The artist was born in a poor family. There was so little money in the Nehrebecki house that Władysław and his older sister ended up in an orphanage of the Felician Sisters. After the outbreak of the war, he worked hard as a forced laborer in the extraction of oil in Germany, and after the war he still could not afford to realize his greatest dream – studying at the Academy of Fine Arts. Fortunately, the creator did not give up and was noticed by the Katowice magazine “Nowy Świat Przygód”, where he began to publish comics such as “Bicz Południa” or “Przesław znad Odry”. He soon expanded his passion and became interested in animation. Soon, together with a group of friends, he founded the Animated Film Studio.
He was called the Polish Walt Disney, but his life did not resemble a fairy tale
Here, too, he encountered obstacles. Nehrebecki’s directorial debut – the animated film “Traktor A1” was a flop. The battle-hardened draftsman did not give up, swallowed the defeat and carried out new projects. This time with a satisfactory result. Thanks to the animations “Kimsobo the Traveler” or the title “Kitten and Mouse”, the studio has gained great popularity also outside of Poland.
The year 1962 turned out to be a breakthrough in Nehrebecki’s career. At that time, the artist prepared the first episode of the series “Bolek i Lolek”. The fairy tale turned out to be a phenomenon and ensured the creator popularity and a stable job, which he held until the end of his days. For 23 years, 150 episodes of the series, two feature films were created, and the adventures of two boys were watched by over a billion viewers around the world. The Great Journey of Bolek and Lolek was the first full-length animated film in Polish history. To this day, no one has managed to break the production record – 9 million viewers.
“Bolek i Lolek” really existed. Władysław Nehrebecki found inspiration in his own home
On the artist’s fanpage, a recording from an old interview with Nehrebecki was posted, which told about the process of creating Bolek and Lolek. It turns out that the cult animation owes a lot to the series “The Adventures of William Tell”. “The first film with Bolek and Lolek was based on children’s observations after receiving the series. Back then, crossbows were constructed, these crossbows were fired, windows were broken, there were even cases of bodily injury and I raised the topic of how not to use this children’s crossbow. Gags emerged, he multiplied them, which appealed to the audience of the film” – said Nehrebecki, who also noted that he received an award at one of the festivals for the production, which motivated the creators to continue working on the character’s adventures.
The prototypes of “Bolek i Lolek” were Nehrebecki’s sons, Roman and Jan. In an interview with “Wysokie Obcasy”, the former recalled: I was a small, calm fat man. My brother, on the other hand, was tall, thin, feisty. We played William Tell, Zorro, Robin Hood, Robinson, because their adventures were on TV. Dad was watching us and one day he decided to make a film about the adventures of two boys with opposite personalities.
Although Nehrebecki’s successes indicated a well-deserved peace of mind and were supposed to compensate for the difficult beginnings, the artist’s life did not spare him to the end. He had to say goodbye to his beloved wife, Maria, fight for the copyrights to his characters and face infectious jaundice. He soon remarried. He died in 1978 at the age of 55 with numerous awards and decorations as a legendary Polish artist and animator. On June 14, 2023, he would have celebrated his 100th birthday.
Source: Gazeta
Bruce is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment . He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
