Advanced search
- TITLES
- NAMES
- COLLABORATIONS
Search filters
Enter full date
to
or just enter yyyy, or yyyy-mm below
to
Only includes names with the selected topics
to
or just enter yyyy, or yyyy-mm below
to
1-50 of 3,969
- 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.
- 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- 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.- 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.- 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
- 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.- 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
- Writer
- Additional Crew
She was born Kai Anne Inge Fischer in Prague (then Czechoslovakia), the daughter of a senior public servant. After the war, Kai's family moved to Munich where she completed her matriculation and took on her first job as a stenographer, progressing from there to photo model and mannequin. Though lacking any genuine dramatic training, Kai made her performing debut on the stage in cabaret at Walter Novak's Schwabinger Brettl (then something of an institution in Munich's nightlife). By the mid-50s, she began acting on the screen.
The hot-blooded redhead found herself quickly typecast as seductresses, ladies of easy virtue, hard-boiled publicans or gangster molls (like her Bettina in Das Wirtshaus im Spessart (1958)). She would occasionally pop up in international productions like the tongue-in-cheek, campy period drama The Hellfire Club (1961) or as Countess Polensky in the Johann Strauss Jr. biopic The Waltz King (1963). By and by, Kai seemed rather more at home as robust characters in popular Edgar Wallace adaptations like Room 13 (1964), The Inn on Dartmoor (1964) or Das Ungeheuer von London-City (1964). From the mid-60s, sometimes billed as 'Kay Fischer', she also made a slew of exploitation films with the emphasis firmly on sex, as well as assorted European potboilers, from spaghetti westerns (Bullets Don't Argue (1964)) to low budget shockers (Island of the Doomed (1967)) and erotic comedy (Die sündige Kleinstadt (1975)).
In the mid-60s, she began to transform her image by devising the character of a female sleuth for her own series, Die Karte mit dem Luchskopf (1963), thereby entering a genre which had previously been the domain of men. In 13 episodes, her Kai Fröhlich solved cases by going undercover, her agency ostensibly run by an imaginary Mr. Luchs (which translates to Lynx and also refers to her detective's visiting card with the emblem of a lynx head).
Kai's image transformation continued through the 70s and 80s with more serious roles in the bleak Wim Wenders drama The Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick (1972) and as guest star in TV episodes of Der Kommissar (1969), Derrick (1974) and Tatort (1970). Also on television, she found popularity as the circus dompteuse Tiger-Lilli in the miniseries Salto mortale (1969). In 1970, she released an album of 'naughty songs' under the title Kai Fidelity. In 1984, she operated several photography shops in Munich and has also authored crime novels under various pseudonyms.- 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.- 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.- 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).- 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. - 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". - 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
- 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.- Actor
- Writer
- Additional Crew
Jim Thorpe is an American athlete and Olympic gold medalist. Thorpe became the first Native American to win a gold medal for the United States. Considered one of the most versatile athletes of modern sports, he won Olympic gold medals in the 1912 pentathlon and decathlon, and played American football (collegiate and professional), baseball, and basketball. He lost his Olympic titles after it was found he had been paid for playing two seasons of semi-professional baseball before competing in the Olympics, thus violating the amateurism rules that were then in place. In 1983, 30 years after his death, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) restored his Olympic medals.
Jim Thorpe grew up in Oklahoma, and attended Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, where he was a two-time All-American for the school's football team. After his Olympic success in 1912, which included a record score in the decathlon, he added a victory in the All-Around Championship of the Amateur Athletic Union. In 1913, Thorpe signed with The New York Giants Baseball Team, and he played six seasons in Major League Baseball between 1913 and 1919. Thorpe joined the Canton Bulldogs American football team in 1915, helping them win three professional championships; he later played for six teams in the National Football League (NFL). He played as part of several all-American Indian teams throughout his career, and barnstormed as a professional basketball player with a team composed entirely of American Indians.
From 1920 to 1921, Thorpe was nominally the first president of the American Professional Football Association (APFA), which became the NFL in 1922. He played professional sports until age 41. He struggled to earn a living after that, working several odd jobs. He was married three times and had eight children, before suffering from heart failure and dying in 1953.
