“Rococo stick to your eye.” He didn’t want to be an actor at all, but a pilot. Then the mother stepped in

On January 916, 1980, TVP showed the first episode of the series “Dom” – one of the most significant and memorable drama productions that hit Polish screens in those years. The plot focused on the inhabitants of a tenement house on Złota Street, who return to war-ruined Warsaw and try to make a life for themselves in a new, communist reality.

“House”. The role of Henio was created with Buczkowski in mind

The excellent documentary filmmaker Jan Łomnicki was responsible for directing, and Jerzy Janicki and Andrzej Mularczyk for the screenplay. Both at this stage already had a lot of experience in creating radio reports. This allowed them to learn about real human stories, which in turn translated into the ability to create believable, full-blooded heroes. For years, Janicki was also the author of the popular radio play “Matysiakowie”, and Mularczyk, in turn, wrote the radio play “W Jezioranach”. Today, it can be safely assumed that they were both precursors in the field of creating a family saga – something that modern series and soap operas still draw on today.

It is also worth adding that “Home” was realized over a total of 20 years. The first installment of the series was shot by the team from 1979 to 1982 – shooting was interrupted due to the imposition of martial law. The project returned to the project in 1996, the last episodes hit the air in December 2000. This break in production sometimes led to somewhat absurd situations. For example, in the mid-1990s, Daniel Olbrychski played a much younger version of himself. In the plot of the episode “You won’t run away from love”, which was made in 1996, there is a thread about Danusia, Andrzej Talar’s goddaughter, who comes to Warsaw to apply to the University of Warsaw. Instead of taking the exam, she goes to the cinema to watch a movie with Daniel Olbrychski, whom she loves passionately. Danusia even manages to get into the actor’s theater dressing room, where he gives her an autographed photo – a photo from his youth. There is some leap. It is worth noting that Danusia was played by Magdalena Stużyńska, who became very popular only two years later thanks to the role of Marcysia in “Złotopolskie”.

Zbigniew Buczkowski and Magdalena Stużyńska in 2002 photo. Bartłomiej Sowa / Agencja Wyborcza.pl

“Home” is both a production covering a piece of Polish history and an important chapter in the history of Polish television. Viewers really deeply experienced the fate of the characters from the series: Talars, Popiołków, Lermaszewskis and Wrotki.

In Halina Szopska’s broadcast in 1985, Andrzej Mularczyk said: – My author’s temperament has always been searching for individual dramas, human dramas, human fates. The series “Dom” was a proposal from Janusz Gazda from the Film Office of Telewizja Polska, who inspired us to write a series about Warsaw in a certain intimate shot. And the case began – as usual in my case – with the documentation. Getting back into what was then – in 1945, 1946, 1947, 1949 – is important. So, whole weeks spent over the staples of “Życie Warszawy”, “Rzeczpospolita” and newspapers from that period, in order to gather some material that could be the foundation of the lives of future heroes – he recalled.

Zbigniew Buczkowski in the series ‘Dom’ ‘Home’, prod. TVP, dir. J. Lomnicki (1982-00)

Together with Janicki, they managed to create a multidimensional image of Polish reality – the inhabitants of the tenement house are representatives of various environments, behaviors and characters thrown into the post-war turmoil. Of course, it was also very important who played these characters, because without convincing actors, little could be achieved. The main roles were played by Jan Englert, Tomasz Borkowy, Jerzy Bończak, Zbigniew Buczkowski, Halina Rowicka and Hanna Lachman.

Henio Lermaszewski, played by Zbigniew Buczkowski, was undoubtedly one of the viewers’ favorites. He was a classic Warsaw dodger who would be able to make a deal with anyone. In addition, he poured out excellent texts, which viewers remember fondly even years later: “My dad says that only the authorities have a clear conscience, because it is unused”, “Let mommy be calm! He’s such a man like a reisentasche mouse ass! “, “New year, new secretary, new Lermaszewski”, “Rocococo stick in your eye”, “Let him take this case, daddy knows where, to the directorate of tram bells” – these are only some of them.

After all, you can’t forget about issues such as: “The ball is over, Miss Lalu!”, “He has already (once) let his wife go to London and what? Now he has a child in the color of Wedel”, “How could I know that he was such a Pękalski?He is such a hero, like a stallion made of cancer, “If someone did something to someone, it was not much, but always, and if nobody did anything to anyone, he would shit naked on the corner of the barn.”

Buczkowski himself said that this character was written especially for him: “As for the role of Henia Lermaszewski, it was written with me in mind from the beginning. It was invented by Andrzej Mularczyk, whom we knew. He said it would be a cool character and he was not wrong,” he revealed in an interview with cafesernior.pl.

He also did not hide that he had a lot in common with his hero. In an interview with Dziennik Łódzki, he mentioned:

Heniek was a clever and resourceful man. He could arrange everything. I got something from this Henka. I’m also resourceful, I like tinkering. I’m even a bit of a handyman. If something breaks down at home, I try to fix it myself first, then call a professional.

