Fast Confession - Jiří Werich Petrášek: Interview Not Only About Living in the Shadow of the Famous Father Jan Werich
Jiří Petrášek has long been aware that he is the son of the famous actor Jan Werich. But this information leaked to public only a few years ago. And he certainly does not deny his genes, Jiří is a life optimist, entertainer and actor, although he has never professionally pursued this profession. In an interview with LP-Life.cz he confided what he was actually doing, what he would like to do in the future, and how he endures the shadow of his own father, whom he had never known.
I managed to reach you in Prague, even though you live in Děčín, why is that?
I'm looking for my next future profession here, sweetie. (laughs) But seriously. I have some meetings, projects, so I am quite often in Prague. And maybe I'll be even more often here who knows. So far, I am still the director of the European Business Academy in Děčín, a university teacher, and what I will do next, I do not know yet, because I will still be in Děčín for a while. It is rather about my future, so far I do not deal with anything specific.
How old are you?
I have been here for quite some time, I am sixty-three. But by no means do I want to sit at home with folded arms.
At this age, many people are already looking forward to retirement.
I am also looking forward to retirement, but a little more active.
Have you always been like this?
I've always been like that, I've always been a bit workaholic. Mainly, I've always had jobs or missions that basically always meant something different. At one I rested in relation to the other, and vice versa. I still have it today, I am a director and a teacher, but also a moderator, doing things in show business, playing in my theater my show Hovory W - both in Prague and in the countryside. I am alternating, I've been like this all my life.
But you only started to appear in show business after it was known who your dad was...
.
This is a profound mistake, because I used to play theater as a boy. As a kid, I used to play at Karlštejn castle at "Night in Karlštejn“. I had important roles here, I was the seventh squire from the left who holds horses and when the king arrives he says, "Welcome, your majesty!" I felt like Cyrano from Bergerac or Hamlet. I have inclined to it all my life, but it is true that many things did not start until about seven years ago, when everything went public.
If you had such a talent, why didn't you go to acting? Without knowing who your dad was.
It is simple. When I graduated I wanted to go to DAMU. My adoptive mother told me back then that it didn't exist. I was blackmailed a little by the fact that my adopted father died when I was fourteen. She referred to him a little, saying "we wouldn't want you to be an actor because the actors are whores". She spoke also for the father Vladimír Petrášek. I was forced to study economics, and became an engineer economist. I am an engineer as well as Petr Nárožný or Ivan Mládek and others who have penetrated the show business anyway. Interestingly, I know a lot of accountants, who are also whores, but about those there are no articles written, while actors are immediately famous. So my mother immediately swept it off the table and DAMU was over.
And she knew who your real father was?
Yes, she knew it.
Maybe she was afraid you weren't like him…
It is true that I did not know who my father was until after the death of Jan Werich. The family kept it secret because they were afraid of me running after him, telling my mother, "You're not my mom," and so on. I wouldn't do it in my life because I had a family that gave me education, love, and everything, I just wouldn't. Maybe my mom was a little afraid, maybe for these reasons.
The other family may have been worried about you wanting some money or fame...
I don't want anything at all, I don't care about anything like that. I'm happy. And if anyone is afraid of me reaching after some rights or something like that, I don't even want to. I live happily and contentedly and I don't miss anything at all.
How did you feel about it when you figured it out?
I guess it wasn't such a shock for me. Perhaps the surprise was that it was Jan Werich, but from the family and the neighborhood I always felt that something wasn't quite the way it should be. The neighborhood always shows you what you already feel. You say to yourself, "For God's sake, am I really their own son?" They were old parents, they had no other children, and someone sometimes suggested something to me. It wasn't such a shock for me.
It is said that adopted children feel that they do not have their identity, that people have lied to them.
I had no such feelings. I got out of the infant institute very quickly. The truth is that I was named Jan for the first year of my life, my name was changed to Jiří later by the court. I take it the way that life goes. I am a person filled with optimism, I am a very positive person, I have quite came to terms with it. Of course I was thinking about it a lot, I was sorry I didn't know my dad any closer. But I coped with it very well.
How was it found out?
This is very simple. One author found out, I think David Zápal from Super.cz, and suddenly published "Discovered son of Jan Werich". There was my photograph. I asked him where he got the picture, but he said he would not reveal his source and that it was a well-informed source. I admit that at the beginning I was a little obfuscated because I didn't want any great popularity, interviews and always explaining something. But then I thought that being a son of Jan Werich is no shame, we all have a father, so I admitted that it is true.
So you accepted it as your own?
I accepted it as my own, I already knew it at that time. I have known this since 1980, but I just did not mention it. When it was public, some friends and show business people told me that I had nothing to be ashamed of, that it was wonderful to be the son of Jan Werich. Then of course I said yes. Then the bomb exploded and it all started. Interviews in magazines, various TV shows began to invite me as a guest and so on.
Who told you then, mom?
My mother told me.
Just like this?
No, she then told me she didn't want to take it to her grave. Without me knowing who I am.
So how did "the" Werich originate in your name?
It originated by someone writing it once, and I liked it as a memory of my dad. I use it as an artistic pseudonym, but I do not mean to suggest that I want to compare myself to my father. I always say that if I met Dad, I would shake his hand and say, "Dad, come on, let's play together in a movie." I'm a lousy actor, he's a great actor. Together, the film would have a 50% success rate, which is relatively good for a Czech film. Werich doesn't mean I want to get close to my father in terms of his art.
