Eugeniusz Bodo

Eugeniusz Bodo (born Bohdan Eugène Junod; 1899 – 1943) was a film director, producer and one of the most popular Polish actors and comedians of the inter-war period. He starred in some of the most popular Polish film productions of the 1930s, including His Excellency, The Shop Assistant (Polish: Jego ekscelencja subiekt), Czy Lucyna to dziewczyna? and Pieśniarz Warszawy. A skilled singer, he became one of the icons of Polish musical comedies of the time and a symbol of Polish commercial cinema. Towards the end of that decade he also became a successful entrepreneur, a co-owner of a successful film studio, a café and a producers company. Arrested by the Soviets in the aftermath of the German and Soviet invasion of Poland, he perished in the Gulag.

Biography

Bohdan Eugène Junod was born on 28 December 1899. His birthplace however is not certain, sources mention Warsaw, Łódź and Geneva, Switzerland. His mother was Jadwiga Anna Dorota née Dylewska. His father, Teodor Junod, was a Swiss citizen who moved to Russian-held Poland and in 1903 settled in Łódź. There he opened a revue-cinema Urania - the first permanent cinema theatre in that city. It was there that Bodo made his stage debut at the age of six.