Ji Voskovec , born Ji Wachsmann and best known as George Voskovec was a CzechAmerican actor, playwright, dramatist, director, translator, and poet. hroughout most of his career he was associated with Jan Werich. He is most well known for his role as the 11th juror in the 1957 American filmAngry Men.
Voskovec was born as Ji Wachsmann in Szava, Bohemia, presentday Czech Republic. He attended school in Prague and Dijon, France. In 1927, together with Werich, he joined the Osvobozen divadlo , which had been created two years earlier by members of the avantgarde Devtsil group, Ji Frejka and Jindich Honzl. After disagreements led Frejka to leave the group in 1927, Honzl asked Voskovec and Werich, 22yearold law students who had created a sensation with their Vest Pocket Revue that year, to join the theatre. When Honzl, who had directed their productions, left in 1929, Voskovec and Werich took control of the theatre and changed its name to the Liberated Theatre of Voskovec and Werich, assuming all responsibility for direction, writing, librettos, and other artistic decisions. The Liberated became a center for Czech clownery, a reaction to contemporary political and societal problems. Their performances began with the primary goal of evoking laughter through fantasy, but with the changing
Source: Wikipedia