They believed that Marek Perepeczko was “too pretty” for Janosik. They had another actor to take his place

was born on April 3, 1942 in Warsaw and was a very sickly child. Although as a teenager he towered over his peers in height (he was 190 cm tall), he was very shy. At his father’s insistence, he took up sports – he started in a rowing club, then trained basketball. In addition, he practiced martial arts, swimming, was interested in bodybuilding and weightlifting – he was even predicted a career in this direction. However, he first wanted to be an architect and then decided to pursue acting.

They thought he was “too pretty” for Janosik. They wanted to kick him out of the show

Marek Perepeczko decided to apply for acting school – on the same day he met his future wife, Agnieszka Fitkau. In 1965 he graduated from the acting department of the State Higher School of Theater in Warsaw, and in 1966 he married his beloved. He began his career in the theater, and after playing a soldier in the 1964 short film “Ciemnogród” directed by Konrad Nałęcki, he made his debut on the cinema screen in 1965 with a minor episode in the drama “Popioły” (Ashes). Although he was not mentioned in the final credits, the role was a harbinger of what would bring him the greatest popularity and recognition – then he played the role of a highwayman.

A little later, he gained a lot of sympathy from viewers for his role as Aldek Piwko in the western “Wilcze Echo”, and in 1969 he also appeared in “Pan Wołodyjowski” – he played Adam Nowowiejski, as was the case with the series “Przygody pana Michała”. He played again in Andrzej Wajda’s “The Wedding” in 1972 – there he played the role of Jasiek.

The breakthrough, however, turned out to be the main role in the series directed by Jerzy Passendorfer. However, his wife Agnieszka Fitkau-Perepeczko in 2019 in an interview with “Super Express” that it was close and not her husband would not appear in the cult production at all:

They wanted to throw Marek out of the series <>. It’s hard to believe today, but it’s true. It’s a miracle that he played Janosik.

According to her account, the filmmakers thought that Marek Perepeczko was “too pretty”, and it was also embarrassing for them that he did not speak the dialect. Fitkau-Perepeczko said that it was part of the vision of this character that her husband developed. He did not want Janosik to be considered a primitive, or rather a poetic hero. He also wanted viewers to understand exactly what he was saying on the screen. The other creators were not convinced and were already preparing another actor to replace him – Czesław Jaroszyński. Although Perepeczko felt pressure, he did not give up on his idea and eventually managed to convince the others to his vision. As it turned out later, he was right. So much so that director Jerzy Passendorfer claimed in 1974 that he was writing the title role with him in mind. In an interview with “Filmowy Serwis Prasowy” he said:

While we made the whole film in a comedy convention, we treated Janosik more seriously. To emphasize that he was a thinking, conscious hero, not an adventurer, and to pay homage to a beautiful legend.

Work on the set of “Janosik” began in April 1972 and lasted until March 1973. in the “Białka” reserve, in the Chochołowska Valley, in the castle on Pieskowa Skała, in Nowa Biała. Some of the photos were taken in Warsaw, some were also shot in Czech Prague, in the Ogrodzieniec Castle or in the Slovak Orava Castle. In total, the operators recorded photos for 80,000. oh film strip. Apparently, during the shooting, Perepeczko did not enjoy too much sympathy from his colleagues, because “he did not get drunk and did not romance.” However, his attitude earned him the respect of the highlanders with whom the filmmakers worked on the production.

As a result, a 13-episode series and a cinema film were created, and Janosik even went abroad: the production was shown in East Germany and Mongolia. Perepeczko became a huge star, but he quickly realized that it would be difficult for him to get rid of the highwayman badge. He received few film offers, and those that came were too similar to what he had already done. In the 1980s, he left for Australia with his wife, where he ran a Polish community theater for many years. After some time, he returned to Poland, but still had trouble finding a repertoire that would give him fulfillment. In addition, he missed his wife and began to gain weight quite quickly.

For over 15 years, he has not performed on Polish stages or played in Polish films. Something changed only in the 1990s. In 1997, he became an actor and director of the Teatr im. Adam Mickiewicz in Częstochowa. He also finally took on a role in the series – viewers saw him years later in the “13th Precinct”, where he played Władysław Słoik, a police chief who adored his dog Pershing, who always walked with a cigar in his hand. Soon after, he also shot “Sara” with the director Maciej Ślesicki. In this film, he played the father of the title character, and then in “Pan Tadeusz” directed by Andrzej Wajda, he appeared as Maciej Dobrzyński “Chrzciciel”. His last film productions include “Attractive meets a lady…” and the film and series “Dublerzy”, which was shown after his death. Marek Perepeczko died unexpectedly of a heart attack on the night of November 16/17, 2005 – he was 63 years old. The urn with his ashes was transported from Częstochowa to the family quarters in Warsaw’s Powązki Cemetery.