Actor, announcer, singer
Ryszard Wojnarowski was born in Lviv on Tarnowski street, close to the Łyczakowski park. His father, Kazimierz Wojnarowski was a veterinary physician, his mother Mieczysława nee Szeliga was a civil official and took care of the house. The mother died a coouple months after giving birth to Ryszard, which meant that his aunts had taken care of him. After a couple of years, his father got remarried; his stepmother took care of both Ryszard and his 5 year younger brother, Andrzej, with equal commitment. They survived the war in Tyszowce (General Government), where the family ran away to avoid being taken away by Russians.
After the war they moved around to Żary, Kożuchów and Nowa Sól, where Ryszard debuted as a reciter during his scholastic academy. That was when people noticed his talent and joked that he had gotten it after his father, who amateurishly indulged himself in artistic activities (He sang, among others in the choir of the Tarnów cathedral) The family finally settled in Tarnow, where in 1955 Ryszard started working as an adept in Ludwik Solski urban theatre and debuted on stage as the role of narrator in Eugeniusz Oniegin. After a couple of years he mentioned that when he was on his premiere of the Marianna Pineda spectacle, he started talking with an Lviv accent, he heard from the audience laughter and a fatherly comment saying O! The spanish from Lviv. His attempts at engaging in the Kraków theatres failed and after one season, he moved to Opole for a couple of months, from which he moved to Jelenia Góra. Since he didn’t have any acting studies, he was hired as "artistic help" that is, a prop person with the right to perform on stage.
He was first on stage in Jelenia Góra on November 28, 1957 as Podchorąży II in Noc listopadowa by Stanisław Wyspiański, directed by Janina Orsza-Łukasiewicz. After being persuaded by his friends, in 1958 he tried to pass the actor exam using extramural studies, however he got failed because of prof. Bohdan Korzeniowski. Hence, he worked as a technical worker in C. K. Norwida theatre in Jelenia Góra until 1974. During this time he took part in performances directed by Wanda Laskowska or Henryk Korzeniowski; During this he as well performed in cabaret "Bzdura". Only after his next successfully completed exam in 1974, he formally got hired in the theatre as an actor. At this time he was already the head of the house for a couple of years; From the 24th of June, 1967 he was the husband of lovely Krystyna, and from January 11th 1969, a brave father of Magdalena. They lived in company flats, first on the street Wyczółkowskiego, and later on Świerczewskiego (currently: Sudecka). He played a lot in the next couple of years gaining more fame, which was acknowledged by awards and many honorable mentions. He himself mentioned some of his best plays to be, Mickiewicz (1977), Nabodnisie i Kaczkodany (1978), Drzwi i Iwona, księżniczka Burgunda (1978), Szewcy (1981), Pieszo (1982), Ambasador (1983) and Ślub (1984). The biggest work he created as Papkin in Zemsta by Aleksander Fredro, directed by Stefania Domańska (premiere: October 12, 1984); it flourished in 1986 with the invitation from Kazimierz Dejmek to work in the Polish theatre in Warsaw. Dejmek wanted for Wojnarowski to repeat his role of Papkin however, fate ruined their plans.
My wife inherited a house in a will in Michałowicach and declared that she is incapable of burning in the furnace. So I went to Dejmek and told him I will not continue and want to get fired. He told me that in his theatre he is the one that fires people – However I had decided and went back to Jelenia Góra. It was 1989.
In the C. K. Norwid theatre there was no place for him, so he went to act in the animation theatre. He did very well even as a puppeteer and was admired in the Marionetka (1990) play. He worked in animation until 1995, and got fired along with some other coworkers after a conflict with the new director. Together with the other fired coworkers they created a new theatre called Maska, which functioned next to Osiedlowy Dom Kultury in Jelenia Góra. In the years 2000-2004 he cooperated with Stadt Theater in Hanover. For everything that he did, he did it with passion and a relentless nature. He was like this as an actor and as a person. His wife reminisced that when he got lost during mushroom picking next to Bolesławiec, he used his own money to pay for a taxi to Jelenia Góra because there was a performance in the evening. When in 2008 he sat as jury in the Comdedic Film Festival Barejada fought for the award for its candidates. He showed weakness of character only to his family - especially to his beloved granddaughters, Hania and Susanna, whom he adored and pampered.
Endowed with a beautiful tenor, he also performed on the stage throughout his life as an announcer, performer of monologues and songs. On September 3, 2016, he performed in front of the audience for the last time - reading excerpts from Henryk Sienkiewicz's Quo vadis in Piechowice as part of the next edition of the "National Reading". A few years earlier, he had fulfilled his great dream - he visited his native Lviv.
He has been awarded and distinguished many times for his artistic achievements. He received, among others Bronze, Silver and Gold Cross of Merit, seven times Wroclaw theater spiers, three times Jelenia Gora Theater Silver Keys; was announced as an Actor 40th anniversary on the occasion of the jubilee of the Teatr im. C. K. Norwid in Jelenia Góra. He died of prostate cancer on September 11, 2016 in the hospital in Jelenia Góra; he was buried on September 17 at the cemetery in Piechowice. The funeral ceremony was conducted by his friend, Fr. Marian Matula ("The Cup"). He did not manage to collect the "Gloria Artis" medal awarded to him by the Minister of Culture.