in his war dramas Contribution (1966) and The Action Near the Arsenal (1978), a troubled young man in the psychological film The Slide (1972), and a charming crook in The Big Giveway (1992) and in its continuation The Rat (1995), the latter also coscripted by Englert. Arguably, one of his best performances was in the role of a filmmaker in a popular Polish series The House (1980-2000), also directed by Łomnicki. Englert also did extremely well in films by Kazimierz Kutz, playing the insurgent and coal miner Erwin Malin-iok in Salt of the Black Earth (1970) and The Pearl in the Crown (1972). In addition, Englert appeared in Janusz Morgenstern's films, including one of the leading roles in popular television series Columbuses (1970) and supporting parts in Kill That Love (1972) and Smaller Sky (1980). The handsome, popular Englert usually was typecast as a passionate, sensitive, and good-natured man. He played such a lead character in Włodzimierz Haupe's adaptation Dr. Judym (Doktor Judym, 1975) and in Jerzy Trojan's psychological study Hidden in the Sun (Ukryty w słońcu, 1980). His other notable performances include roles in Filip Bajon's The Magnate (1987), Janusz Zaorski's Baritone (1985) and Soccer Poker (1989), and Juliusz Machulski's Kiler (1997) and Kiler 2 (1999).

   Historical Dictionary of Polish Cinema by Marek Haltof