POLISH FILM ACADEMY

Born on July 17, 1937 in Małkinia Górna. He studied at the Faculty of Chemistry of Warsaw University of Technology, at the Department of Processing at the School of Life Sciences, at the Faculty of Drawing and Handiwork in Teachers College, and the Acting Department of the State Higher School of Theatre in Warsaw (extra-mural exam passed in 1964). He worked as a labourer in a chocolate factory, a cloakroom attendant and a bodyguard at the student club Stodoła. He is an actor, director, writer, comedian, and columnist. He collaborated with the Student Satirical Theatre (STS) and the Dudek cabaret. In 1984-1986, he was the director of Dramatyczny Theatre in Elblag.

He has a cult following ever since his role as the cultural coordinator in Rejs/The Cruise (1970) by Marek Piwowski, a mock-documentary and heavily improvised observational study of a boat cruise on the river Vistula and its passengers; it has become a powerful metaphor of life in a communist country. Before that, he had cameo roles in several major films: Nikt nie woła/Nobody's Calling (1960) by Kazimierz Kutz, as well as Walkower/Walkover (1965) and Bariera/Barrier (1966) by Jerzy Skolimowski. His close cooperation with Stanisław Bareja started with Tym’s minor role in the director’s Poszukiwany, poszukiwana/Man-Woman Wanted. Especially noteworthy are two of his roles: in Co mi zrobisz, jak mnie złapiesz/What Will You Do When You Catch Me? (1978), he was the Deputy Director and the driver for the Polish Embassy in Paris, and in Miś/The Bear (1980) – Ryszard Ochódzki, president of the sports club Tęcza [Rainbow] and his doppelganger, the coalman Stanisław Paluch. Both films are without a doubt some of the best comedies, depicting the grotesque communist system of the People’s Republic of Poland. He reprised his role as Ryszard Ochódzki in two more films which he wrote himself: Rozmowy kontrolowane/Call Controlled (1991), the first comedy to address martial law – the story of how a thoroughbred representative of the communist nomenclatura becomes a hero of the underground Solidarity movement – and Ryś (2007), a sequel of sorts to Miś/The Bear. The first film was directed by Bareja. This time, Tym worked on both sides of the camera.

In 1997, Izabella Kittel shot a documentary devoted to the artist, titled Tym bardziej.