He played John Pawlak in “Themselves”. Few fans know that he is the Polish champion

Zdzisław Karczewski was born on March 23, 1903 in Warsaw. He was interested in art from an early age, but initially he had no future in it. His passion was Because he was tall and had a slim figure, he started training in athletics, in which he achieved success again and again.

Zdzisław Karczewski made a career in athletics. He gave up his sporting passion for acting

At the age of 20, he became the Polish champion in the 800 meters run and in the 4 × 400 m relay. Later, he was the vice-champion three times, and then was honored with bronze medals the same number of times. Participation in the 2nd Academic World Championships in Warsaw was also a success, where he received a silver medal in the Olympic relay. However, he did not decide to continue his sports career because his dreams of trying his hand at the stage turned out to be stronger and he finally put everything on one card.

After successfully passing his high school final exams, he began training at the Dramatic Department of the State Conservatory of Music in Warsaw, which he successfully completed in 1925. For the next almost 15 years he performed mainly on stage, including: Polish and National in Warsaw, Municipal in Łódź, named after Juliusz Słowacki in Krakow and Municipal in Vilnius. In the early 1930s, he also received his first screen role in the melodrama “Under Your Defense”. Before the outbreak of the war, he played in three equally popular productions: “Róża” and “Doktór Murek”.

Karczewski’s promising career was interrupted by an explosion. At the beginning of the occupation, he played in public theaters in the capital, but eventually he abandoned this activity. Then he started working as a waiter, and developed his artistic skills on the stage of the underground Theater of Imagination of Tadeusz Bryski, with which he was associated. After the fall of the Warsaw Uprising, he permanently disappeared from the scene because he was deported to Germany for forced labor.

Zdzisław Karczewski played John Pawlak in “Themselves”. What other productions did he appear in?

After the end of the war, he decided to return to Poland and almost immediately took a job at the Polish Radio station in Bydgoszcz. Due to the shortage of actors, he was also offered the same job in Szczecin, thanks to which he could get involved with the local Musical Comedy Theater. He returned to the screens only in 1949 in the drama “Za wami łódźją others” directed by Antoni Bohdziewicz. Later, he created the character of Colonel Tomaszewski in the film “Ogniomistrz Kaleń”, which delighted critics. The following years brought him roles in such productions as “Mrs. Hanka’s Diary”, “Wiano” and (available on ).

The breakthrough in his career was the episodic role of Jasiek-John Pawlak in Sylwester Chęciński’s cult comedy, with which he is still associated today. Although he only appeared on screen for a few minutes, the plot was built around his character. Interestingly, he initially had reservations about his acting and was not thrilled with it. Due to the lack of time for changes in the cast, he turned a blind eye to possible shortcomings, which, however, were not noticed by the audience. In the following years, Karczewski also began to fulfill himself as a director and this is how he met Jadwiga Mayr. In love with a colleague 18 years his junior, he decided to leave his then wife, Wanda, and move to Wrocław. He died on September 30, 1970 at the age of 73.