Eugeniusz Bodo | en

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Eugeniusz Bodo (born Bohdan Eugène Junod) (December 28, 1899 - October 7, 1943 Kirov, USSR) was a great film director, producer and one of the most popular Polish actors of the inter-war period.

He was born in Geneva, Switzerland, as the only son of a Polish emigrant. In 1910 his family moved to Łódź, where his father opened a revue-cinema. In 1917 Junod moved to Poznań where he joined "Teatr Apollo".

He is best known for his film roles; he played in more than thirty films. In 1932 he was granted with a title of King of Polish Actors and with King of Style in 1936. In 1931 Bodo became a co-founder of the B.W.B. film studio, and, in 1933, he opened a private producers' company "Urania", named after his fathers' cinema in Łódź.

In the spring of 1939 he opened a prestigious "Cafe Bodo" in Warsaw. During the Invasion of Poland he organized recitals for the Polish soldiers and civilians during the Siege of Warsaw. During the German occupation initially he ran his cafe, mostly to let other famous Polish artists earn some money after their theatres and film companies were closed. However, the place became so popular that in 1941 Germans decided to turn it into a Nur für Deutsche (literally for Germans only) cafe for the Wehrmacht and other Nazi organizations.

Bodo rented out his Cafe and moved to Lwów, where he joined the Tea-Jazz band led by Henryk Wars. However, he was soon arrested by the NKVD (26 June 1941), accused of espionage and, despite being a Swiss citizen, was deported to a remote Soviet GULag death camp, near Arkhangelsk.

Sentenced for 5 years in the Soviet labour camp. He was jailed in Butyrski prison in Moscow, in Ufa and Arkhangelsk; then sent to the Gulag where he died of hunger on October 7, 1943. Before the communism collapse 1989 the Soviets contend that Bodo was murdered by Germans, now we know it is not true.

Films

* Rywale (as Geniuś) (1925)
* Czerwony błazen (1926)
* Uśmiech losu (as the dancer in a cabaret) (1927)
* Człowiek o błękitnej duszy (as the sculptor) (1929)
* Policmajster Tagiejew (as Markovskiy) (1929)
* Kult ciała (as Franciszek, Czesław's helper) (1930)
* Na Sybir (as the worker) (1930)
* Niebezpieczny romans (the main villain) (1930)
* Uroda życia (1930) (as Roszow) (1930)
* Wiatr od morza (as Otto) (1930)
* Bezimienni bohaterowie (as the police captain) (1932)
* Głos pustyni (as sheik Abdullah) (1932)
* Jego ekscelencja subiekt (Jurek, the title role) (1933)
* Zabawka (Kuźma, son of the forest worker) (1933)
* Czarna perła (as Stefan) (1934)
* Czy Lucyna to dziewczyna? (as Stefan Żarnowski) (1934)
* Kocha, lubi, szanuje (as pharmacy terminator Władysław) (1934)
* Pieśniarz Warszawy (as Julian) (1934)
* Jaśnie pan szofer (as Boratyński) (1935)
* Amerykańska awantura (as Paweł) (1936)
* Książątko (as Tadeusz Rolski) (1937)
* Piętro wyżej (as Henryk Pączek, radio speaker) (1937)
* Skłamałam (as Karol Borowicz) (1937)
* Paweł i Gaweł (as Paweł) (1938)
* Robert i Bertrand (as Bertrand) (1938)
* Strachy (as Zygmunt Modecki) (1938)
* Za winy niepopełnione (as Torence, Holski's friend and partner) (1938) .

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