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- Stunningly beautiful and charismatic blonde Barbara Bouchet was born Barbel Goutscherola on August 15th, 1943 in Liberec, Czechoslovakia, known as Reichenberg, during the German occupation. Her father, Fritz, was a war photographer.
Her family was forced to leave the country when Barbara was a little girl and her name was changed to Barbara Gutscher. They got separated, but ended up getting together again. They migrated in December 1956 and settled in San Francisco, California, where Barbara attended the prestigious Galileo High School, a polytechnic school with commercial and industrial branches. Bouchet speaks English, German and Italian with equal fluency. In an interview to Shock Cinema (Number 44), Barbara Bouchet says her name had been changed again to Bouchet at the start of her career, because it sounded like her German name.
Barbara was inspired to be a screen actress after seeing the work of German actress Christine Kaufmann in Der schweigende Engel (1954) ("The Silent Angel").
In 1959, her father submitted a photo of her to the "Miss Gidget" beauty contest, and she won. The contest was held by the local television station KPIX-TV, based on the character of what has been considered the first "beach party movie" in Hollywood history, Gidget (1959). The prize included a date with James Darren the famous star of that movie, and a screen test. The screen test never materialized.
Barbara was featured as a dancer on the teen-targeted rock'n'roll TV show, The KPIX Dance Party, from 1959 to 1962.
Bouchet began a career of teen model that led to her extensive magazine cover model (35 covers). In October 1983, at age 40, Bouchet did a nude pictorial for the Italian edition of "Penthouse" magazine.
Barbara acted in TV commercials. She made her film debut with an uncredited bit part in the comedy What a Way to Go! (1964). Bouchet soon became known for openly flaunting her spectacularly curvaceous figure in several pictures: clad in alluring silk harem robes in John Goldfarb, Please Come Home! (1965), cavorting nude on the beaches of Pearl Harbor in the World War II epic In Harm's Way (1965), and wearing a bikini for the bulk of her screen time in Agent for H.A.R.M. (1966). She also portrayed "Ursula" in Bob Fosse's outstanding musical Sweet Charity (1969), made for a nicely sultry "Miss Moneypenny" in the tongue-in-cheek 007 outing Casino Royale (1967), and had guest spots on such TV series as The Virginian (1962), Star Trek (1966), Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1964), and The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964).
In 1970, fed-up with being typecast as a mindless sexpot in Hollywood fare, she moved to Italy. She soon became one of Italy's top actresses, carving out a fruitful niche for herself in sex comedies, giallo murder mysteries and gritty crime thrillers. Among her most memorable roles in these Italian features are the brazen spoiled rich lady "Patrizia" in Lucio Fulci's disturbing Don't Torture a Duckling (1972) ("Don't Torture A Duckling"), prostitute "Francine" in The French Sex Murders (1972) ("The French Sex Murders"), modeling agency choreographer "Kitty" in The Red Queen Kills Seven Times (1972) ("Red Queen Kills 7 Times"), saucy love interest "Scilla" in the splendidly sleazy The Mean Machine (1973), and enticing stripper "Anny" in Death Rage (1976) ("Death Rage"). Bouchet had an unforgettably steamy lesbian love scene with Rosalba Neri in Amuck! (1972) ("Amuck"). Barbara Bouchet appeared alongside fellow Bond girls Barbara Bach and Claudine Auger in Black Belly of the Tarantula (1971) ("The Black Belly of the Tarantula"). Barbara Bouchet continues to act in both films and TV shows, alike, made in Italy. Barbara popped up in a small role (as the wife of giallo star David Hemmings) in Martin Scorsese's Gangs of New York (2002).
Barbara married producer Luigi Borghese in 1976. They had two sons: Alessandro Borgese (b. 1974), a chef hosting a show on the Italian cable TV; and Massimiliano Borghese (b. 1989), a bartender. During the shooting of Diamond Connection (1984) in Istanbul, there was mention of a separation in the Turkish language "New World Video & Magazine" of September 1984, but the divorce happened much later.
In 1985, Bouchet started her own production company, opened her own health club in Rome, and launched her own line of fitness books and videos.
[based on woodyanders] - Director
- Writer
- Actor
Milos Forman was born Jan Tomas Forman in Caslav, Czechoslovakia, to Anna (Svabova), who ran a summer hotel, and Rudolf Forman, a professor. During World War II, his parents were taken away by the Nazis, after being accused of participating in the underground resistance. His father died in Mittelbau-Dora, a sub camp of Buchenwald, and his mother died in Auschwitz, at which Milos became an orphan very early on. He studied screen-writing at the Prague Film Academy (F.A.M.U.). In his Czechoslovakian films, Black Peter (1964), Loves of a Blonde (1965), and The Firemen's Ball (1967), he created his own style of comedy. During the invasion of his country by the troops of the Warsaw pact in the summer of 1968, to stop the Prague spring, he left Europe for the United States. In spite of difficulties, he filmed Taking Off (1971) there and achieved his fame later with One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) adapted from the novel of Ken Kesey, which won five Oscars, including one for best direction. Other important films of Milos Forman were the musical Hair (1979) and his biography of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Amadeus (1984), which won eight Oscars.- Actress
- Writer
Barbora Kodetová was born on 6 September 1970 in Prague, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic]. She is an actress and writer, known for Children of Dune (2003), Dune (2000) and Tristan + Isolde (2006). She has been married to Pavel Sporcl since 1 May 2015. They have two children.- Vladimir Kulich is known for his work in The Equalizer, Vikings, 13th Warrior, Smoking' Aces, Ironclad,The X Files, and as the voice of Ulfric Stormcloak in one of the most successful video games of all time, Skyrim-The Elder Scrolls. He has given memorable performances opposite academy award winners and nominees including Denzel Washington, Christopher Plummer, Max Von Sydow, Paul Giamatti, John Savage and Antonio Banderas. Vladimir was born in Prague and began his training at the State Theatre of Czechoslovakia. Today he lives in a little cabin, surrounded by 'Silicon Beach' mansions, in Venice, California.
- Actress
- Director
- Writer
Paulina Porizkova was born on 9 April 1965 in Prostejov, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic]. She is an actress and director, known for Thursday (1998), Her Alibi (1989) and Arizona Dream (1993). She was previously married to Ric Ocasek.- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
Herbert Lom was born on September 11, 1917 as Herbert Charles Angelo Kuchacevich ze Schluderpacheru into an aristocratic family living in genteel poverty. His incredibly long surnames led him to select the shortest surname he could find extant ("Lom") and adopt it as his own, professionally. He made his film debut in the Czech film Woman Below the Cross (1937) and played supporting and, occasionally, lead roles. His career picked up in the 1940s and he played, among other roles, Napoleon Bonaparte in The Young Mr. Pitt (1942) and in War and Peace (1956). In a rare starring role, Lom played twin trapeze artists in Dual Alibi (1947). He continued into the 1950s with roles opposite Alec Guinness and Peter Sellers in The Ladykillers (1955), and Robert Mitchum, Jack Lemmon and Rita Hayworth in Fire Down Below (1957). His career really took off in the 1960s and he got the title role in Hammer Films' production of The Phantom of the Opera (1962). He also played "Captain Nemo" in Mysterious Island (1961) and landed supporting parts in El Cid (1961) and an especially showy role in Spartacus (1960) as a pirate chieftain contracted to transport Spartacus' army away from Italy.