Thorpe has received various accolades for his athletic accomplishments. The Associated Press named him the "greatest athlete" from the first 50 years of the 20th century, and the Pro Football Hall of Fame inducted him as part of its inaugural class in 1963. A Pennsylvania town was named in his honor and a monument site there is the site of his remains. Thorpe appeared in several films and was portrayed by Burt Lancaster in the film Jim Thorpe -- All-American (1951).- Actor
- Director
- Writer
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.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Jan Tríska was born on 4 November 1936 in Prague, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic]. He was an actor, known for Ronin (1998), Apt Pupil (1998) and The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996). He was married to Karla Chadimová. He died on 25 September 2017 in Prague, Czech Republic.- Actor
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
- Stunts
Ivan G'Vera was born on 1 April 1959 in Prague, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic]. He is an actor and assistant director, known for Terminator Salvation (2009), Casino Royale (2006) and The Hunt for Red October (1990).- Adam Vacula is a Czech actor. He was born on October 19, 1987. He is known for portraying Francesco Grasso in the TV film Die Himmelsleiter (2015) and the Netflix series Freud (2020). Other interesting credits are Genius (2017), directed and produced by Ron Howard or Interlude in Prague (2017).
His film debut was Hany (2014).
He is fluent in English, Czech and French. - Marek Vasut was born on 5 May 1960 in Prague, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic]. He is an actor, known for Mission: Impossible (1996), xXx (2002) and Blade II (2002).
- Actress
- Costume Designer
Anna Kameníková was born on 21 March 1994 in Prague, Czech Republic. She is an actress and costume designer, known for Last Knights (2015), Innocence (2011) and Bozena (2021).- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Vojtech Kotek was born on 8 January 1988 in Prague, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic]. He is an actor and director, known for Chasing Fifty (2015), Vlastníci (2019) and Ctrl Emotion (2009). He has been married to Radana Kotková since 30 June 2022.- Actress
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Jana Brejchová was born on 20 January 1940 in Prague, Protectorate Bohemia and Moravia [now Czech Republic]. She is an actress and writer, known for Beauty in Trouble (2006), Higher Principle (1960) and Das Haus in der Karpfengasse (1965). She was previously married to Jirí Zahajský, Vlastimil Brodský, Ulrich Thein and Milos Forman.- Actress
- Director
- Soundtrack
Berenika Kohoutová was born on 15 February 1991 in Prague, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic]. She is an actress and director, known for Fair Play (2014), Naty Hrychová feat. Berenika Kohoutová: Holky sobe (2020) and An Unlikely Romance (2013). She was previously married to Pavel Cechák.- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
Miroslav Táborský was born on 9 November 1959 in Prague, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic]. He is an actor, known for The Brothers Grimm (2005), Les Misérables (1998) and EuroTrip (2004).- George Pravda was born on 19 June 1916 in Prague, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary [now Prague, Czech Republic]. He was an actor, known for Thunderball (1965), Firefox (1982) and The Man in the Mirror (1966). He was married to Hana Maria Pravda. He died on 30 April 1985 in London, England, UK.
- Alice Bendová was born on 1 November 1973 in Prague, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic]. She is an actress, known for A Knight's Tale (2001), Love Lies Bleeding (1999) and Tvár pomsty. She has been married to Václav Benda since 2004.
- Director
- Writer
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Ivan Passer was one of the key authors of the "new wave" of Czech cinema, a group of young people who forged an energetic and transgressive film movement in the 1960s, breaking away from the precepts of hard socialist realism. Passer was not only the author of the scenarios of his own films, but he also worked on the scripts of the first four motion pictures made by his countryman, friend and colleague Milos Forman: "Konkurs" (1963), "Black Petr" ( 1964), "Loves of a Blonde" (1965) and "The Firemen's Ball" (1967).
Passer was born in Prague, the son of Marianna (Mandelíková) and Alois Passer. He was the grandson of a silent movie screenwriter. Ivan's parents were persecuted by the Nazis for their Jewish heritage. Ivan was a rebel boy, sent to a boarding school where he became friends with Milos. Together they went to study cinema at the FAMU film school in Prague, but young Ivan was eventually expelled from the academy. By then he had acquired skills in movie-making, some experience and had key friends, such as cinematographer Miroslav Ondricek. With Forman and other friends, they made their first movies.
In 1965 Passer made a remarkable first feature, the beautiful "Intimate Lighting", a film of impressionist inspiration that immediately established his name as a promising new director. But the social pressures and political unrest in Czechoslovakia, which culminated in 1968 with the Soviet invasion, led him into exile the following year. However, in the United States he did not achieve the notoriety of Forman, who received the best proposals, while he rejected offers that did not convince him: for example, he refused to make "Yentl" for a number of reasons, including his conviction that Barbra Streisand was too old and famous for the role, in opposition to other key performers as Mandy Patinkin and Amy Irving. Likewise, he refused to make films with elements of violence, which he always opposed. During World War II he had been directly exposed to violence, and he believed that it was dangerous to represent it in films: violence, he said, affects "some people who are not able to realize the difference between reality and fantasy."
