Andrzej Bogucki

Andrzej Bogucki (11 November 1904 – 29 July 1978) was a Polish television, stage and film actor, as well as operetta singer and songwriter, sometimes referred to as "The Polish Chevalier".

Bogucki and his wife Janina née Godlewska (8 March 1908 – 19 June 1992) are known for helping and hiding the Polish Jewish pianist Władysław Szpilman during the Nazi occupation of Poland. Szpilman's life inspired the 2002 film The Pianist, and both Bogucki and his wife were portrayed in the film.

Although he lived in Warsaw for most of his life, Bogucki also worked in several other cities. He lived in Warsaw's Mariensztat neighborhood from 1947 until the end of his life, and he is buried in the Powązki Cemetery in the western part of Warsaw.

Bogucki was awarded the Order of Polonia Restituta for his career and actions during World War II. In 1978 the Yad Vashem institute awarded him and his wife the Righteous Among the Nations award, an award given to non-Jewish people who helped Jews during the Nazi persecution.

Bogucki was born to a family with long-standing traditions in theatre and stage. His parents were the actors Stanisław Bogucki and Róża Bogucka-Rapacka. He was the grandson of the famous Polish actor and director Wincenty Rapacki.

Bogucki attended and graduated as a cavalry officer from the Officer's Cadet School in Grudziądz. While at school he participated in equestrian competitions and became an officer in the Polish Army. He served in the 7th Regiment Cavalry in Mińsk Mazowiecki, but was discharged for health reasons in 1929. In the same year he began appearing in stage plays for children. From then on, he focused on his acting career.

During World War II, Bogucki and his wife were involved with the anti-Nazi Polish resistance movement, the Armia Krajowa (Home Army). In February 1944 they were contacted through members of the Jewish underground by their friend, the pianist Władysław Szpilman, who was working as a slave laborer as one of the remaining Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto. Anticipating that the Germans were planning to liquidate even the slave workers (most other Jews had already been deported to Treblinka), Szpilman, with help from Bogucki, escaped the ghetto and hid on the non-Jewish side of Warsaw. With help from Bogucki, Janina and others, Szpilman survived the war. His life was later the basis for the 2002 film The Pianist.

After the war, in the 1950s Szpilman composed songs especially for Andrzej and Janina, including the popular Czerwony autobus (Red bus).

Theatre

Bogucki began working onstage on 30 April 1930. He performed at the Polish Theatre in Warsaw for three years between 1930 and 1933 and later worked at the New Comedy Theater between 1933 and 1934. He also worked for theaters in Łódź and Kraków.

After the end of World War II, he returned to the stage at the Polish Army Theatre in Łódź, where he performed between 1945 and 1947. He went on to work in several other theaters, including the National Theater, Warsaw, where he played from 1969 until his death in 1978.

Career as a singer

Bogucki began his singing career in 1931 at the Banda Theater, where he remained for a year until 1932. It was his distinctive singing voice that brought him most of his popularity.

After 1945, he continued to write songs and launched a number of hits in the radio.

He was a longtime employee of the Polish Radio. In addition, he worked with Radio Theatre of the Imagination (as a presenter, singer and reciter, and as a popularizer of music and literature).