The 1960s was also the decade in which Lom secured the role for which he will always be remembered: Clouseau/Peter Sellers' long-suffering boss, Commissioner Charles Dreyfus, in the "Pink Panther" films, in which he pulled off the not-inconsiderable feat of stealing almost every scene he and Sellers were in--a real accomplishment, considering what a veteran scene-stealer Sellers was. However, Lom did not concentrate solely on feature films. He became a familiar face to British television viewers when he starred as Dr. Roger Corder in The Human Jungle (1963). He moved into horror films in the 1970s, with parts in Asylum (1972) and And Now the Screaming Starts! (1973). He played Prof. Abraham Van Helsing opposite Christopher Lee in Count Dracula (1970), matching wits against the sinister vampire himself.
Lom appeared as one of the victims in Ten Little Indians (1974), the drunken Dr. Edward Armstrong. His career continued into the 1980s, a standout role being that of Christopher Walken's sympathetic doctor in The Dead Zone (1983). He also played opposite Walter Matthau in Hopscotch (1980) and returned to the murder mystery Ten Little Indians (1989), this time playing The General. Lom has been taking it easy since then, though he returned to his familiar role of Dreyfus in Son of the Pink Panther (1993). He was always a reliable and eminently watchable actor, and unfortunately did not receive the stardom he should have.
Herbert Lom died in his sleep at age 95 on September 27, 2012, in London, England.- Olga Schoberová was born on 15 March 1943 in Prague, Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia [now Czech Republic]. She is an actress, known for Lucrezia (1968), The Vengeance of She (1968) and Le calde notti di Poppea (1969). She was previously married to John Calley and Brad Harris.
- Actress
- Additional Crew
- Sound Department
Edita Brychta was born in Prague but grew up in London, having fled with her family from the 1968 Russian invasion of Czechoslovakia. Her parents, Jan and Lida Brychta, are renowned artists who have exhibited all over the world, and her brother Alex Brychta MBE is a worldwide published book illustrator.
Edita began acting as a small child in the Czech film Kinoautomat, the world's first interactive movie, which was presented at the 1967 Expo in Montreal. It wasn't until the age of 16, when she joined London's National Theatre Youth Workshop, that she abandoned her dream of being an ornithologist and decided to pursue an acting career.
She trained at LAMDA and was swiftly signed by leading agent Ken McReddie. In the UK, Edita went on to play Juliet in Romeo & Juliet, Ophelia in Hamlet, Desdemona in Othello and Marguerite in the world premiere of Vaclav Havel's Largo Desolato, directed by Tom Stoppard. She played Sybil Burlington in the award-winning West End production of Daisy Pulls It Off, produced by Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Starring roles in TV series such as Maelstrom, Gentleman and Players, Lovejoy and Taggart followed, as well as the award winning The Escape (Border in the UK) and the BAFTA nominated The Britoil Affair.
Flying In The Branches was created for Edita to play the leading role of a Czech girl trying to make her escape from communist occupied Czechoslovakia.
The highly publicized role of Princess Diana in NBC's Behind The Palace Doors brought Edita to the USA. She continued to work in diverse roles alongside Julia Roberts in Conspiracy Theory, Jim Carrey in Man On The Moon, James Garner in The Rockford Files and Angela Lansbury in Murder She Wrote. She also acted alongside Stellan Skarsgard and Lena Olin in the Swedish film, Friends.
She worked with directors Ronald Neame, Milos Forman, Richard Donner, and in Mark Rydell's Crime Of The Century for HBO with Isabella Rossellini and Stephen Rea.
In the Czech Republic, Edita played in her native language in two films, notably the leading role in Jan Sverak's Akumulator 1. With her language skills, she also starred in a French TV series, Cinq Filles à Paris.
Her knowledge of languages, accents and dialects makes her much in demand for voiceover work in national campaigns, together with animated films such as Ice Age: Continental Drift, Cosmos and The Bunbury Tails, and numerous features including The Bourne Identity, Pirates Of The Caribbean and Man of Steel, as the voice of the mother ship.
Among many video games featuring her voiceover talents are Ming Xiao in Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines. She has featured in radio plays for the BBC, including the critically acclaimed Me, Cheeta: My Life in Hollywood with John Malkovich.
Edita has voiced many audio books including Jane Goodall's Seeds of Hope and was nominated for an Audie for the trilogy, This Man. She performed a live narration for Leonard Bernstein's The Kaddish at Royce Hall in Los Angeles.
For LA Theatre Works, she featured in Daniel Deronda, A Room With a View, Watch on the Rhine and the Tony-award-winning Oslo.
Edita is married to producer David Ladd and has one daughter, Lauren Cassidy, by a previous marriage.
Her passion is open water swimming and she has completed four swims from Alcatraz Island, the length of the Golden Gate Bridge three times and the 10K distance from the Golden Gate Bridge to the Bay Bridge twice, winning numerous medals.
Updated Jan 11, 2020- Karolina Kurkova is a supermodel best known for her work as a Victoria's Secrets lingerie model. She has appeared in nine Victoria's Secret Fashion shows between 2000 and 2010 and was named a Victoria's Secret Angel in 2005. She has graced the covers of such notable fashion magazines as Vogue, Elle, Vanity Fair, and Esquire among others. In 2002, she was named Model of the Year at the VH1/Vogue Fashion Awards. She also has worked as an actress in movies such as G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra and TV series, Chuck, 30 Rock and Person of Interest. She was born on February 28, 1984 in Deçín Czech Republic. She married Archie Drury in 2009 and the couple have two children together. She was discovered at age fifteen when a friend sent picture of her to a Prague modeling agency.
- Actor
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Karel Roden is an internationally known actor who was most recently seen in the United States in director Jaume Collet-Serra's "Orphan," starring Vera Farmiga and Peter Sarsgaard, and in Guy Ritchie's "RocknRolla," opposite Gerard Butler, Tom Wilkinson and Thandie Newton. His work can also be seen in such films as the hit comedy "Mr. Bean's Vacation," starring Rowan Atkinson; Wayne Kramer's "Running Scared," opposite Paul Walker and Vera Farmiga; Paul Greengrass' wildly successful "The Bourne Supremacy," the second film in the franchise starring Matt Damon; Guillermo del Toro's comics-based action thrillers "Hellboy" and "Blade II"; "Bulletproof Monk," starring Chow Yun-Fat and Seann William Scott; and "15 Minutes," starring Robert De Niro and Edward Burns.
Roden has been nominated several times and recently won a prestigious Czech Lion Award for Best Actor for his work in the film "Guard No. 47," produced in his native country, the Czech Republic. He has acted in numerous Czech films, including "Jménem krále"; "The Eye"; "Holka Ferrari Dino"; "Bathory"; "Little Girl Blue"; "Bestiar"; "Vaterland - Lovecký deník"; and "Wild Flowers." Roden has also acted in a variety of films produced throughout Europe, including France's "Largo Winch," from director Jérôme Salle and starring Kristin Scott Thomas; Spain's "The Abandoned," Poland's "Summer Love"; and the UK's "Shut Up and Shoot Me" and "The Last Drop." He appeared as himself in Jan Nemec's documentary "Late Night Talks with Mother."