However, he made some worthy movies, such as his American debut "Born to Win" (1971), a complex portrait of a heroin-addict hairdresser; his satire on civil surveillance, "Law and Disorder" (1974); the comedy about money-laundering bankers "Silver Bears" (1977), and the cult film "Cutter's Way" (1981), in which a war veteran investigates a crime, despite he only has one eye, one arm and one leg. For television he directed the biopic "Stalin" in 1992.
Passer taught film at the University of Southern California, and lectured students in foreign film academies. He died in Reno, Nevada, on January 9, 2020.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Zora Kerova was born on 11 August 1950 in Prague, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic]. She is an actress, known for The True Story of the Nun of Monza (1980), Cannibal Ferox (1981) and The Grim Reaper (1980). She was previously married to Petr Hapka.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Jana Svandová was born on 3 July 1947 in Prague, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic]. She is an actress, known for Chained Heat 2 (1993), Dobrodruzství kriminalistiky (1989) and Wild Flowers (2000).- Actor
- Soundtrack
Václav Neckár was born on 23 October 1943 in Prague, Protectorate Bohemia and Moravia [now Czech Republic]. He is an actor, known for Closely Watched Trains (1966), Malé letní blues (1968) and Blues pro EFB (1980).- Madeleine Albright was born on 15 May 1937 in Prague, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic]. She was an actress, known for Gilmore Girls (2000), Madam Secretary (2014) and Parks and Recreation (2009). She was married to Joseph Medill Patterson Albright. She died on 23 March 2022 in Washington, District of Columbia, USA.
- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Václav Marhoul was born on 30 January 1960 in Prague, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic]. He is an actor and producer, known for The Painted Bird (2019), Tobruk (2008) and Smart Philip (2003).- Petr Korda is a Czech former professional tennis player. He reached a career-high Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) world No. 2 singles ranking on February 2, 1998 and won the 1998 Australian Open.
Korda turned professional in 1987. He won his first career doubles title in 1988, and his first top-level singles title in 1991. Korda was involved in four Grand Slam finals during his career - two in singles and two in doubles. In 1990, Korda and Goran Ivanisevic finished runners-up in the men's doubles at the French Open, and as a result, Korda reached his career-high doubles ranking of world No. 10. In 1992, he rose to the men's singles final at the French Open beating Christian Bergström, Shuzo Matsuoka, Michiel Schapers, Jaime Oncins, Andrei Cherkasov and Henri Leconte, before he was defeated in straight sets by defending champion Jim Courier 7-5, 6-2, 6-1.
A highlight of Korda's career include winning the Grand Slam Cup in 1993, with five-set wins in the semifinal and final over Pete Sampras and Michael Stich, the number 1 and 2 tennis players in the world at that time. Korda also was a part of the Czech Republic's team which won the Hopman Cup in 1994. In 1996 he teamed-up with Stefan Edberg to win the men's doubles title at the Australian Open. He also upset the defending champion, Pete Sampras, in five sets in the fourth round of the 1997 US Open.
