Hubner, Zygmunt

(1930-1989)

   Accomplished theatrical and film actor, film and theater director, teacher at the State Acting School (PWST) in Warsaw since 1970, playwright, and author of several books on theater. After graduating from PWST in 1952, Hubner became associated with a number of theaters. He debuted in cinema playing episodic roles (not credited) as German officers in Stanisław Rozewicz's Free City (1958) and Leonard Buczkowski's The Submarine Eagle (1959). His first major role was in Witold Lesiewicz's contemporary drama One Position (1966), followed by the role of Major Henryk Sucharski in Stanisław Rozewicz's war drama Westerplatte (1967). Later Hubner often played figures of authority—army and militia officers, prosecutors, and party apparatchiks—and became known for portraying the psychological depth of his characters. For example, he played Captain Siwy, a militia officer who searches for justice after his retirement, in Janusz Majewski's The Criminal Who Stole a Crime (1969) and an army officer, Major Niwiński, in Jerzy Passen-dorfer's Operation "Brutus" (1970). He acted as a medical doctor in Majewski's The Gorgon Affair (1977), in Edward Zebrowski's The Hospital of Transfiguration (1979), and as the dean of the medical department in Krzysztof Kieslowski's Blind Chance (1981). He also played a prosecutor in Andrzej Trzos-Rastawiecki's The Convicted (1976) and party apparatchiks in Roman Zahiski's Rust (Rdźa, 1982) and Ryszard Ber's The Four-Star Hotel (Hotel klasy Lux, 1979).

   In 1969 Hubner started his directorial career with the medium-length television film What Is Inside a Man (Co jest w człowieku w środku). In 1971 he produced another television film, The Chase (Gonitwa), and in 1972 a feature called Sex-Teens (Seksolatki), depicting a teenage love story within a harsh environment. In the 1980s, Hubner appeared mostly in television films, as in Hanka Włodarczyk's Ivy (Blusźcź, 1984) and Stanisław Jedryka's I Died to Live (1984). His last screen appearance was in 1988 in the television production No Man's Field (Pole niczyje, Jan Błeszyński). Apart from being an acclaimed theatrical actor, since 1974 Hubner had been the head of Popular Theater (Teatr Powszechny) in Warsaw, which was later named after him (Teatr Powszechny im. Zygmunta Hubnera).

   Historical Dictionary of Polish Cinema by Marek Haltof