On the small screen, Roden has appeared in the US series "The Philanthropist," the UK series "MI-5" and "The Scarlet Pimpernel," and in countless Czech productions, including the series "Trapasy" and the telepic "A Christmas Tale."
A graduate of the Prague Dramatic Academy of Fine Arts, Roden hails from a long tradition of Czech actors: his younger brother, Marian, is also an actor, and both men followed in the footsteps of their father and grandfather. Roden's upcoming films include the horror thriller "Andrassy Street 60.," opposite Talia Shire and Barry Corbin; the German period drama "Habermann"; and "Alois Nebel," an animated feature from the Czech Republic.- Actress
- Writer
- Additional Crew
Ivana Marie Trump was a Czech-American businesswoman, media personality, fashion designer, author, and model. Trump lived in Canada in the 1970s before relocating to the United States and marrying Donald Trump in 1977. She held key managerial positions in The Trump Organization as vice president of interior design, as CEO and president of Trump's Castle casino resort, and as manager of the Plaza Hotel.
Ivana and Donald were prominent figures in New York society throughout the 1980s. The couple's divorce, granted in 1990, was the subject of extensive media coverage. Following the divorce, she developed her own lines of clothing, fashion jewelry, and beauty products which were sold on QVC London and the Home Shopping Network. Ivana wrote an advice column for Globe called "Ask Ivana" from 1995 through 2010 and published several books including works of fiction, self-help, and the autobiography Raising Trump.- Actor
- Writer
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Prague born, Vancouver raised, David Nykl arrived in Canada at age two when his family emigrated from Czechoslovakia after the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact invasion of what was then Czechoslovakia.
David started early as an actor in Vancouver: community theater, small TV parts, and classes in dance and music. He graduated University of British Columbia with an Major in English Literature and Theater.
Post graduation David began appearing in Vancouver theater production at Bard on the Beach, Pacific Theatre, and the Gateway Theatre. He soon toured with a production of "Waiting for Godot" to Prague - where he remained for almost a decade - where he co-founded the famous English language theater company Misery Loves Co. as well as appeared in several local Czech companies such as divadlo na zabradli, kaspar, and divadlo v dlouhe.
Since his return to Canada in the late nineties, David has appeared in dozens of film and TV projects including Stargate: Atlantis (2004), Arrow (2012), Supernatural (2005), Fringe (2008), Eureka (2006), Continuum (2012), Tomorrowland (2015), HBO's The Sleepers (2019), and, since 2019, Carnival Row (2019). He lives in Vancouver with his family.- Actor
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Karel Dobry, born 1969, is an award winning Czech film and stage actor. He has been critically acclaimed for his portrayals of complex characters. Karel was awarded the Czech Lion in 2019 for best leading actor. He was raised in Prague and spent part of his childhood in Syria. He is fluent in English, Czech, Russian and German. In 2014 he won the Alfred Radok award for Best Actor, the Theater News Award for Best Actor, and also garnered a nomination for a Czech Thalie as Best Actor.He has embodied more than 90 roles in film and TV.His recent credits include Genius-Einstein for Fox, directed and produced by Ron Howard, as well as The Catcher Was a Spy acting opposite Paul Rudd. Other interesting credits are Glass Room, Milada, Child 44 and Mission Impossible. He is an avid horseman who has been trained in driving and weaponry and performs many of his own stunts.- Actress
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Hana Vagnerová was born on 21 February 1983 in Prague, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic]. She is an actress and writer, known for Borders of Love (2022), Za vshím hledej zenu (2022) and Villa Lucia (2023).- Actress
- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
Klára Issová is a Czech actress with Syrian roots. She has starred in more then 80 films and TV series. Her biggest international role was in the Fox/TNT series "Legends" playing the lead love interest opposite Sean Bean and in the National Geographic drama series "Genius: Einstein" where she portrayed Marie Curie.
She won the Shooting Star Award at the Berlinale Film Festival and has been nominated three times for the Czech Lion Film Award, winning the award once.
Klára worked as a stage actor for 15 years including two productions she managed to produce as well as star in. Some of the most important roles she portrayed on stage were: Stella in A Streetcar Named Desire Alice in Closer Catherine in A View From The Bridge Lady Anne in Richard the Third
Klára graduated from Prague's Conservatory of Dramatic Art. She worked with the acting and English language coach Joe Weintraub for two years and work-shopped with Bernard Hiller, another acting coach, while staying in Los Angeles. She also participated in several physical workshops such as pantomime, improvisation, and dance flow to extend her knowledge of working with the body and follow its impulses. Recently she has been working with voice teacher Ivana Vostárková.
Klára always works to extend her skills to achieve authenticity and a deeper impression from her roles. She brings sincerity, openness, and joy to her work and finds satisfaction in preparing extensively to embody her characters.
She likes to spend time in nature taking long walks, enjoys salsa dance lessons, and personal fitness training. Klára also takes care of her garden where she grows her fruit and vegetables.- Actor
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Czech actor/producer/director/author George Voskovec was born Jirí Wachsmann on June 19, 1905, the son of Jirina Valentina Marie (nee Pinkasová) and Vilem Eduard Voskovec (Wachsmann). His ancestry was Czech, German, and French. Prior to George's birth, the spelling of the family name was Vaksman (Russian). By the time he was born, which was shortly after their return to Bohemia--then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire--it had been changed to Wachsmann. In 1920, the family again changed the name from Wachsmann to Voskovec, a Czech translation, and his father changed his name to Václav Voskovec. George received his education at Lycée Carnot in Dijon and Charles University (School of Law) in Prague. He made his stage début in Prague in 1927 in "Vest Pocket Revue" and subsequently formed a solid partnership with fellow actor/lyricist Jan Werich. For the next 11 years they wrote, produced and performed 26 productions for the avant-garde Liberated Theatre of Prague, Osvobozene divadlo. He also established himself in Czech comedy films as both performer and writer in tandem with Werich.
In the late 1930s, he left his homeland following the German invasion and emigrated to America. Rebuilding his status as a performer/writer/director, he débuted at the Cleveland Playhouse in 1940 in "Heavy Barbara" and "The Ass and the Shadow," again in collaboration with Werich. During the war years he and Werich wrote and broadcast a host of radio programmes for the "Voice of America". He also made his Broadway début in "The Tempest" in 1945. He returned to Prague after the war in 1946 and worked for a time in the theatre before traveling to Paris, where he first worked for UNESCO, later founded the American theatre of Paris in 1949 and served as producer/director.
Upon his return to America in 1950, he was detained for 11 months on Ellis Island on suspicion of being a communist sympathizer. After he was allowed to enter USA, Voskovec appeared in New York with "The Love of Four Colonels," which he later toured. He went on to accumulate a formidable list of theatre credits including "The Seagull," "Festival" and, notably, "Uncle Vanya" for which he won an Obie award in the title role. He made his London stage début as Otto Frank in "The Diary of Anne Frank" in 1956, and was a continued presence on the 1960s Shakespearean stage with "Caesar and Cleopatra" (as Caesar) and John Gielgud's production of "Hamlet" as the Player King, the latter play was filmed.