Journalists' attention can be very unpleasant. How does it change life of an ordinary person? How did you feel?
It was uncomfortable at first. Although I'm such an exhibitionist in the sense that I do not have stage fright when I get on stage. I thought it was such a nudge in my personal life, now those questions - who was the biological mother and so on. Because I logically consider my adoptive parents to be my parents, I never wanted to discuss these things.
On the other hand, it has brought one positive thing that today I do de facto the work I like. I like to direct school, I like to teach at college, but I also like to play theater, moderate and so on.
How do your students perceive you?
As headmaster and teacher at faculty. But of course they do, occasionally, ask something, maybe kill a little of an hour. The biggest show was, of course, when I filmed the TV series Traces of Life, where I had a bed scene with a 19-year-old colleague, they had a huge holiday out of it.
How old were you when you filmed it?
About fifty-five. They were very happy about it. And the boys at the faculty said, "you had an experience, you had to enjoy it." Of course these scenes when they're filmed, it's nothing beautiful. That caused such a "fuss," but I have a very friendly relationship with the students, so I think everything is fine.
I thought if they were thinking "man, the son of the famous Werich teaches me ..."
One of my students, wrote a newspaper article about me "Jan Werich's son teaches me". It was nice, caressing the soul, I liked it. He wrote it with such respect. Yes, maybe some take it, but the truth is that I am not acting as a son of Jan Werich or an actor, neither in the faculty nor in the high school that I direct. There I have my mission, so we don't come across this topic that much.
You meet a lot with the famous people. Was that before or after the discovery?
I was seeing some of them before because they were my friends. But of course everything started with my other profession. I started to invite celebrities to the shows in the Czech Radio - Microforum and my Talks W. It started by getting more acquainted with these people, filming the series Traces of Life with the top stars and so on. So, of course, you get to know people in this area
Some still remember your dad. Did they tell you anything about him?
Of course, they remember, they talk nicely about him. Květa Fialová spoke nicely about him, Zdenička Procházková spoke nicely about him, Karel Gott told me that my dad had backed him up at some point and so on. Of course they remember him in good terms.
What about your family? Wife and children…
You would first have to ask my wife. I always say, and I write in my last book, that every man should have a garden as large as his wife can cultivate. And if it fails, do not change the garden. She would say that I do nothing at home and everything is up to her.
It is not true, I mow the grass, but of course she takes it, that I am not often at home, I have a lot things to do. Sometimes she goes to a show with me, but she takes it that I can't do much for my family.
Children take it completely calm, they are not concerned about it much, because they have their own professions, which is not related to show business. The son is an air traffic controller, the daughter is now on maternity leave with her third daughter, otherwise she worked at the Ministry of Regional Development. They have their lives and they don't pay much attention around. But granddaughters say how many times they watch TV, "oh, hey, grandpa!" when there is the film on “There was once a king”. And I tell them, “Not really little girls, that's your great-grandfather. Grandpa is me.”
What about the public, i.e. ordinary people who loved Werich as an actor? Do they put any pressure on you?
I have not seen anything downright negative. But it is true that they often compare, and I do not like it very much. Many bards of the Czech theater tell me: “Forget it, everyone is someone's son. Play and do what you love, you can entertain people, so do it. If you couldn't do that, you could be Jan Werich's son a hundred times, but it would be useless. ”
People around me of course perceive me this way, but mostly it is positive. Thanks to this I met for example Mrs. Evička Tůmová, the last housekeeper of Jan Werich, thanks to which I met people who went to Werich's villa, I met new people who knew and liked my dad, people I would have never met in his life. It's very nice.
Even my show was attended by two nurses from the hospital who were there when Dad was dying. It's not always about happy events, but I'm glad to talk to people who knew Dad in person.
Have you ever met Werich's relatives?
I only met Dad's great-granddaughter, Fanča's daughter, who was at the opening of Werich's villa. Otherwise, with Fanča (granddaughter of Jan Werich, ed. Ed.), who lives in Switzerland, I have never seen and never met. I regret it a bit, but I think it may happen sometime. Certainly the family doesn't have to worry about me being interested in any rights, no.
You're a soldier. How did you get to that?
I'm a soldier, of course I'm retired now. I'm a lieutenant colonel of the air force. Now I'm a bit of a professional wreath layer because I walk all those pietas. I have this connection as follows - I am a spokesperson for the Cyriacs, Red Cross Cruisers, and I am also a lieutenant colonel of the army.
Everywhere I try to promote the army and care for the legacy of our greatest heroes, that is, ARF pilots and even war veterans who came from the East. That is our mission, for example, we founded the ARF Airmen Museum in the Castle Police and so on. I am very proud of my uniform and try to represent the army as best I can.
What are you currently working on and what's new?
My latest book Drop into the Veins. It is a summary of stories about life, memories of friends, dad, Berounka ... There are my poems, aphorisms, all the glosses I broadcast on Czech Radio and so on. When read by Honza Přeučil, he said, “The book is so beautiful, come on, let's record it together.” We recorded it together as an audiobook, so it is available not only in print but also in the form of an audiobook. We are currently preparing another series of Talk W with Guests, specifically at the Karel Hacker Theater in Kobylisy.
