WARSAW, Poland – Polish actor Leon Niemczyk, who starred in Roman Polanski’s “Knife in the Water” and hundreds of other films, has died at the age of 82.
Niemczyk, considered a master of supporting roles, died Nov. 29 of lung cancer at his home in the central city of Lodz, said close friend Jerzy Wozniak, the head of the city’s Film and Theater School.
Niemczyk appeared in more than 400 movies in Poland and in scores of foreign films, including this year’s David Lynch film “Inland Empire,” a performance he gave soon after learning he was terminally ill. He was diagnosed with lung cancer after fainting a year ago on a set in Lodz.
He made a name for himself in 1962 in “Knife in the Water,” Polanski’s first feature film, playing Andrzej, a bored, ambitious man in a psychological drama.
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