In films, he played supporting roles in the U.S. from 1952. Affair in Trinidad (1952), The Iron Mistress (1952), The 27th Day (1957), The Bravados (1958), BUtterfield 8 (1960), The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965) and The Boston Strangler (1968) all benefited from his imposing presence and professional stature. He also played one of the jurors in the classic drama 12 Angry Men (1957) alongside Lee J. Cobb and Henry Fonda. Voskovec was indeed a vital ethnic presence during the "Golden Age of Television" during the 1950s and in episodic 1960s TV. Voskovec was also a songwriter, being the lyricist of some 300 popular songs over his career. He continued to thrive in all three mediums throughout the 1970s practically until his death in 1981 at age 76. One of his final theatrical highlights was in Samuel Beckett's "Happy Days" in which he shared the stage with Irene Worth. This was followed by regular TV stints on Skag (1980) and Nero Wolfe (1981).
Divorced from his first wife and the widower of his second, Broadway stage actress Anne Gerlette, Voskovec later wed poet/journalist Christianne McKeown. He was survived by his third wife and two daughters from his second marriage: Victorie (adopted, born in 1954) and Georgeanne (adopted, born in 1956). He never returned to Prague.- Actress
- Composer
- Music Department
Markéta Irglová was born on 28 February 1988 in Valasské Mezirící, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic]. She is an actress and composer, known for Once (2007), The Odd Life of Timothy Green (2012) and The Simpsons (1989). She was previously married to Tim Iseler.- Actress
- Additional Crew
- Publicist
Born in 1976 in Prague, this prolific actress debuted before the cameras at the early age of 14. Also a top model, Anna Geislerová already has an impressive career behind her (110 films, TV films or series episodes in early 2013!) and has received several awards for her remarkable performances, notably in Sasa Gedeon's 1999 "Návrat idiota" (Le retour de l'idiot), Ondrej Trojan's Zelary (2003) and Bohdan Sláma's 2005 "Stestí" (Something Like Happiness), a sensitive work in which she breaks the viewer's heart as a depressed single mother.- Actor
- Director
- Producer
Jan Rubes was born in Volyne, Czechoslovakia, to Ruzena (Kellnerová) and Jan Rubes. After graduating in 1945 from the Conservatory of Music in Prague, he went on to join the Prague Opera House as their youngest basso singer. He also performed at the Pilsen Opera House in leading roles in his early years. By 1948, he was chosen to represent Czechoslovakia at the International Music Festival held in Geneva and won first prize in his category. He emigrated to Canada on New Year's Eve 1948 with hopes of creating a greater musical career. As a member of the Canadian Opera Company, he achieved recognition for his roles, as Boris in "Boris Godunov", Schigolch in "Lulu" and as Mephisto in "Faust". He also served as the company's director of touring and program development. Branching out into radio and, eventually, TV, he wrote and hosted from 1975-83 TVOntario's "Guess What?" and acted in many TV dramas, later receiving the Earle Grey Award for lifetime work in Canadian television. Most moviegoers would recognize Jan Rubes in Witness (1985) (a Harrison Ford film), where he portrayed an Amish patriarch. He lived in Toronto with his wife, actor/director Susan Douglas Rubes. They had three children.- Actor
- Director
- Soundtrack
Frantisek Lederer was born on November 6th, 1899, in Czechoslovakia. His father was a leather merchant, and young Frantisek began his working life as a department store delivery boy in Prague. He fell in love with acting from a young age, and was soon on stage touring Moravia and then all over Central Europe with people like Peter Lorre.
Lederer was easily lured into film by German actress Henny Porten and her producer husband. And it wasn't long before he was starring in the legendary German silent movie Pandora's Box (1929).
Whilst Lederer, who was using the German name of Franz, shifted from silents to talkies easily and was fast becoming one of Germany's top stars, he hadn't yet learned to speak any English.
By 1934, Lederer, (now using Francis), had begun working in America. And he was getting top billing too. Irving Thalberg had planned to make Lederer "the biggest star in Hollywood" but Thalberg's untimely death put a stop to that. But Lederer continued successfully in film and TV for many years.
After two brief marriages his third lasted 59 years. He invested in property well and made a fortune in the Canoga Park, California area. He founded the National Academy of Performing Arts on which his close friend Joan Crawford was on the Advisory Board. He loved to teach.
Lederer was still teaching the week before he died in 2000, aged 100 years.- Writer
- Script and Continuity Department
- Producer
Tom Stoppard was born on 3 July 1937 in Zlín, Czechoslovakia [now in Czech Republic]. He is a writer and producer, known for Shakespeare in Love (1998), Brazil (1985) and Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (1990). He has been married to Sabrina Guinness since 2014. He was previously married to Miriam Stoppard and Jose Ingle.- Dagmar Lassander was born on 16 June 1943 in Prague, Protectorate Bohemia and Moravia [now Czech Republic]. She is an actress, known for Devil Fish (1984), Hatchet for the Honeymoon (1970) and I racconti fantastici di Edgar Allan Poe (1979).
- Actress
- Soundtrack
After achieving modest fame as an ice skater in her native Czechoslovakia, Vera Hruba was brought to the United States by Republic Pictures head Herbert J. Yates, who hoped to turn her into the next Sonja Henie. After featuring her in two "Ice Capades" movies, he added "Ralston" to her name and tried to pass her off as a leading lady. Hruba's English was so limited, she was forced to learn her lines phonetically. Her English improved, and directors said she tried hard to learn her craft, but bad acting and a thick accent made it difficult for audiences to accept her.- Director
- Producer
- Writer
Georg Wilhelm Pabst is considered by many to be the greatest director of German cinema, in his era. He was especially appreciated by actors and actresses for the humane way in which he treated them. This was in contrast to some of his contemporaries, such as Arnold Fanck, who have been characterized as martinets.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Eliska Krenková was born on 31 January 1990 in Prague, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic]. She is an actress, known for Winter Flies (2018), We Have Never Been Modern (2023) and Two Ships (2021).- Producer
- Actor
- Writer
Director/writer/producer/actor
Petr Jákl was born on September 14th 1973 in the Czech Republic and got a master degree at the Faculty of Physical Education and Sport at the Charles University in Prague. From his childhood Petr devoted himself to sports and he became the Champion of the Czech Republic in judo 10 times. His sport career culminated during the Olympic games in Sydney in 2000, where he was representing the Czech Republic. Since 1992 he is also active in film industry. He started as an actor and a stuntman in Czech movies and later he was casted into many big Hollywood productions. Shooting with directors Luc Besson (Joan of Arc) and Rob Cohen (xXx) were important turning points in his film career, as they both helped Petr to develop his acting career further. Later on Petr started producing, writing and directing. After his debut thriller Kajínek, which was the highest grossing Czech thriller in the history, he directed a horror movie Ghoul, which was the highest grossing horror in the Czech history. In 2022 his film Medieval with Michael Caine and Ben Foster was distributed worldwide.- Director
- Writer
- Production Designer
After studying at the Institute of Industrial Arts and the Marionette Faculty of the Prague Academy of Fine Arts in the 1950s, Jan Svankmajer started working as a theatre director, chiefly in association with the Theatre of Masks and the Black Theatre. He first experimented with film-making after becoming involved with the multimedium productions of Prague's Lanterna Magika Theatre. He began making short films in 1964, and continued working in the same medium for over twenty years, when he finally achieved his long-held ambition to make a feature film based on Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland (Alice (1988)). He has also exhibited his drawings, collages and 'tactile sculptures', many of which were produced in the mid-1970s, when he was temporarily banned from film-making by the Czech authorities. He has been a card-carrying member of the Prague Surrealist Group since 1969.- Actress
- Director
- Writer
Tereza Srbova was born in Prague, Czech Republic. She holds a Master's degree in culture anthropology. During her studies she worked as a model in Paris and featured in high-end brand campaigns such as Dior. In 2007 she effortlessly transitioned from modeling to acting with her first audition, landing the part of Kirilenko in David Cronenberg's Eastern Promises starring Viggo Mortensen and Vincent Cassel. In the following years she has appeared in films St. Trinian's, Inkheart and Eichmann. In 2010, Srbova played the lead role of Silka in the Lionsgate horror Siren. In this film she performed the song Elephants by Warpaint. In 2013 Srbova portrayed the agent Major Nina Pirogova in the acclaimed Cinemax/HBO series Strike Back, starring Philip Winchester and Sullivan Stapleton. In 2015 she reprized her role in Strike Back: Legacy. In 2018 she portrayed the enigmatic Sonya Galich in Red Joan, a feature film based on a best-selling book and directed by Trevor Nunn. Srbova co-stars opposite Judi Dench, Sophie Cookson and Tom Hughes. In 2022 Srbova plays Jana Breza opposite John Krasinski and Nina Hoss in four episodes of season 3 of Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan. Next to acting she writes and directs short films. In 2021 she wrote a graphic novel which was published in her home country.- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Stunts
While studying in Prague, Ladislav turned out to be a brilliant dancer and choreographer. After appearing various dancing shows, musicals and stage plays since 1991, he made the step to acting and choreographing zombie-, dancing- and animal movements in movies.
