George Voskovec

George Voskovec
Jiří Voskovec in 12 Angry Men (1957).
Born	Jiří Wachsmann (1905-06-19)June 19, 1905 Sázava (Benešov District), Bohemia
Died	July 1, 1981(1981-07-01) (aged 76) Pearblossom, California, U.S.
Resting place	Olšany Cemetery, Prague
Nationality	Czech
Other names	George Voskovec
Years active	1926–1981
Notable work	Juror #11 in 12 Angry Men Dr. Gerard Finney in Somewhere in Time
Spouse(s)	Madelaine Main (?–1945) (divorced) Anne Gerlette (1945–1958; her death), 2 children Christine McKeown (1961–1981; his death)

Jiří Voskovec (Czech pronunciation: [ˈjɪr̝iː ˈvoskovɛts]), born Jiří Wachsmann and best known as George Voskovec (June 19, 1905 – July 1, 1981) was a Czech-American actor, playwright, dramatist, director, translator, and poet. Throughout most of his career he was associated with Jan Werich. He is most well known for his role as the 11th juror in the 1957 American film 12 Angry Men.

His granduncle was Bedřich Wachsmann and his cousin was Alois Wachsman, both Czech painters and architects. Also his uncle was Austrian painter Julius Wachsmann (1866-1936).

He attended school in Prague and in Dijon, France, and became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1955.

Voskovec was born as Jiří Wachsmann in Sázava, Bohemia, present-day Czech Republic. He attended school in Prague and Dijon, France. In 1927, together with Werich, he joined the Osvobozené divadlo (Liberated Theater), which had been created two years earlier by members of the avant-garde Devětsil group, Jiří Frejka and Jindřich Honzl. After disagreements led Frejka to leave the group in 1927, Honzl asked Voskovec and Werich, 22-year-old law students who had created a sensation with their Vest Pocket Revue that year, to join the theatre. When Honzl, who had directed their productions, left in 1929, Voskovec and Werich took control of the theatre and changed its name to the Liberated Theatre of Voskovec and Werich, assuming all responsibility for direction, writing, librettos, and other artistic decisions. The Liberated became a center for Czech clownery, a reaction to contemporary political and societal problems. Their performances began with the primary goal of evoking laughter through fantasy, but with the changing political situation in Germany their work became increasingly anti-fascist, which led to the closure of the Liberated Theater after the Munich agreement in 1938. Both Voskovec and Werich fled to the United States in early 1939. For the rest of his life, Voskovec lived primarily in the United States, interrupted only by brief stays in Czechoslovakia in 1948 and in France from 1948 to 1950. Until the mid-1940s, Voskovec worked and wrote mostly with Jan Werich, but after Werich's return to Communist Czechoslovakia, they met only a few more times. After his return to the United States in 1950, Voskovec was unjustly interned at Ellis Island for eleven months for his alleged sympathy for Communism.