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The Helena Modjeska Art and Culture Club in Los Angeles will present its 2023 Modjeska Prize to the legendary Polish actor Janusz Gajos on 16 September 2024 at the opening of the Gajos Film Festival that celebrates his birthday at Kino Kultura in Warsaw with film screenings between 16 and 19 September (Krakowskie Przedmieście 21/23, 00-071 Warszawa, Poland). The event, organized by Polish Filmmakers’ Society (Stowarzyszenie Filmowców Polskich) and starting promptly at 6:30 p.m., will include various presentations before the film screening and will be a great opportunity to honor one of the most famous and beloved Polish actors.
The Modjeska Club’s Board of Directors made its decision to recognize Mr. Gajos with its lifetime achievement award in September 2023. Since the honoree could not travel to California, the Gajos Festival in Warsaw was deemed the most suitable occasion for this presentation. The Club’s President, Dr. Maja Trochimczyk, will bring the award and certificate from California, along with Certificates of Recognition from California State Senator Anthony J. Portantino, as well as Supervisors of Los Angeles County and Orange County where the Modjeska Club and Helena Modjeska Historic House are respectively located.
Born in 1939, Mr. Janusz Gajos appeared in a multitude of TV and film roles and is greatly respected in the artistic community not just for his talent but also for his artistic and personal integrity. The Modjeska Prizes, established in 2010, honor the lifetime achievement of Polish actors and are presented annually to one or two actors, representing Poland and émigré communities. These Prizes commemorate the life of Helena Modrzejewska (in the US Modjeska, 1840-1909) who was a phenomenally talented actress and gave about 4,000 performances during her career, focusing primarily on plays by Shakespeare.
Modjeska toured the U.S. and Canada using a railway car as her home; thus, she was able to appear in 225 towns and cities in all of North America. She was not only an actress, but also the director, costume designer and maker, producer, and publicist of her own troupe. A fervent Polish patriot, she was banned from ever returning to her home in Russia-occupied Poland and remains a symbol of both immigrant exile and success.
The Modjeska Prize celebrates the Modjeska Club’s patron and the lifetime achievements of the awardees, distinguished Polish actors of the stage and screen. Previous honorees included Jan Nowicki, Anna Dymna, and Jan Englert who are based in Poland as well as Jadwiga Barańska, Barbara Krafftówna and Marek Probosz who settled in California. In 2022, the Director of the National Theater, Jan Englert travelled to California to receive his Modjeska Prize in person. When the honorees visit Los Angeles, they often give unforgettable performances. In Beverly Hills and San Diego, Jan Englert and his wife Beata Ścibakówna masterfully presented “Kwiaty Polskie” by Julian Tuwim with interludes of live Chopin music performed by Prof. Wojciech Kocyan.
In the past, two of Modjeska Club’s honorees received their Modjeska Prizes in Poland – Anna Dymna did so in 2011 in Kraków, at a special event with the participation of Benjamin Ousley Naseman, Public Affairs Officer of the American Consulate and several professors from the Polish American Historical Association. The award was presented by me, as the Club’s President at that time. In September 2023, following a Zoom presentation and interview during the pandemic, Andrzej Seweryn received the 2020 Modjeska Prize from the Club Vice President, actress Katarzyna Śmiechowicz, at the Gdynia Polish Film Festival.
This is the third such Modjeska Prize presentation held in Poland. We are looking forward to honoring Janusz Gajos – a legendary actor and a great human being.
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JANUSZ GAJOS
JJanusz Gajos, born on September 23, 1939, in Dąbrowa Górnicza, is one of the most eminent and popular Polish actors. He graduated from the Theatre and Film Academy in Łódź in 1965 and debuted in Maria Kaniewska’s film Panienka z Okienka (1964). The leading role of a tank commander during WWII in an extremely popular TV series Czterej Pancerni i pies (1966) was both an incredible success and a curse. Enthusiastic audiences identified the actor with the heroic soldier, fighting alongside the “friendly” Soviet Army, and his career was at a dead end.
Being typecast in one role, Gajos shifted his attention to theater and since 1970 played in several Warsaw theaters: Komedia, Polski, Kwadrat, Dramatyczy and Powszechny. He also performed many memorable roles for the Polish TV Theater, broadcast nationwide. Finally, in 2003-2021 he was a cast member of the National Theater in Warsaw. In 1977, his role in Sylwester Szyszko’s film Milioner was recognized with an award at the Polish Feature Film Festival in Gdańsk; he then appeared in Andrzej Wajda’s Man of Iron, but the tide turned with the TV Theater role in Christopher Hampton’s Tales of Hollywood, directed by Kazimierz Kutz (1987). In the following decades, the flexibility of his talent was recognized on the stage and the screen. He appeared in Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya (1989), Wyspiański’s The Wedding (1995), and stage adaptation of Dostoevskii’s Crime and Punishment (2000). He starred in Andrzej Szczypiorski’s Msza za Miasto Arras, at Teatr Powszechny from 1994 to 2015, when he directed its TV adaptation.