In 2001 he had his first big project which would soon be followed by the ultra-cool Blade II in which he acted and choreographed. Ladislav's biggest break came as the scaring and convincing Kroenen in Hellboy, for which he again worked with Guillermo del Toro.- Jaroslava Schallerová was born on 25 April 1956 in Prague, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic]. She is an actress, known for Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (1970), Láska (1973) and 30 panen a Pythagoras (1977).
- Hana Brejchová was born on 12 December 1946 in Prague, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic]. She was an actress, known for Loves of a Blonde (1965), Amadeus (1984) and Nejkrásnejsí vek (1969). She was married to Jaroslav Barina. She died in April 2024 in the Czech Republic.
- Actress
- Director
- Writer
Dana Vávrová was born on 9 August 1967 in Prague, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic]. She was an actress and director, known for Herbstmilch (1989), Amadeus (1984) and Der letzte Zug (2006). She was married to Joseph Vilsmaier. She died on 5 February 2009 in Munich, Bavaria, Germany.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Krystof Hádek was born on 10 March 1982 in Prague, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic]. He is an actor, known for Dark Blue World (2001), Under the Skin (2013) and 3 Seasons in Hell (2009).- Actress
- Soundtrack
Born in interwar Prague as Miroslava Stanclová, her father died and she was adopted by a Jewish doctor, the psychoanalyst Dr. Oskar Leo Stern (1900-1972) who married her mother, Miroslava (née Becka; 1898-1945). Dr. and Mrs. Stern had a son, Ivo (1931-2011), the actress's half-brother. The family was, at one point, interned in a concentration camp after they fled their native Czechoslovakia in 1939. They sought refuge in various Scandinavian countries before emigrating to Mexico in 1941.
After winning a beauty contest in Mexico City, young Miroslava spent some time in Los Angeles studying acting. Due to her European features and accent, she rarely found roles other than mysterious women or foreign beauties. She was eventually offered a role in what would become her last and most remembered film: Luis Buñuel's The Criminal Life of Archibaldo de la Cruz (1955).
Soon after the film wrapped, she committed suicide reportedly because the man she loved married another woman. In a macabre coincidence, the premiere of The Criminal Life of Archibaldo de la Cruz (1955), in which a mannequin in her likeness is incinerated, was released during her own cremation in a Mexican graveyard. Her short, tragic life inspired a short story in 1990, and a film, Miroslava (1993).- Writer
- Additional Crew
Austrian neurologist and 'father of psychoanalysis'. Freud was born to Jacob Freud, a Jewish wool merchant, and Amalia (neé Nathansohn). The family settled in Vienna when Freud was young. In 1873 he started medicine at the University of Vienna, at which time he adopted the shortened form of his name, "Sigmund." Freud served a year of compulsory military service and got his M.D. in 1881. He then stayed on for another year as a demonstrator in the physiology laboratory. From 1882 to 1886, he worked as an assistant at the General Hospital in Vienna. During this period, Dr. Josef Breuer related to Freud how he had treated a young woman suffering from hysteria with 'talking cures' while in a state of self-hypnosis. This is considered the prototype of psychoanalysis. Late in 1885, Freud went to Paris on grant to study at the Salpetriere, a mental hospital, with the famed French neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot. Charcot had pioneered the treatment of nervous disorders by hypnosis. On Freud's return to Vienna in 1886 he took up his post as lecturer in neuropathology at the university and also established a private practice in nervous diseases. In 1887 he established a close friendship with Wilhelm Fliess, the Berlin otolaryngologist, with whom he discussed his work and ideas. Fleiss is called "the midwife of psychoanalysis". In 1891 he and his family moved to an apartment at Berggasse, 19. Here for the next 45 years Freud did most of his psychoanalytical treatments on his patients. Freud's first published work was entitled 'On Aphasia, a Critical Study' (1891). Freud first used the term "psychoanalysis" for his new treatment in 1896. Some of his other famous works include: Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality (1905), Selected Papers on Hysteria and Other Psychoneuroses (1909) and The Interpretation of Dreams (1913). Freud was appointed "Professor Extraordinary" of Neurology at the University in 1902. The same year he had also begun to meet informally at Berggasse, 19, with a group of medical colleagues interested in learning about the new discipline. In 1909 Freud was invited to Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, with Carl Jung and Sandor Ferenczi, to speak about his theories. An avid cigar smoker he developed cancer of the jaw in 1923. He underwent operations, radiotherapy and the discomfort of an oral prosthetic device that to some extent affected his speech. In 1930 the city of Frankfurt awarded Freud its Goethe Prize for work that had "opened access to the driving forces of the soul." He was elected in 1936 a corresponding member of the Royal Society of London (in the company of Newton and Darwin). The growing danger of anti-Semitism and Nazi persecution made it apparent that the Freuds would suffer the fate of other Jews if they stayed in Vienna. With the help of US government officials Freud, his wife and daughter Anna were allowed to leave Austria. It was Freud's wish to "die in freedom," and so he did in his new home at 20 Maresfield Gardens, which is now the Freud Museum.- Actor
- Director
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Rudolf Hrusínský was born on 17 October 1920 in Nový Etynk-Vcelnice, Czechoslovakia [now Nová Vcelnice, Czech Republic]. He was an actor and director, known for The Cremator (1969), The Mysterious Castle in the Carpathians (1981) and Pancho se zení (1946). He died on 13 April 1994 in Prague, Czech Republic.- Tereza Voriskova is a Czech actress. She has played in more than thirty films and series for Czech and international productions; e.g. in director Steve Shil's US series The Missing, starring Ashley Judd, Sean Bean and Cliff Curtis; in Paul Donova's Canadian series Clay's P.O.V., starring Guy Falkner and Beate Malkus, and in the British series The Borgias. She played leading roles in a lot of Czech films, e.g. Po strnisti bos (Barefoot over the Stubble Field) directed by Oscar winning director Jan Sverak, Zivot je zivot directed by Milan Cieslar, etc.; in film series - Terapie (Therapy II.) starring Karel Roden, or Dabing Street directed by Petr Zelenka, among the others. Tereza has been nominated for the most prestigious film award Czech Lion.