The crowning moment of Korda's career came in 1998, when he defeated Albert Portas, Scott Draper, Vincent Spadea, Cédric Pioline, Jonas Björkman and Karol Kucera to face Marcelo Ríos in the men's singles final at the Australian Open. Korda dominated the match from start to finish by winning in straight sets 6-2, 6-2, 6-2 and claimed his first Grand Slam singles title in just 1 hour and 25 minutes. The win propelled him to his career-high singles ranking of World No. 2. - Director
- Writer
- Actor
Vít Olmer was born on 19 June 1942 in Prague, Protectorate Bohemia and Moravia [now Czech Republic]. He is a director and writer, known for Jeste vetsí blbec, nez jsme doufali (1994), Waterloo po cesku (2002) and Dívka (1967).- Actress
- Costume and Wardrobe Department
Alena Penz was born on 16 August 1949 in Prague, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic]. She is an actress, known for 2069: A Sex Odyssey (1974), Trinity Plus the Clown and a Guitar (1975) and Maldoror (1977).- Composer
- Music Department
- Actor
Jan Hammer's musical career is as firmly rooted in the fundamentals of classical, jazz and rock as it is committed to the future of electronics, synthesized sound, the possibilities of interactive media, television, film and animation. His walls are lined with Grammy awards and gold and platinum plaques from around the world. His name is found on scores of recordings spanning the 1970s to the '90s -- solo albums, collaborations with the Mahavishnu Orchestra, Jeff Beck, Al Di Meola, Mick Jagger, Carlos Santana, Stanley Clarke, Elvin Jones, and many others. Jan has composed and produced at least 14 original motion picture soundtracks, the music for 90 episodes of Miami Vice (2006) (which spun-off four soundtrack albums and its worldwide #1 hit theme song), 20 episodes of the popular British television series Chancer (1990), and the music for "Beyond the Mind's Eye," one of the all-time best-selling music videos in Billboard chart history. Jan Hammer was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia. He began playing piano at age four; formal classical instruction began two years later. By 14 he was performing and recording throughout Eastern Europe with his own jazz trio. He entered Prague Academy of Muse Arts, but with the Russian invasion in 1968, he came to the U.S., to attend the Berklee School of Music in Boston (on a scholarship) and become a citizen. Jan spent a year as keyboardist/conductor with Sarah Vaughan. In 1971, he became a member of the original Mahavishnu Orchestra, (then) the most successful group ever to record and tour in the jazz-rock fusion genre, selling over 2 million records worldwide, and performing 530 shows before their December 31, 1973 farewell concert. Jan's solo career began with The First Seven Days, produced and recorded at Red Gate Studio in his upstate New York farmhouse. Over the next decade Jan produced and performed on nearly 20 albums with his own bands (the Jan Hammer Group, and later Hammer), and such musicians as Beck, Al Di Meola, and Neal Schon (of Journey), among others. In 1983, Jan joined Beck, Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, Joe Cocker, and others for a series of benefit concerts for Ronnie Lane's ARMS (Action Research into Multiple Sclerosis). Into 1984, Jan played on Mick Jagger's She's The Boss and Jeff Beck's Flash -- which included Jan's Grammy-winning song "Escape." That same year, Jan scored three major motion pictures, a number of documentaries, "made-for-TV" movies in the U.S., commercials, and station identifications. But his greatest challenge came in the fall '84, when the producers of Miami Vice (2006) enlisted him to commence the rigorous weekly schedule of scoring the series. In 1985, "Miami Vice Theme" (MCA Records) hit #1 in Billboard -- the first TV theme to hit #1 since Henry Mancini's "Theme from Peter Gunn" in 1959. "Miami Vice Theme" became a top 5 inter-national hit and earned Jan two Grammy awards: "Best Pop Instrumental Performance" and "Best Instrumental Composition." The Miami Vice soundtrack album stayed #1 in Billboard for 12 weeks, hitting quadruple-platinum and selling over 4 million copies in the U.S. alone, with worldwide sales in excess of 7 million as of this writing. Miami Vice II and Escape From Television were both million-selling albums for Jan in 1987, both featuring "Crockett's Theme," which had become a smash European hit, topping the charts in six countries. The following year found Jan bowing out of full-time scoring duties for Miami Vice. He was free to spend six full months building the new Red Gate Studio on his property in upstate New York. Several film and television projects from the new studio followed immediately, including HBO's Blood Money (1988) with Ellen Barkin and Andy Garcia. Snapshots was the first full album from the new Red Gate studio, with Jan composing, performing and producing every track. The promo video for "Too Much To Lose," the album's first European single, featured Jeff Beck, David Gilmour of Pink Floyd, and Ringo Starr. The '90s brought a renewed focus on scoring for film and television, starting with _I Come In Peace_ (with Dolph Lundgren); Curiosity Kills (1990) (with Rae Dawn Chong and C. Thomas Howell); all twenty episodes of the British tv series Chancer (1990); several episodes of HBO's Tales from the Crypt (1989); a thought-provoking television spot for Amnesty International, featuring Czech president Václav Havel, which was aired worldwide; two pilots for NBC television, Knight Rider 2000 (1991) (TV) (starring David Hasselhoff) and News At 12; The Taking of Beverly Hills (1991) (Columbia Pictures), Ken Wahl's first post Wiseguy vehicle; and New Line Cinema's Sunset Heat (1992), (starring Dennis Hopper, Michael Paré, and Adam Ant). Jan's next project was a giant step forward into the world of computer animation as the composer and performer of the original score for the Miramar Productions video album, Beyond the Mind's Eye (1992), released in October '92 on Miramar/BMG Video. Scored note-to-frame with visuals that broke the 'virtual reality' barrier, the video was described as "breathtaking" by Roger Ebert (on Siskel & Ebert (1986)), who named it his "video recommendation of the week." On his syndicated CBS Radio program, Leonard Maltin called it "a dazzling showcase for computer animation... mesmerizing... 