“He was the good soul of our team, a warm-hearted and always smiling man with anecdotes out of his sleeve, a great actor and a good friend. I can’t believe he’s gone,” said Anna Milewska, or Julia Złotopolska, just after Jerzy Turek’s death.
His other colleagues also remembered him very fondly. “Jurek was the embodiment of kindness. One of the few people who had unquestionable authority” – this is how Andrzej Nejman recalled the actor. “Jurek always played conscientiously and with full concentration. A true actor. A loved and good person. There are few like him,” Zofia Kucówna emphasized.
Creators “Złotopolski” they dedicated the 1,112th episode of the series to their deceased friend – they dedicated it entirely to the postman Józef Garliński, played by the actor. It was the most touching episode in the history of the unforgettable soap opera.
Jerzy Turek was born on January 17, 1934 in Tchórzowa. After the war, he moved with his family to a town near Warsaw. He had to work since he was a child. “No one gave us anything for our children, we had to work. There were four of us at home – a sister and two brothers. And after the war, my father rebuilt Warsaw, and my mother took care of our upbringing,” he recalled years later. He became an actor by accident. Out of curiosity, she and Wojciech Pokora joined an amateur theater club. They liked it so much that they decided to continue their education at the Warsaw State Theater School.
He loved acting in TV series. His name was included in the cast of the first Polish drama series “Barbara i Jan” and the first Polish crime series “Kapitan Sowa na tropie”. Older viewers remember him perfectly from their childhood from “0:1 until halftime”, “Holidays with ghosts” and “Journey for one smile” and from the times when they were teenagers and watched “Four Tank Men and a Dog” and “Janosik” with flushed faces. and “Black Clouds”.
Cinema fans loved him for his comedy roles. In two parts of “Kogla-mogla” he played Zenon Solski, the father of Kasia, played by Grażyna Błęcka-Kolska. His performance as coach Wacław Jarząbek in “Miś” made history. He also appeared in “A Million for Laura” and “I Don’t Like Mondays”.
“I am perfectly aware that in the team there are leading actors and those who play supporting roles. I love playing episodes. I don’t know why, I just like it. Episodes are usually well written, especially comedy ones, and you can focus on them (…) I try to be reliable. Loyal to the director, author and colleagues. I always think about not spoiling anyone and I hate it when someone spoils me,” he confessed in one of the interviews.
A year before his death, Jerzy Turek suffered a stroke and was hospitalized in a serious condition. The entire “Złotopolski” team was impatiently waiting for his return to the set.
Unfortunately, although the actor seemed to be regaining health and strength after several weeks of hospitalization, he never appeared in front of the camera again. Complications from the illness were too serious to allow him to return to work. Shortly after leaving the hospital, he was attacked by leukemia. The disease turned out to be fatal.
“He realized that he was leaving. And you could learn humility from him, how to leave quietly and with dignity,” wrote Małgorzata Raszek-Zaliwska, the second director of “Złotopolski”, after the actor’s death.
Jerzy Turek died on February 14, 2010, at the age of 76.