Tereza is also known as a theatre actress. She has performed in the Divadlo Komedie (The Comedy Theatre in Prague). Her current theatre role is Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, directed by SKUTR at the very much respected Shakespeare Summer Festival 2017 in the Prague Castle.
Tereza graduated from Prague Conservatory and has been a dancer in the folk ensemble since her childhood. She speaks fluent English, is a skilled dancer, and loves horse riding. Tereza is patroness of the Mental Power Prague Film Festival - the unique film festival of mentally handicapped persons. - Director
- Writer
- Art Department
Edgar G. Ulmer was born on 17 September 1904 in Olmütz, Moravia, Austria-Hungary [now Olomouc, Czech Republic]. He was a director and writer, known for The Naked Dawn (1955), The Black Cat (1934) and Isle of Forgotten Sins (1943). He was married to Shirley Ulmer and Joan Warner. He died on 30 September 1972 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.- Franz Kafka was born into a German-speaking Jewish family in Prague, Austrian Empire, in 1883. His father, Hermann Kafka, was a business owner and a domestic tyrant, frequently abusing his son. Kafka later admitted to his father, "My writing was all about you...". He believed that his father broke his will and caused insecurity and guilt, that affected his whole life. Their tensions come out in "The Trial" and in "The Castle" in form of a hopeless conflict with an overwhelming force. His mother, Julie Lowy, came from an intellectual, spiritual family of the Jewish merchant and brewer Jakob Lowy. Although her influence was diminished by his dominating father, she shared her son's delicate nature. Kafka had a few relationships with women and was engaged, but never made a family.
He finished the German National Gymnasium in 1901, and graduated from the German University in Prague as Doctor of Law in 1906. He worked for insurance companies for the rest of his life. His profession shaped the formal, cold language of his writings which avoided any sentimental interpretations, leaving it to the reader. In 1908 Kafka published eight short stories compiled under the title "Meditation". In 1911 he became interested in Yiddish theater, that absorbed him more than abstract Judaism. In 1912 he began writing "The Judgment", which was more than an autobiography, providing a therapeutical outlet for his wrecked soul. The same year he started "Metamorphosis" about a traveling salesman, who transformed into a giant bug. In 1914 he wrote "In the Penal Colony" and "The Trial", which is regarded to be his best work. His style remains unique, though literary connections may be traced to Edgar Allan Poe, E.T.A. Hoffmann and Nikolay Gogol, as well as to Chinese parables, to the Bible and Talmud.
As a Jew Kafka experienced social tensions and isolation from the German community, so very few of his writings could find readers during his life. His three sisters later died in the Nazi concentration camps. He suffered from clinical depression, social anxiety, insomnia, and tuberculosis, complicated by laryngitis, that caused him the loss of his voice before his death in 1924. He was comforted by his girlfriend Dora Diamant, who had broken away from her Hasidic shtetl in Poland. She was 19 when they met in 1923 and Kafka wrote to her parents, asking for their permission to marry her. Their answer was negative, because Kafka presented himself as a non-religious Jew. He asked Dora to destroy his manuscripts after his death, but she kept about 20 notebooks of his writings and 35 private letters, that were reportedly confiscated by the Gestapo in 1933 and are not yet recovered. His university friend Max Brod became his editor, biographer and literary agent, who preserved and published most of Kafka's works posthumously, including the unfinished novels "The Trial", "The Castle", and "America". - Director
- Writer
- Actress
Vera Chytilová was born on February 2, 1929, in Ostrava, Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic). She studied philosophy and architecture in Brno for two years, then worked as a technical draftsman, a designer, a fashion model, a photo re-toucher, then worked as a clapper girl for Barrandov Film Studios in Prague. There she continued as a writer, actress, and assistant director.
She was denied a scholarship, or even a recommendation from Barrandov, but she took the admissions tests at FAMU and was accepted. From 1957-1962 she studied film directing under Otakar Vávra, who also taught Jirí Menzel, Milos Forman, Jan Nemec, and Ivan Passer. In 1962 she graduated as director from Film Academy (FAMU) in Prague. Her graduation film 'Strop' (Ceiling 1962) and the following film 'Pytel blech' (A Bagful of Fleas 1963) were "staged" improvisations with non-actors. In 1966 Chytilova and her husband, 'Jaroslav Kucera', made a witty surrealist comedy Daisies (1966), which was immediately banned, but then was released in 1967, and won the Grand Prix at the Bergamo Film Festival. She remained in Czechoslovakia after the events of 1968, when her colleagues Milos Forman, Jan Nemec, and Ivan Passer emigrated. Her films were often "shelved" for reasons of political censorship. For six years Chytilova was banned from making films. In 1976 she wrote a letter of complaint to President Gustav Husak, describing her artistic position. After some behind-the-scenes influence by her supporters, Chytilova was allowed to make a low-budget Hra o jablko (1977), which won a Silver Hugo at Chicago Film Festival.
Chytilova belongs among the foremost directors of the 1960's Czech New Wave, which was influenced by both the French New Wave and Italian Neo-Realism. Her films were acclaimed for visual experimentation and for bold unmasking of the moral problems of contemporary society. Her art belongs to what Sergei Eisenstein described as "intellectual cinema", that embraces the mix of "avant-garde", "cinema verite", "formalism", "feminism", or "happening" and, with a good deal of humor, it spreads beyond definitions. Chytilova's films often present a multi-layered plethora of visual associations that encourages the viewer to make active interpretations. She survived through the political turbulences in Czechoslovakia and has been a highly original and uncompromising filmmaker.- Cinematographer
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- Camera and Electrical Department
Karl Freund, an innovative director of photography responsible for development of the three-camera system used to shoot television situation comedies, was born on January 16, 1890, in the Bohemian city of Koeniginhof, then part of the Austria-Hungarian Empire (now known as Dvur Kralove in the Czech Republic). Freund went to work at the age of 15 as a movie projectionist, and by the age of 17, he was a camera operator shooting shot subjects and newsreels. Subsequently, he was employed at Germany's famous UFA Studios during the 1920s, when the German cinema was the most innovative in the world.
At UFA, Freund worked as a cameraman for such illustrious directors as F.W. Murnau and Fritz Lang. For Murnau's The Last Laugh (1924) (aka The Last Laugh), screenwriter Carl Mayer worked closely with Freund to develop a scenario that would employ the moving camera that became a hallmark of Weimar German cinema. One of the most beautiful and critically acclaimed silent films, The Last Laugh (1924) is considered the perfect silent by some critics as the images do most of the storytelling, allowing for a minimal amount of inter-titles. The collaborative genius of Murnau, Mayer, and Freund meant that the images communicated the integral part of the narrative, visualizing and elucidating the protagonist's psyche. Freund filmed a drunk scene with the camera secured on his chest, with a battery pack on his back for balance, enabling him to stumble about and produce vertiginous shots suggesting intoxication.