Notable film roles of this flexible and versatile actor included Kieślowski’s Decalogue 4 and Three Colors: White, the role of the censor in Wojciech Marczewski’s Ucieczka z Kina Wolność, an alcoholic in Janusz Morgenstern’s Żółty Szalik (The Yellow Scarf, 2000), Cześnik in Andrzej Wajda’s rendition of Aleksander Fredro’s classic Zemsta (2002), and a variety of criminals and crooks in commercial movies, such as Fuks or The Last Mission (1999). He worked with noted directors: Jan Jakub Kolski (Jasminum), Jerzy Antczak (Chopin: Desire for Love), Małgorzata Szumowska (Body), Filip Bajon (Kamerdyner), and Wojtek Smarzowski (Kler). He did not avoid comedic roles, appearing as wry janitor Turecki in Olga Lipińska’s Cabaret on TV and in Cabaret Pod Egidą.
Gajos's hand in Międzyzdroje. Wikimedia Commons. Fot. Geonidiusz, 2012. Star of Janusz Gajos, Łódź Walk of Fame. Wikimedia Commons. Fot HuBar, 2006.
Theatrical roles remained Gajos’s main focus since 2003. As the star of the National Theater, he appeared in plays by Anton Chekhov, Arthur Miller, Sławomir Mrożek, and Jerzy Pilch, directed by Kazimierz Kutz, Piotr Cieplak, Jan Englert and others. He continued to star in Polish TV Theater (Shakespeare’s Hamlet, plays by Janusz Głowacki and Wojciech Tomczyk). His debut as a theater director was in Gogol’s Ożenek (2022). Gajos’s multiple awards honored the multitude of his great roles since 1977, to mention only: Golden Screen award for roles in Polish TV Theater (1986), Golden Duck for Przesłuchanie/The Interrogation (1989), “Feliks” for a role in Dostoevskii’s Crime and Punishment (2000), the Eagle Award (2001), Grand Prize at a Sopot Theatre Festival for Bigda idzie, Golden Sceptre from the Polish Culture Foundation (2005), Best Actor Award at the Polish Film Festival in Gdynia (2015, for his role in Body), and “Gustaw” from the Union of Polish Stage Artists (ZASP). In 2015, Janusz Gajos received Diamond Lions, the audience award for the best actor in past 40 years at the Gdynia Film Festival. Always the audience’s favorite, he won the title of the most popular Polish actor also in 2002 (Rzeczpospolita newspaper) and in 2018 (Film magazine). He received the Crystal Pomegranate for the best comedy actor, the Crystal Boar for the best collaboration with the director (2012), and numerous Grand Prix at theater festivals. In 2002, Gajos was honored with Polonia Restituta Commander’s Cross with Star by the Polish government and the Minister of Culture’s Theater Lifetime Achievement Award.
HELENA MODJESKA ART & CULTURE CLUB
Established in 1971 by actor-director-journalist Leonidas Dudarew-Ossetyński and other Polish émigrés, Helena Modjeska Art and Culture Club is a charitable, cultural and a-political organization, dedicated to the promotion of the Polish culture, as well as Polish arts and sciences in California. The Club is named after the legendary actress Helena Modrzejewska, known in the U.S. as Modjeska (1840-1909). In 1876, she emigrated to California, where she became one of the most famous Shakespearean actresses of her time. She was not only an actress, but also a director and producer. Her phenomenal and lasting popularity made her a beloved model of immigrant success. As a 501(c)(3) public benefit nonprofit, during the past five decades of its existence, the Modjeska Club has made a significant contribution to the enrichment of the ethnic mosaic of Southern California. The Club invites eminent guests from Poland and organizes meetings with artists, actors, film directors, scholars, journalists, musicians and government officials. Hundreds of cultural events included public meetings and interviews with distinguished representatives of Polish arts and sciences (including Nobel Prize winner, poet Czesław Miłosz and Oscar winner, film director Andrzej Wajda); lectures by eminent scholars, politicians, and athletes (e.g. Prof. Leszek Balcerowicz; and Irena Szewińska, Olympic medal winner); film screenings and premieres; classical music and jazz concerts; and presentations of theatrical plays, and cabaret shows.
Thousands of Southern California residents participated in the Club’s events. The Club frequently collaborates with the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland that has funded many of its programs and events. The collaborations extend to such well-known Los Angeles cultural institutions as the Polish Music Center at the University of Southern California, UCLA, Art Center College of Design, the Autry Museum, Jacaranda-Music on the Edge, L.A. Master Chorale, the Bowers Museum, and Polish American organizations in San Diego, San Francisco, and Riverside. The Club’s members include college professors, managers, artists, musicians, doctors, lawyers, and business owners, who personally participate in the organization of events and theatrical performances. Funding comes from dues, donations and grants, for instance from the Polish National Foundation, Stowarzyszenie Wspólnota Polska, and the State of California.
