Josef Bláha

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Josef Bláha 1977

Josef Bláha (born June 8, 1924 in Novo mesto , Yugoslavia , † December 6, 1994 in Prague ) was a Czech actor and one of the most famous film and television stars in his country.

Life

Josef Bláha was born to a Slovene and a Czech son. At the age of eleven he came to Prague with his parents. First he completed a two-year commercial apprenticeship and during this time worked as a layman on the side. When the Second World War broke out, his theater ambitions were slowed down by the German occupation. After the occupation ended, he returned to his hobby and played various roles at the " Ference Futuristy " theater . At the same time he studied acting at the DAMU theater faculty in the class of the acting teacher Ladislav Peska . Idealistically, he joined the Communist Party at this time . When he realized that this did not correspond to his ideals, however, he used a trick in order to avoid causing a stir: he told his comrades "with a bleeding heart" that he had lost his party membership card, which resulted in a dishonorable exit from the party.

theatre

In 1951 he had his first engagement in the Prague Theater of the Czechoslovak Army , which later became Theater in the Vineyards (Divadlo na Vinohradech), to which he remained loyal for forty years. At first he played dozens of supporting roles such as u. a. the Beelzebub in the play Dalskabáty, hříšná ves aneb Zapomenutý čert ( The Sinful Village or The Forgotten Devil ) by Jan Drda or the role of the loyal Feurailon in Brouk v hlave ( The Beetle in the Head ) by Georges Feydeau .

He later played his main roles mainly together with his colleague and best friend Vlastimil Brodský . For years they were both protagonists in the American comedies A Strange Couple and I'm Not Rappaport . Josef Bláha also had to play roles against his will in Soviet works of “socialist realism”, which he intentionally embodied with a lot of self-irony and humor.

Movie and TV

In his first small film role he was seen in 1947 together with Miloš Kopecký in a crowd scene in the historical film about Jan Roháč z Dubé The Battle for Dube . A screenshot from this film, on which Josef Bláha and Miloš Kopecký can be seen together, is still hanging in the foyer of the theater at the vineyards to this day. An anecdote describes that nobody in this picture recognizes Miloš Kopecký, but everyone recognizes Josef Bláha immediately.

His most distinctive features were his noticeably dark eyes and powerful eyebrows and his talent for skillfully changing his character traits; he played in more than 50 films without being tied to a single character. He became generally known but only in 1968 in the role of the detective Brůžek in the television series Hříšní lidé města pražského (German title: Alte Kriminalfälle ) by Jiří Sequens and its four film sequels. His portrayal of the murderer in Josef Mach's film Na kolejích čeká vrah (German title: The murderer on the rails ) and his embodiment of the witch master in the fairy tale comedy Dívka na koštěti (German title: The girl on a broomstick ) by Václav Vorlíček were particularly striking .

Bláha was very often cast by the “multi-genre director” Jindřich Polák : after several smaller roles, the collaboration between the two resulted in what is probably Bláha's best-known role as the academic Filip, the expedition leader on a journey through time in the Czech cult series Návštěvníci ( The Visitors ) from 1983. There His state of health, not least due to his intense lifestyle, had gradually deteriorated in the 1980s and he was not satisfied with many roles, Bláha spared himself and from then on rarely appeared in front of the camera. Nevertheless, he remained loyal to the theater until the end of 1991.

His colleague Jiří Sovák wrote about him in his memoirs:

"Josef Bláha looked like a burned down raven who survived a forest fire."

This wasn't just a humorous description of his appearance, because Josef Bláha survived the totalitarian system he hated. In the last five years of his life he could no longer work and spent most of his time in the hospital. He died on December 6, 1994 as a result of colon cancer in Prague. Josef Bláha was 70 years old.

family

Josef Bláha was married to Bohumila Bláhová and has two sons from this marriage: Jiří and Pavel . There are several articles, documentaries, and obituaries mentioning that Josef Bláha has only one son (Jiří). The reason was that Pavel fled to West Germany in 1982 and had to live in a home for asylum seekers in Gießen for years . The family was torn apart as a result, in addition, since Pavel could only take his then eight-year-old son Richard with him and his wife and his then six-year-old daughter stayed behind. Due to Josef Bláha's popularity, the communist regime had to keep this escape from the public. Pavel Bláha chose a life outside the public eye, the grandson remained loyal to the film, even if not as an actor. Richard Bláha became a sound designer and film composer and now lives in Berlin .

Filmography (selection)

  • 1952: The Great Adventure (Velké dobrodruzství)
  • 1955: Fateful Traces (Na konci mesta)
  • 1957: The good soldier Schwejk in Prague (Dobrý voják Svejk)
  • 1966: The murderer hides his face (Vrah skrývá tvár)
  • 1967: The House of Lost Souls (Dum ztracených dusí)
  • 1967: Jewel robbers are hunted (Hra bez pravidel)
  • 1968: Our crazy family (Nase bláznivá rodina)
  • 1968–1969: Old Crimes (Hrísní lidé mesta prazského) (TV series)
  • 1970: The murderer on the rails (Na kolejích ceká vrah)
  • 1970: The witch hunt (Kladivo na carodejnice)
  • 1970: I killed Einstein (Zabil jsem Einsteina, panove)
  • 1971: The games of the beautiful dragoons (game krásného dragouna)
  • 1971: Cash thief romance (Penicka a Paraplícko)
  • 1972: The Death of the Black King (Smrt cerného krále)
  • 1972: The Oasis (Oáza)
  • 1972: Tales of Snow White (O Snehurce)
  • 1972: The girl on a broomstick (Dívka na koštěti)
  • 1973: Chronicle of a White Summer (Kronika zhavého léta)
  • 1973: Y-17 on a dark trail (Igrek 17)
  • 1974: 1 + 3 = 4 (Tri nevinni)
  • 1974: One night on Karlstein (Noc na Karlstejne)
  • 1974: House owners and tenants (Byl jednou jednum) (TV series)
  • 1975: My brother has a great brother (Muj brácha má prima bráchu)
  • 1975: Do we fit together, darling? (Hodíme se k sobe, milácku ...?)
  • 1976: Palette of love (Paleta lásky)
  • 1977: The Crimes of Major Zeman (30 prípadu majora Zemana) (TV series)
  • 1977–1978: The Woman Behind the Counter (Zena za pultem) (TV series)
  • 1977–1978: Pan Tau (TV series)
  • 1978: The Hospital on the Outskirts (Nemocnice na kraji mesta) (TV series)
  • 1978: The man with the eagle hen (Muz s orlem a slepicí)
  • 1978: A leading role for Rosmaryna (Jak se tocí Rozmaryny)
  • 1978: Faces behind glass (Tvár za sklem)
  • 1979: The Secret of the Steel City (Tajemství Ocelového mesta)
  • 1979: A brother who is worth his money (Brácha za vsechny penize)
  • 1980: The village Napoleon (Tchán)
  • 1980: Signum Laudis
  • 1982: District administration of "K" Prague (Malý pitaval z velkého mesta) (TV series)
  • 1983: The Visitors (Návstevníci)
  • 1983: Two fiery ladies (Ohnivé zeny)
  • 1984: Bambinot (TV series)
  • 1986: The Squids from the Second Floor (Chobotnice z II. Patra) (TV series)
  • 1986: Famous robber stories from around the world (Slavné historky zbojnické) (TV series)
  • 1986: Sergeant in distress (Není sirotek jako sirotek)

Quotes from Josef Bláha

  • I think there is no such thing as a universal actor, but a good actor can play anything, even if everything is not perfect.
  • What the audience sees on stage or on the screen should appear so simple and natural that they feel they can do it.

Web links