Director Ewald André Dupont gave credit for the innovative camera work on his masterpiece Variety (1925) (aka Variety) to Freund, praising his ingenuity in an article published in The New York Times. Freund was one of the cameramen and the co-writer (with Carl Mayer and director Walter Ruttmann) on Berlin: Symphony of Metropolis (1927) (Berlin: Symphony of a Great City), an artistic documentary that used a hidden camera to capture the people of the city going about their daily lives. Always technically innovative, Freund developed a high-speed film stock to aid his shooting in low-light situations. This film also is hailed as a classic. Other classic German films that Freund shot were The Golem (1920) (aka The Golem) and Lang's Metropolis (1927).
Now possessing an international reputation, Freund emigrated to the U.S. in 1929, where he was employed by the Technicolor Co. to help perfect its color process. Subsequently, he was hired as a cinematographer and director by Universal Studios, where he cut his teeth, uncredited, as a cinematographer on the great anti-war classic All Quiet on the Western Front (1930), Universal's first Oscar winner as Best Picture.
Universal's bread and butter in the early 1930s were its horror films, and Freund was involved in the production of several classics. Among his Universal assignments, Freund shot Dracula (1931) and Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932), and directed The Mummy (1932). The Mummy (1932) was Freund's first directorial effort, and co-star Zita Johann, who disliked Freund, claimed he was incompetent, which is unfair, seeing as how the film is now considered a classic of its genre. The film uses the undead sorcerer Imhotep's pool with which he can impose his will over the living by spreading some tana leaves on the water, as a visual metaphor for the subconscious. The film is arresting visually due to Freund's cinematic eye that created a sense of "otherness." The film is infused with a dream-like state that seems rooted in the subconscious mind. Freund's other directorial efforts at Universal proved less satisfying.
Moving to MGM, Freund directed just one more motion picture, Mad Love (1935) (aka The Hands of Orlac) a horror classic that utilized the expressionism of his UFA apprenticeship. With the great lighting cameraman Gregg Toland as his director of photography, the collaboration of Freund and Toland created a European sensibility unique for a Hollywood horror film. The compositions of the shots featured arch shapes and utilized the expressive shadows of the best of the European avant-garde films of the 1920s.
But MGM wanted Freund for his genius at camera work. He shot the rooftop numbers for The Great Ziegfeld (1936), another Best Picture Oscar winner, and worked with William H. Daniels, Garbo's favorite cameraman, on "Camille" (1936). He shot Greta Garbo's Conquest (1937) solo, though he never worked with Garbo again. That same year, he was the director of photography on The Good Earth (1937), for which he won an Academy Award for Best Cinematography.
Other major MGM pictures he shot were Pride and Prejudice (1940), for which he received an Academy Award nomination, Tortilla Flat (1942), and A Guy Named Joe (1943). He also worked for other studios, shooting Golden Boy (1939) for Columbia. In 1942, he pulled off a rare double: he was nominated for Best Cinematography in both the black and white and color categories, for The Chocolate Soldier (1941) and Blossoms in the Dust (1941), respectively.
One of the last films he shot for MGM was Two Smart People (1946), starring Lucille Ball. In 1947, he moved on to Warner Bros, where he shot the classic Key Largo (1948) for John Huston. His last film as a director of photography was Michael Curtiz' Montana (1950), which starred Gary Cooper.
Always the technical innovator, Freund founded the Photo Research Corp. in 1944, a laboratory for the development of new cinematographic techniques and equipment. His technical work culminated in his receipt of a Class II Technical Award in 1955 from the Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences for the design of a direct-reading light meter. That same year, he had the honor of representing his adopted country at the International Conference on Illumination in Zurich, Switzerland.
It was perhaps inevitable that the technical and innovation-minded Freund would get to work for a brand new visual medium, television. Lucille Ball, whom he had photographed when she was a contract player at MGM, became his boss when he was hired as the director of photography at Desilu Productions, owned by Ball and her husband, Desi Arnaz. Desilu hired the great Freund as its owners were determined to shoot the show I Love Lucy (1951) on film rather than produce the show live, as was standard in the early 1950s. Most shows were shot live, while a film of the program was simultaneously shot from a monitor, a process that created a "kinescope." The kinescope would be shown in other time zones on the network's affiliates. Desilu's owners disliked the quality of kinescopes, and needed Freund to come up with a solution to their problem of how to maintain the intimacy of a live show on film.
Freund agreed that the show should be shot on film rather than live, as film enabled thorough planning and allowed for cutting, which was impossible with live TV. Freud knew that film would allow Desilu to eliminate the fluffs which were a staple of early television, and would allow the producers to re-shoot scenes to improve the show, if needed.
I Love Lucy (1951) had to be filmed before an audience to retain the immediacy of a live TV show, which meant that the traditional, time-consuming methods of studio production with one camera would not work. Freund decided to shoot I Love Lucy (1951) with three 35mm Mitchell BNC cameras, one of each to simultaneously shoot long shots, medium shots and close-ups. Thus, the editor would have adequate coverage to create the 22 minutes of footage needed for a half-hour commercial network show.
The then-innovative, now-standard technique of simultaneously shooting a situation comedy with three 35mm cameras cut the production time needed to produce a 22-minute program to one-hour. The cameras were mounted on dollies, with the center camera outfitted with a 40mm wide-angle lens, and the side cameras outfitted with 3- and 4-inch lenses. The resulting shots were edited on a Movieola. A script girl in a booth overlooking the stage cued the camera operators. Due to extensive rehearsal time before the show was shot live, the camera operators had floor marks to guide them, but Freund's system was enabled by the script girl overseeing their actions via a 2-way intercom. The system made the shooting, breaking-down, and setting-up process for the next scenes on the three sets of the I Love Lucy (1951) stage very economical in terms of time, averaging one and one-half minutes between shots.
Freund worked out the lighting during the rehearsal period. Almost all of the lighting was overhead, except for portable fill lights mounted above the matte box on each camera. In Freund's system, there were no lighting changes during shooting, other than the use of a dimming board. Since the lighting was mounted overhead on catwalks, power cables were kept off the floor, which facilitated the dollying that was essential for making the system work fluidly.
Freund's solution to the problem of shooting a show on film economically was to make lighting as uniform as possible, taking advantage of adding highlights whenever possible, since a comedy show required high-key illumination. Due to the high contrast of the tubes in the image pickup systems at the television stations, contrast was a potential problem, as any contrast in the film would be exaggerated upon transmission of the film. To keep the film contrast to what Freund called a "fine medium," the sets were painted in various shades of gray. Props and costumes also were gray to promote a uniformity of color and tone that would not defeat Freund's carefully devised illumination scheme.
In a typical workweek, the I Love Lucy (1951) company engaged in pre-production planning and rehearsals on Monday through Thursday. I Love Lucy (1951) was filmed before a live audience at 8:00 o'clock PM on Friday evenings, and Freund's camera crew worked only on that Friday and the preceding Thursday. Freund, however, attended the Wednesday afternoon rehearsal of the cast to study the movements of the players around the sets, noting the blocking and their entrances and exits, in order to plan his lighting and camera work. Thursday morning at 8:00 o'clock AM, Freund and the gaffers would begin lighting the sets, which typically would be done by noon, the time the camera crew was required to report on set to be briefed on camera movements. Then, Freund would rehearse the camera action in order to make necessary changes in the lighting and the dollying of the cameras.