Awards and Anniversaries
For its activity in promoting Polish culture, the Club and its volunteer presidents and activists have received numerous state awards from Poland, including medals from Poland’s Minister of Culture „For Meritorious Contribution to Polish Culture” for the Club and for over 20 of its past presidents and board members. Honors include the 2009 Special Award from the Union of Polish Stage Artists for the Club, and the Cavalier Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland for its founder, actor, director and writer Leonidas Dudarew-Ossetyński (1910-1989) granted posthumously in 2013. The Club was also honored by California state, city and county governments on the occasion of its 40th and 50th anniversaries. In 2021, the organization’s 50th anniversary was celebrated with a 380-page Album 50-lecia Klubu Kultury im. Heleny Modrzejewskiej with texts by 20 authors, edited by Maja Trochimczyk, Elżbieta Kański and Dr. Elżbieta Trybuś. Supported with a grant from the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland, this book is available for free on the modrzejewska.org and moonrisepress.com websites. In December 2023, Moonrise Press published Celebrating Modjeska in California: History of Helena Modjeska Art & Culture Club by Maja Trochimczyk, the Club's President in 2010-12 and since 2018. This 428-page case study of a Polonian organization reveals the interests, activities, successes and challenges of successive waves of Polish immigrants to America. All net revenue is donated to the Modjeska Club. The project was financed by the Chancellery of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland as part of the Competition “Polonia and Poles Abroad 2023.”
Modjeska Prizes
In 2010, in order to commemorate its patron, the famous Polish actress Helena Modrzejewska/Modjeska and to honor the achievements of distinguished Polish actors, the Club established the Annual Modjeska Prize to recognize the lasting contributions of actors to Polish culture. Functioning as a lifetime achievement award, the first Modjeska Prize was presented in October 2010 to the eminent actor Jan Nowicki. The second Modjeska Prize of 2011 was divided between Anna Dymna and Marian Dziędziel. In 2012, the Prize was awarded to actress Barbara Krafftówna (who lived in California since 1983) and in 2013 the Modjeska Club recognized the achievements of film director Ryszard Bugajski. After a hiatus in 2014-2017, the 2018 Modjeska Prize honored the charismatic actress Jadwiga Barańska, the Club’s Honorary Member along with her husband Jerzy Antczak. In 2019, the Prize was awarded to the Polish Theater of Toronto, represented by its two actresses, Agata Pilitowska and Maria Nowotarska.
The 2020 Prize was presented to Andrzej Seweryn in a Zoom ceremony and interview during the pandemic. The Club’s VP Katarzyna Śmiechowicz made an in-person presentation to Seweryn at the Gdynia Film Festival in September 2023. The 2021 Awardees were California-based Beata Poźniak and the legendary actor-director Jan Englert. These Modjeska Prizes were presented during the 50th Anniversary Ball in Pasadena in 2021, where Mr. Englert was present virtually on the screen. In September 2022, he came to California with his wife, Beata Scibakówna, to receive the Modjeska Prize in person. At that time, they also performed "Kwiaty Polskie" by Julian Tuwim in Beverly Hills and Vista. In 2022, the honorees were California-based Polish actors Katarzyna Śmiechowicz and Marek Probosz.
Golden Awards
On 9 March 2024 in Beverly Hills, the Modjeska Club offered its newest Golden Awards for lifetime achievement in the field of film to two outstanding directors, producers, screenwriters, icons of Polish cinema, Jerzy Antczak and Jacek Bromski. Just like the Modjeska Prizes, the Golden Awards honor lifetime achievements, albeit those of directors and filmmakers, not actors. The recipients could be talented film and theater directors, or filmmakers from many industries - screenwriters, cinematographers, or composers. The Golden Award consists of a commemorative statuette, a diploma and a symbolic gold bar.
IAnother way of honoring eminent individuals is to bestow upon them honorary membership for services rendered to the organization. So far, 42 honorary memberships were granted to Modjeska Club activists, former presidents and board members (21 persons, these awardees today belong to the category of “distinguished” members), former Polish consuls with spouses (11 persons), and such eminent artists as: film director Jerzy Antczak and actress Jadwiga Barańska, actress Elzbieta Jodłowska with her husband Tomasz Heller; actress Zofia Dobrzańska; artist Leonard Konopelski with wife, Club board member, Klara Konopelska (1994); dancer and choreographer Stefan Wenta (2012); actress Stephanie Powers (2012), and actress Alicja Bobrowska (2022).
The Club's Presidents
Dr. Maja Trochimczyk (2018-25), Andrew Dowen (2013-18), Elżbieta Kański (2012-13), Maja Trochimczyk (2010-12), Andrzej Maleski (2008-10), Dorota Czajka-Olszewska (2006-08), Jolanta Zych (1998-2006), Edward Piłatowicz (1996-98), Zofia Czajkowska (1994-96), Witold Czajkowski (1990-94), Tadeusz Bociański (1983-89), Jerzy Gąssowski (1979-83), Andrzej Mikulski (1978), and actor-director Leonidas Dudarew-Ossetyński (1971-1978) who in February 2024 was granted the title of Honorary Member, Founder and Honorary President.
