“What Master ?! Talk to me: God!” Tadeusz £ omnicki died in front of his fifth wife

Tadeusz Łomnicki was undoubtedly one of the most talented Polish actors in history. 82 stage roles, 51 movie roles, 26 roles in television theater productions, 12 theater directors – he was faithful to the play until the very end. He died during the rehearsal for Shakespeare’s King Lear at the Nowy Theater in Poznań. It was then that Maria Bojarska was with him, whom he married after four divorces and ten years together. – Consciously, I became the wife of an artist who was preoccupied with himself, with his work, who did not want a baby, did not want my friends, he only needed me. Theater was his way of life, life was a theater for him and he played all the time – said Bojarska in one of the interviews quoted in the book “Królowie życia w PRL-u”.

Tadeusz Łomnicki wanted to write, but he confused the rooms and so he became an actor

Before becoming an actor, he worked in a bank and in the railroad. During the war, he fought in the troops of the Gray Ranks and the Home Army, and afterwards he passed to the Theater Studio at the Stary Theater in Krakow (apparently he wanted to become a screenwriter, but he mistook the examination rooms!). During his career that lasted several dozen years, he played, among others on the stages of Teatr Śląski in Katowice, Teatr Słowacki in Kraków and Teatr Współczesny in Warsaw, then in Warsaw at the National Theater, Studio and Dramatyczny. He was the founder and first director of Teatr na Woli.

– There are different approaches to the profession. There is a school based on bringing out your own emotions, transferring your sensitivity to the figure, working with your privacy. In the case of great actors, this is an extremely interesting procedure. Such an actor was my professor, Mr. Gustaw Holoubek. He was an absolutely intellectual actor, he built through his own mind. It was based on the word – said Grzegorz Damięcki in an interview with Gazeta.pl, pulling:

The other extreme is acting based on directing each gesture, on characteristic, on the externality. Tadeusz Łomnicki was also such an actor. Two completely different schools, and yet two great actors.

Indeed, these two were often compared, and for years people would go to the theater “na Holoubka” or “na Łomnickiego”.

In 1954, Łomnicki graduated from the Directing Department of the PWST in Warsaw (diploma in 1965). From 1969, he became the vice-chancellor, and the following year the chancellor of the PWST in Warsaw, and he was in the years 1970-1981. Apparently, one of the students once said to him: “Master!”, To which Łomnicki replied:

What Master ?! Say to me: God!

He did not want to play Wołodyjowski, and created a cult role

Indeed, he did not allow his students to call himself “master”, but preferred “foreman”. Łomnicki also wrote – two of his plays were put on stage. Of course, he has had many fantastic and respected roles created on the stage, but cinema and television have brought him mass popularity. “Generation”, “Innocent Sorcerers”, “Man of Marble” by Andrzej Wajda, “Eroica” by Andrzej Munk, “The Contract” by Krzysztof Zanussi, “Coincidence” and “Decalogue VIII” by Krzysztof Kielowski are just a few of his roles.

He was also – and for many people above all – Mr. Wołodyjowski from “Pan Wołodyjowski” and “Deluge” by Jerzy Hoffman. And yet he was initially reluctant to assume the role! He was supposed to excuse himself with poor health, but medical examinations shoved this argument out of his hand. He had such a serious accident on the set during the horse chase scene that he had to spend several weeks in bed.

One of the iconic scenes not only in “Deluge”, but also in the history of Polish cinema in general, is his duel with Kmicic. In order for the feet of Daniel Olbrychski and Łomnicki to stick to the ground more firmly, their shoes were fitted with plugs that were used by footballers.

The actor died on the 47th anniversary of the entrance exams to the Theater Studio at the Stary Theater in Krakow. On February 22, there were only a few days until the premiere of “King Lear” – it was scheduled for February 29, 1992, as a gift for the wedding anniversary of Łomnicki and Bojarska, with whom, after four unsuccessful marriages, he finally created a successful, although – as she said – not “sacramental” “and the” sacramental “relationship. The role was dedicated to his friend Jan Kott. During the first general rehearsal, Tadeusz Łomnicki fainted and died, among others in front of fellow actors and wife.