Felix Smetana

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Felix Louis Smetana (born September 26, 1907 in Dresden , † December 23, 1968 in Vienna ) was a German-Austrian set designer and film architect .

Live and act

At the stage

Smetana attended secondary school in his hometown and received his training at Dresden's Academy of Fine Arts. Almost at the same time, he gained practical knowledge as an assistant director and set designer at the local state theater . In 1927 he was appointed a set designer at the Potsdamer Schauspielhaus , and the following year he moved to the Schauspielhaus Zürich . At the Berlin State Opera , he was also responsible for the stage design of a production of Mozart 's Idomeneo in 1928 . In the following period, from 1928 to 1941, stage engagements took Smetana to Sweden , the Netherlands , Denmark , Hungary , Czechoslovakia and Great Britain .

After the Second World War , which Smetana spent in uniform since 1941, and his return from prisoner-of-war (1947), the Viennese by choice returned to the theater and designed the sets for numerous productions at the Burgtheater , Akademietheater , Volkstheater , Theater in der Josefstadt , Renaissance theater as well as on smaller stages, including the Wiener Werkel, the Theater der Courage and the Kleine Haus in Liliengasse. Since 1948 Smetana has also designed stage sets for the Salzburg State Theater . From 1948 to 1950 he wrote and staged radio programs for several Austrian broadcasters.

With film and television

Smetana first came into contact with the film when he first arrived in Berlin, where he received further training from the experienced film architect Robert Neppach . From 1929 to 1935 Smetana was employed in a subordinate position by the production companies Terra and UFA and was involved in films such as Two Hearts in Three-Four Time (1930), Spring Voices (1933) and A Woman Who Knows What She Wants (1934) .

Nevertheless, it was only from 1950 that Smetana was solely responsible for designing film structures. In the next twelve years he created a wealth of mostly Austrian and occasionally German entertainment productions, which, however, had hardly any artistic value. During this time he worked with the directors Franz Antel , Fritz Kortner , Theo Lingen and Géza von Cziffra , among others . With the decline of Austrian film in the early 1960s, Felix Smetana switched to television and mainly looked after series. He died in the middle of the filming of “ Donaug'schichten ”, an Austrian-German joint production with Willy Millowitsch and Theo Lingen in the leading roles.

Smetana was married to the costume advisor Katharina 'Käte' Furreg (1908–1971). Both were buried in the Vienna Central Cemetery .

Filmography

literature

  • Herbert A. Frenzel , Hans Joachim Moser (ed.): Kürschner's biographical theater manual. Drama, opera, film, radio. Germany, Austria, Switzerland. De Gruyter, Berlin 1956, DNB 010075518 , p. 701.
  • Johann Caspar Glenzdorf: Glenzdorf's international film lexicon. Biographical manual for the entire film industry. Volume 3: Peit – Zz. Prominent-Filmverlag, Bad Münder 1961, DNB 451560752 , p. 1624.
  • Kay Less : The film's great personal dictionary . The actors, directors, cameramen, producers, composers, screenwriters, film architects, outfitters, costume designers, editors, sound engineers, make-up artists and special effects designers of the 20th century. Volume 7: R - T. Robert Ryan - Lily Tomlin. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89602-340-3 , p. 364.

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