POLISH FILM ACADEMY

Real name: Bogdan Eugène Junod. Born on December 28, 1899 in Geneva, Switzerland (sometimes Warsaw or Lodz are also given as his place of birth), died on October 7, 1943 in Kotlas near Kirov in the Arkhangelsk Oblast (then in USSR).

Actor, screenwriter, director, producer. One of the most popular actors of the interwar period. He came from a family with firm cinema tradition: his father was a manager of several film theatres and a cabaret. At eighteen, he made his debut in Poznan's “Apollo” theatre. After appearing on stage in Lodz and Lublin, he was hired by Warsaw’s “Qui Pro Quo” theatre. Until 1939, he performed on some of the best stages in Warsaw.

When he made his debut on screen in Rywale/Rivals by Henryk Szaro, he was already a star. A great entertainer, dancer and gifted singer, blessed with a warm voice, he used his musical skills in film, performing the most famous Polish film songs (“Baby, ach te baby” [Women, Those Women], “Tyle miłości” [So Much Love], “Już taki jestem zimny drań” [I’m Such a Cold Scoundrel], “Seksapil to nasza broń kobieca” [Sex Appeal Is the Weapon Us Women Use] , “Umówiłem się z nią na dziewiątą” [I Asked Her Out At Nine], “Okey”).

He played very diverse roles, in comedies but also in thrillers and dramas, as well as in historical films. He infused the characters he played with his own charm that won the hearts of female leads – and the audience – in romance films and comedies, but he could also give that very quality a sinister edge in his roles as a villain (which, by the way, Bodo played with great relish).

Acting was not his only ambition. At the beginning of the 1930s, Bodo took up a career as a screenwriter (Głos pustyni/Voice of the Desert, Bezimienni bohaterowie/Nameless Heroes, Pieśniarz Warszawy/ The Singer of Warsaw, Czarna perła/Black Pearl, Bohaterowie Sybiru/ Heroes of Siberia, Piętro wyżej/Upstairs) and producer: in 1931, together with Adam Brodzisz and Michał Waszyński, he founded the BWB Film Studio, and two years later – his own “Urania” Film Company. In 1938, he directed two films: Za winy niepopełnione/For Crimes Uncomitted and Królowa przedmieścia./Queen of the Suburbs. The making of the third film – Uwaga, szpiedzy!/Beware of Spies! – was interrupted by the war.

After the outbreak of the war, Bodo, fearing reprisals for his participation in anti-fascist cabaret performances, fled to Lvov. There, he performed at the Theatre of Miniatures and sang with Henryk Wars’s “Tea-Jazz” band. Four days after the German attack on the Soviet Union, on June 26, 1941, Bodo was arrested by the NKVD. Paradoxically, his Swiss citizenship proved to be his undoing: the amnesty for Polish prisoners under the Sikorski-Maisky treaty did not apply to him and the interventions of the Polish Embassy were ignored by the Soviets. The actor was accused of espionage and sentenced to five years in a labour camp (GULAG), where he died, plagued by many diseases, hunger and exhaustion.

Magda Sendecka