Eugeniusz Bodo

Eugeniusz Bodo (born Bohdan Eugène Junod; 28 December 1899 – 7 October 1943) was a film director, producer, singer, pianist and one of the most popular Polish actors and comedians of the interwar period.

His father, Teodor Junod, was a Swiss citizen who moved to Russian-held Poland and in 1903 settled in Łódź.

In 1919 (under a new stage name of Eugeniusz Bodo, the surname created from the initials of his own first name Bohdan and his mother's – Dorota)[2] he started acting in various Warsaw-based theatres, variétés and cabarets (Qui Pro Quo, Perskie Oko and Cyrulik Warszawski being the most famous).

With the advent of sound film Bodo in a matter of years became one of the best-known Polish actors.

Usually appearing in musical comedies, already in 1932 he was voted the King of Polish Actors by Film magazine's readers.

[3] Always appearing well-dressed, in 1936 Bodo was awarded the title of King of Style by the readers of Film magazine.

film studio, and, in 1933, he opened a private producers' company "Urania", named after his fathers' cinema in Łódź.

[5] By that time his popularity reached far beyond the borders of Poland, to the extent that Yugoslavian press dubbed him Polish Maurice Chevalier.

Eugeniusz Bodo in 1935
Eugeniusz Bodo after arrest by NKVD. Last photo
The symbolic grave of Eugeniusz Bodo at the Powązki Cemetery in Warsaw.