'Beyond The Mind's Eye' reflects a maturing of the [computer animation] art." Beyond The Mind's Eye was one of 1993's top five best-selling music videos, according to Billboard's Top Music Videos chart. It went on to spend 112 consecutive weeks on the chart (through March 1995), and was certified triple-platinum. 1994 was dominated by Jan's recording of Drive, his first full-fledged album of original new non-soundtrack material under his name in several years. Jan was reunited with longtime partner Jeff Beck on "Underground," reminiscent of their supercharged collaborations of the past; while the title track blended Beck's flamenco style with Jan's keyboard funk. Michael Brecker's tenor sax was heard on the smooth, jazzy "Peaceful Sundown" and on the edgy cybertech R&B of "Curiosity Kills." Jan returned to his scoring and soundtrack work with renewed passion and creativity as 1995 arrived. He began with the one hour Universal drama Vanishing Son (starring Russell Wong of Joy Luck Club), then went on to compose the theme and score for 13 episodes of the series. He composed and performed the original music for two feature films, both released in 1996: A Modern Affair (1995) (with Stanley Tucci, Lisa Eichhorn, Caroline Aaron, and Tammy Grimes) and In the Kingdom of the Blind, the Man with One Eye Is King (1995) (starring William Petersen and Paul Winfield). Jan wrapped up the year scoring Beastmaster III: The Eye of Braxus (1996), the long-awaited sequel to the sword-and-sorcery favorite (starring Mark Singer and Lesley-Anne Down). In 1996, Jan's output continued to thrive. His scoring assignments included the NBC Movie of the Week, The Babysitter's Seduction (1996) (with Phylicia Rashad, Stephen Collins, and newcomer Keri Russell); The Secret Agent Club (1996), a feature film starring Hulk Hogan, Richard Moll, Barry Bostwick, and Lesley-Anne Down; and The Corporate Ladder (1997) (Orion Pictures), starring Tony Denison, Ben Cross, and Jennifer O'Neill. Also in 1996 (and through 1998) Jan was commissioned to compose all the original music for TV Nova, the first commercial television network in Eastern Europe, based in the Czech Republic. Jan composed everything -- including themes for 23 original shows produced by the network, no less than 50 separate station IDs, the music for all of the network's special broadcasts, plus the music for all the news, sports and weather programs. In 1997, Jan also composed the hard-driving rock soundtrack for the new CD-ROM game, Outlaw Racers (MegaMedia). His next project was the theme and original music score for the pilot and the series of Prince Street (1997) (NBC-TV) starring Vincent Spano and Mariska Hargitay. On another interesting note, 1997 saw six separate compilation CDs released in the U.S. containing compositions and performances by Jan. One of these, Pure Moods (Virgin) spent 49 weeks on the Billboard Top Pop Albums chart and sold nearly four million copies worldwide, a true phenomenon for such collections. Throughout 1998 Jan continued with his prolific work for TV Nova, commenced work on a new CD-ROM computer game and took some needed time off with his family. Jan started off 1999 by writing, performing and producing a tune, "Even Odds" for Jeff Beck's latest album Who Else? (Epic). Just when Jan thought his chores for TV Nova were winding down, the station changed ownership. The new management team wanted to create their own identity, vis-à-vis the station logo, IDs, promos etc., so they called upon Jan to compose new music to compliment the new visuals. They then went on an aggressive campaign to create new programs. The themes to all of these new shows were composed and performed by Jan. Also, 1999 saw the release of The Lost Trident Sessions, the third (and last) studio album from Jan's former group, the Mahavishnu Orchestra. The album was recorded in 1973 just prior to the bands highly publicized breakup. Its release was temporarily put on hold but the masters were somehow lost and only resurfaced in December of 1998 (25 years later). The album is considered the "Holy Grail" of fusion music. This is when Jan, John McLaughlin, Bill Cobham, Jerry Goodman, and Ricky Laird were truly pushing the envelope. The album has met with worldwide critical and commercial success. Among its tunes is Jan's classic "Sister Andrea." Jan Hammer has earned his place as a formidable voice in the arena where modern music meets the state-of-the-visual-arts. From the neo-psychedelic heyday of the Mahavishnu Orchestra to the heady breakthroughs of "Miami Vice," up through his post-modern forays into film and television, Jan Hammer has consistently proven himself a front-line musical warrior. As he is inspired to reach further into his treasury of ideas, the world of music and art is always the richer.