Andrzej Mularczyk undoubtedly had a nose, because Zbigniew Buczkowski was already one of the most characteristic Polish actors in the 1980s, although he did not get into acting school (because a place was needed for a party child in the year) and he passed the professional exam externally. But acting was destined for him, although as a child he wanted to become a pilot.

Zbigniew Buczkowski. The actor has an unusual biography

Zbigniew Buczkowski was born on March 20, 1951 in Warsaw as the middle child of Zdzisław and Marianna. They both worked for the Polish airline LOT – dad was a professional pilot. However, the actor never really met his father. He was eight months old when, on November 15, 1951, the plane of the Polish Airlines LOT Lisunow Li-2 crashed near Tuszyn. The plane crashed shortly after takeoff. Zbigniew then wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a pilot – his mother was categorically against it.

It is not without significance that the Buczkowski family lived near the film studio on Chełmska Street in Warsaw. Zbigniew has been hanging around various film sets since the age of 12; he started out as an extra. In an interview for Dziennik Łódzki, he recalled his beginnings as an actor:

My neighbor took me there with her son Andrzej, my peer, for extras. I really liked pretending. Besides, I was getting paid a lot of money for such a small child for this statistic. I remember when I went to buy chocolate candies for my colleagues, I made them a banquet in the yard. Then I collected money for a bike that was my dream.

I gave the money to my mother, who was my bank. I wrote down in a notebook how many there are. I went to see this bike to the shop at ul. Nowowiejska. It was a Jaguar, with a beautiful Campagnolo derailleur. Every boy’s dream! And finally, this cycling bike became my property.

How Zbigniew Buczkowski Became Jackie Kennedy’s Bodyguard

Eventually, he enrolled in a mechanical and electrical technical school in Warsaw, which he graduated from, but he never worked in his profession. In 1971, he also became an accidental hero. The circumstances were quite unusual: the widow of the late US president, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, flew to Poland for the funeral of Edmund Ferdynand Radziwiłł, who was her brother-in-law’s brother. Her arrival was quite a sensation, so when the funeral service was held in the church, huge crowds of onlookers gathered in front of the building and the gates of the cemetery. Jacqueline Kennedy was surprised by the situation and decided to run quickly through the potato field. It was then that Zbigniew Buczkowski went into action. In one of the interviews, he recalled this event:

There was a potato field around the cemetery, and Jacqueline suddenly walked out of the gate alone, I don’t know why to this day. A crowd had gathered around her, and she looked lost and confused. Then I stepped in.

I shouted for people to move aside. I walked over to her and grabbed her arm. Walking with her on this potato field, I heard one of the Radziwiłłs shout: To the tram!, which just arrived. I pointed to the door, said: Madame, please!

He was only a high school graduate at the time. Cinema soon followed suit. In 1972, Buczkowski made his big screen debut with the role of a waiter in Janusz Kondratiuk’s famous film “Girls to Take”. It was such an important experience for him that he decided to devote himself to acting and apply to acting school. He was also such a characteristic character that many directors willingly invited him to participate in subsequent productions. He played episodes in such productions as “Dog”, “Hubal”, “Heads full of stars”, “Little matter”, “Addiction”, “Excuse me, are they beating here?”, “Is there a married woman here?”. Then came the main role in “Rebus” by Tomasz Zygadło, and then there were performances in such productions as “Wściekły”, “Miś”, “White Tango”, “Man of Iron”, “Amnesty”, “Mother of Kings” or “Emergency Exit”. “.

Why didn’t he study at acting school? “Suddenly, I was called by Maria Kaniewska, the dean, and Jadwiga Chojnacka, who said: ‘We have some bad news for you. Son, we will not accept you this year, we got you a theater in Jelenia Góra. But next year you will pass and we will accept you for second year’. I didn’t understand any of it. I had 25 films to my credit. I got an A from the film scene in the exam. What happened then? Someone just had an uncle minister and one vacancy was needed. people were hired to work or study over the phone,” he said years later in an interview with “Super Express”.

In 1986, on the advice of Jan Himilsbach, he passed the extramural exam and continued to act in films, but as a professional actor. Among other things, he appeared in such productions as “Kill Me Cop”, “Mr. Kleks in Space”, “Porno”, “Escape from the Freedom Cinema”, “Agata’s Abduction”, “Controlled Conversations”, “Nothing Funny”, “Night Grafitti”, “13 outpost” or “Gold of Deserters”. At the end of the 1990s, he became particularly recognizable among the younger generation of viewers for his main role in the sitcom “Graczykowie” and its continuation “Graczykowie, or Buła i co.”, as well as his participation in “Holy War”. In 2007, he joined the cast of “Colors of Happiness”, and 10 years later he took the lead role in the production of “Lombard. Life under collateral”.