Miloš Kopecký

Miloš Kopecký
Born	August 22, 1922(1922-08-22) Prague, Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic)
Died	February 16, 1996(1996-02-16) (aged 73) Prague, Czech Republic
Occupation	Actor

Miloš Kopecký  (Czech) (help·info)(22 August 1922, Prague - 16 February 1996, Prague) was a Czech actor, active mainly in the second half of the 20th century.

Biography

He was born into the family of a furrier, his mother was a hatter. Since his childhood he was involved with the theatre and music, and after some unsuccessful attempts to study he chose the career of an actor. He began to appear on the stage in 1939, as a member of an amateur elocutionary group. During the German occupation of German occupation he performed with the collective of young artists Tvar (The Shape). At the end of the World War 2, he was (having one Jewish parent) interned in the labor camp in Bystřice u Benešova. Following the liberation he took up a career as a professional actor in the avant-garde studio Větrník (from 1945 to 1946), and after that he was engaged in many Prague theatre scenes. A few years later he began to appear also in films and gradually became one of the most popular actors in Czechoslovakia. In the mid-1980's Kopecký acted in a politically biased documentary film about emigrants, but on the other side he presented very critical speech against communist régime in May, 1987, at the IV. Congress of Dramatic Artists.^[1] He was married five times, once with Czech actress Stella Zázvorková.^[1] Kopecký suffered for many years from manic-depressive disease, partially caused by the death of his mother, who perished in a concentration camp.^[1]

Theatre

Following his engagement in Větrník he appeared in various theatre scenes:

• Divadlo satiry (1946–47)
• Studio Národního divadla (1947–48)
• Realistické divadlo (1948–49)
• Národní divadlo (1949–50)
• Městská divadla pražská (1950–51)
• Armádní umělecké divadlo (1951–54)
• Divadlo estrády a satiry (1954–55)
• Divadlo satiry (1955–59)
• Divadlo ABC (1957–60)
• Hudební divadlo v Karlíně (1964–65)

A turning point in his career came in 1965, when the director František Pavlíček engaged him to the Divadlo na Vinohradech, to which he remained faithful throughout the rest of his life. Nonetheless, he acted as a guest also in other theatres, e.g. in Semafor Theatre, or in Divadlo ABC (ABC Theatre), where he cooperated with another important actor of that time, Jan Werich.^[1] Among his most valued roles belong the character of Paolino from Pirandello´s play The Man, The Beast and The Virtue, Professor Higgins from G. B. Shaw's Pygmalion, Harpagon from Molière´s play The Miser and many others.^[1]

Film

Kopecký was passionate admirer of film from his early age, and he began to appear also on the silver screen shortly after the war. His first minor role was in historic film Jan Roháč z Dubé (1947), but he soon began to act more important characters. During his career he acted mainly the negative roles of bon vivants, elegant intriguers, traitors, debauchees, lechers and villains, which he managed to depict with the great elegance and esprit.^[1] Among his most valued roles in film belong e.g. chaplain Katz in Good Soldier Švejk (1956), Horác Badman alias Hogofogo in Limonádový Joe (1964), the chief of the Czech water-goblins in Jak utopit dr. Mráčka aneb Konec vodníků v Čechách (1974), villainous count von Kratzmar in Adéla ještě nevečeřela (1977) and many others. He is probably most known up to now as dr. Štrosmajer from the Czech television series Nemocnice na kraji města.

Filmography

• 1952 Pyšná princezna
• 1954 Cirkus bude
• 1954 Nejlepší člověk
• 1954 Stříbrný vítr
• 1955 Byl jednou jeden král
• 1955 Jan Žižka
• 1955 Psohlavci
• 1956 Poslušně hlásím (Dobrý voják Švejk)
• 1957 Dědeček automobil
• 1958 Hvězda jede na jih
• 1958 O věcech nadpřirozených
• 1961 Baron Prášil
• 1961 Muž z prvního století
• 1962 Kočár nejsvětější svátosti (TV)
• 1963 Král Králů
• 1964 Limonádový Joe aneb Koňská opera
• 1965 Bílá paní
• 1967 Přísně tajné premiéry
• 1969 Já, truchlivý bůh
• 1969 Slasti Otce vlasti
• 1969 Trapasy (TV)
• 1970 Svatby pana Voka
• 1970 Zabil jsem Einsteina, pánové!
• 1970 Pane, vy jste vdova!
• 1971 Alfons Karásek v lázních (TV)
• 1971 Hry lásky šálivé
• 1971 Slaměný klobouk
• 1971 Vražda v hotelu Excelsior
• 1971 Sedm žen Alfonse Karáska (TV)
• 1972 Lakomec (TV)
• 1973 Noc na Karlštejně
• 1974 Jak utopit doktora Mráčka aneb Konec vodníků v Čechách
• 1976 To byla svatba, strýčku!
• 1976 Zítra to roztočíme, drahoušku…
• 1977 "Nemocnice na kraji města"
• 1977 Adéla ještě nevečeřela
• 1979 Božská Ema
• 1979 Causa králík
• 1979 Já už budu hodný, dědečku!
• 1981 Křtiny
• 1981 Tajemství hradu v Karpatech
• 1982 Srdečný pozdrav ze zeměkoule
• 1983 Anděl s ďáblem v těle
• 1983 Tři veteráni
• 1984 "Bambinot"
• 1984 Prodloužený čas
• 1985 Čarovné dědictví
• 1986 Zkrocení zlého muže
• 1987 Poslední leč Alfonse Karáska (TV)
• 1988 Anděl svádí ďábla
• 1989 Utopím si ho sám (TV)
• 1993 "Uctivá poklona, pane Kohn"

References

Further reading

• Co za to stálo (Czech) (1993, with Milan Hein)
• Já: soukromý život Miloše Kopeckého (Czech) (1996, with Pavel Kovář)
• Miloš Kopecký: důvěrný portrét (Czech) (1999, Pavel Kovář in cooperation with Jana Kopecká)

External links

• Miloš Kopecký at the Internet Movie Database
• Miloš Kopecký at the CSFD (Czech)