It was during the Thursday full-crew rehearsal that the cues for the dimmer operator were set, and the floor was marked to indicate the cameras' positions for various shots. For each shot, the focus was pre-measured and noted for each camera position with chalk marks on the stage floor. Another rehearsal was held at 4:30 PM with the full production crew. Though a full-dress rehearsal was held at 7:30 PM, with the attendance of the full crew, the cameras were not brought onto the set. The director would take the opportunity to discuss the plan of the show and solicit input from the cast and crew on how to tighten the show and improve its pacing.
The next call for the entire company was at 1:00 PM on Friday to discuss any major changes that were discussed the previous night. After this meeting, the cameras would be brought out onto the stage, and at 4:30 PM, there would be a final dress rehearsal during which Freund would check his lighting and make any required changes.
After a dinner break, the cast and production crew would hold a "talk through" of the show to solicit further suggestions and solve any remaining problems. At 8:00 PM, the cast and production crew were ready to start filming the show before a live audience. Before shooting, one of the cast or a member of the company had briefed the audience on the filming procedure, emphasizing the need for the audience's reactions to be spontaneous and natural.
Shooting was over in about an hour due to the rapid set-ups and break-downs of the crew, which shot the show in chronological order. Due to the thorough planning and rehearsals, retakes were seldom necessary. Camera operators in Freund's system had to make each take the right way the first time, every time, to keep the system working smoothly, and they did. An average of 7,500 feet of film was shot for each show at a cost that was significantly less than a comparable major studio production.
Freund also served as the cinematographer on the TV series Our Miss Brooks (1952), which was shot at Desilu Studios, and Desilu's own December Bride (1954). It was no accident that Desilu productions turned to Karl Freund to realize their dream of creating a high-quality show on film. Freund had the broadest experience of any cameraman of his stature, starting in silent pictures, and then excelling in both B&W and color in the sound era. With his penchant for technical innovation, he was the ideal man to develop solutions for filming a television show. Freund met the challenge of creating high quality filmed images in a young medium still handicapped by its primitive technology.
Freund became the dean of cinematographers in a new medium, with Desilu's I Love Lucy (1951) and its other shows recognized as the gold standard for TV production. His work ensured the fortunes of Desilu Productions, and the personal fortunes of Desilu owners Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball, as he provided them with quality films of each show that could be easily syndicated into perpetuity, whereas the live shows filmed secondarily off of flickering TV monitors as kinescopes could not.
After retiring as a cinematographer, Freund continued his research at the Photo Research Corp. He died on May 3, 1969.- Director
- Producer
- Writer
Karel Reisz was born on 21 July 1926 in Ostrava, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic]. He was a director and producer, known for The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981), Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960) and Morgan! (1966). He was married to Betsy Blair and Julia Coppard. He died on 25 November 2002 in London, England, UK.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Iva Janzurová was born on 19 May 1941 in Zirovnice, Protectorate Bohemia and Moravia [now Czech Republic]. She is an actress, known for Eeny Meeny (2000), Výlet (2002) and Co chytnes v zite (1998).- Actress
- Soundtrack
Zuzana Stivínová was born on 24 July 1973 in Prague, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic]. She is an actress, known for Spaceman (2024), Underworld: Blood Wars (2016) and Pasti, pasti, pasticky (1998).- Jana Kaderabkova was born on 15 January 1982 in Prague, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic]. She is an actress, known for Hostel (2005), The Division and Hostel Dissected (2006).
- Actress
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- Composer
Highly alluring Czech-born actress Florence Marly, born on June 2, 1919, initially expressed intentions of being an opera singer. At the age of 18, however, she was discovered by the 33-year-old renowned French director Pierre Chenal while a student of art and literature at the Sorbonne. Chenal put her immediately into his film The Alibi (1937) and an acting career was ignited instead.
Chenal and his protégé married the following year and Florence continued to figure into many of his films including The Lafarge Case (1938), Sirocco (1938), and The Last Turning (1939). Managing to flee Paris prior to the Nazi occupation, the couple arrived in Argentina in 1944 and stayed there for several years where she appeared in a few films -- La piel de Zapa (1943), El fin de la noche (1944) and, for her husband, Viaje sin regreso (1946). Returning to France in the post-war years, she was nominated for a Cannes Film Festival award for her performance in The Damned (1947) [The Damned] directed by René Clément and also starring Marcel Dalio and Henri Vidal.
Exotic foreign imports were popular in Hollywood in post-war years and in 1949, sultry-eyed Florence took a chance on Hollywood when she was signed by Paramount. When not appearing in the typical intrigue and espionage movies expected of her opposite such stars as Ray Milland in Sealed Verdict (1948) and Humphrey Bogart in Tokyo Joe (1949), she entertained American troops in Korea and took time to appear in a homeland movie Krakatit (1948). During this period she also received top billing in the US/Japan co-production Tokyo File 212 (1951) and was featured in the minor comedy Gobs and Gals (1952) which showcased pantomime American comedians George Bernard and Bert Bernard [aka The Bernard Brothers].
Florence's American career was cut short when she was branded a Communist and blacklisted. Leaving America for a time, she was eventually cleared after it was discovered that her name had been confused with the Russian club singer Anna Marly who was on the "subversive" list. The damage had already been done, however, and her film career never recovered.
Appearing in her husband's films El ídolo (1952) [The Idol] and Confesiones al amanecer (1954) [Confessions at Dawn], their marriage, which was marked by long separations, crumbled and she and Chenal divorced in 1955. Florence married an Austrian count the following year, but that marriage too would not survive. With her film career practically finished (one of her last during this period of upheaval was the "C" grade movie Undersea Girl (1957) with Mara Corday), she turned to TV and worked occasionally for the next decade or so on such popular shows as "The Millionaire", "Dragnet", "77 Sunset Strip", "The Man from U.N.C.L.E" and "Love, American Style". She also returned to a small spate of low grade films including Queen of Blood (1966), Doctor Death: Seeker of Souls (1973), The Astrologer (1976) and the movie short Space Boy (1973), in which she also served as writer and composer.
Florence died suddenly in the Los Angeles area at age 59 of a heart attack.- Actress
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Dagmar Patrasová was born on 27 April 1956 in Prague, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic]. She is an actress and writer, known for Arabela se vrací (1993), The Great Movie Robbery (1986) and 30 panen a Pythagoras (1977). She has been married to Felix Slovacek since 1983. They have two children.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Ivana Andrlová was born on 28 October 1960 in Vysoké Mýto, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic]. She is an actress, known for Bambinot (1984), Chlapci a chlapi (1988) and Visitors from the Arkana Galaxy (1981).- Actor
- Director
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Friedrich von Thun was born on 30 June 1942 in Kwassitz, Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia [now Kvasice, Moravia, Czech Republic]. He is an actor and director, known for Schindler's List (1993), Die Verbrechen des Professor Capellari (1998) and Cold Hell (2017). He was previously married to Gabriele (Gaby) Schniewind and Gabriele (Yella) Bleyler.- Actor
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Jirí Menzel was born on 23 February 1938 in Prague, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic]. He was an actor and director, known for Closely Watched Trains (1966), I Served the King of England (2006) and Larks on a String (1969). He was married to Olga Menzelová-Kelymanová. He died on 5 September 2020 in Prague, Czech Republic.