Boleslav Polívka (born 31 July 1949, in

Vizovice Vizovice (; german: Wisowitz) is a town in Zlín District in the Zlín Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 4,800 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monument zone. Administrative part ...

) is a Czech film and theatre actor,

mime Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) is an Internet standard that extends the format of email messages to support text in character sets other than ASCII, as well as attachments of audio, video, images, and application programs. Message ...

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

, and

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

. He has appeared in more than 40 films.

Career

Polívka first started appearing in films in the 1960s. He graduated from the

Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts The Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts ( cs, Janáčkova akademie múzických umění v Brně; abbreviation in Czech: JAMU) is a public university with an artistic focus in Brno, Czech Republic. It was established in 1947 and consi ...

Brno Brno ( , ; german: Brünn ) is a city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava and Svratka rivers, Brno has about 380,000 inhabitants, making it the second-largest city in the Czech Republic ...

in 1971, in the play ''Podivné odpoledne dr. Zvonka Burkeho'' ("The Strange Afternoon of Dr. Zvonek Burke") by

Ladislav Smoček Ladislav Smoček (born 24 August 1932, Prague, Czechoslovakia) is a Czech writer, playwright and theater director. Biography He comes from a family with a military tradition. His father was an officer in The Czechoslovakian Army. After studyi ...

.Fikejz (2007), pp. 458-460 In 1969 he co-founded ''Divadlo Husa na provázku'' (Goose on a String Theatre) in Brno, and founded his own theatre in the same city, ''Divadlo Bolka Polívky'' (Bolek Polívka Theatre), in 1993. He is one of the best-known exponents of Czech mime and frequently appears with foreign theatre ensembles. Polívka's work as writer, director and mime artist is inspired by clown comedy,

Commedia dell'arte (; ; ) was an early form of professional theatre, originating from Italian theatre, that was popular throughout Europe between the 16th and 18th centuries. It was formerly called Italian comedy in English and is also known as , , and . Charact ...

, and early comedy films, but he occasionally introduces voice and words into his performances, thereby crossing over into a form of "total acting". Polívka has worked with the Czech director Vladimír Sís, and since the 1980s he has regularly collaborated with

Věra Chytilová Věra Chytilová (2 February 1929 – 12 March 2014) was an avant-garde Czech film director and pioneer of Czech cinema. Banned by the Czechoslovak government in the 1960s, she is best known for her Czech New Wave film, ''Sedmikrásky'' ('' Dais ...

, who often casts him in the lead roles of her "moralistic comedies". In 1997 he was awarded the

Czech Lion The Czech Lion Awards ( cs, Český lev) are annual awards that recognize accomplishments in filmmaking and television. It is the highest award of achievement in film awarded in the Czech Republic. The jury is composed of members of the Czech Fi ...

and voted Best Actor at the

Karlovy Vary International Film Festival The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival ( cs, Mezinárodní filmový festival Karlovy Vary) is a film festival held annually in July in Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic. The Karlovy Vary Festival is one of the oldest in the world and has become ...

for his performance as the priest Holý in ''

Forgotten Light ''Forgotten Light'' ( cs, Zapomenuté světlo) is a 1996 Czech film directed by Vladimír Michálek. The screenplay by Czech-American Milena Jelinek is based on a 1934 book by Jakub Deml which is considered a masterpiece of Czech literature of t ...

'' ( cs, Zapomenuté světlo). Polívka received a second Czech Lion for his role in the 2000 film '' Divided We Fall'' ( cs, Musíme si pomáhat) by

Jan Hřebejk Jan Hřebejk (; born 27 June 1967) is a Czechs, Czech film director and actor. Life and career Born in Prague, Hřebejk graduated from high school in 1987 and continued his studies at the Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in ...

. The film was also nominated for the

Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film The Academy Award for Best International Feature Film (known as Best Foreign Language Film prior to 2020) is one of the Academy Awards handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to a ...

. Polívka also presents two television shows, ''Manéž Bolka Polívky'' ("Bolek Polívka's Arena") and ''Bolkoviny'', both for

Czech Television Czech Television ( cs, Česká televize, italics=no ; abbreviation: ČT) is a public television broadcaster in the Czech Republic, broadcasting seven channels. Established after the Velvet Revolution in 1992, it is the successor to Czechoslov ...

Personal life

He has been married three times and has six children, including actress

Anna Polívková Anna Polívková (born 24 March 1979 in Prague) is a Czech actress. In December 2013 Polívková won the StarDance (Czech season 6), sixth season of StarDance (Czech TV series), StarDance with her professional partner Michal Kurtiš. Selected ...

Legal disputes

Polívka used to organized public events and entertainments at his farm in Olšany near Brno, but in 2013, his company went bust and the farm closed, with creditors suing him for CZK 56 million. Polívka was involved in what

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadca ...

described as one of the oddest legal disputes of the Czech Republic's history. In a 1993 TV performance he had himself crowned as "king" of the fictional Kingdom of Wallachia (named after

Moravian Wallachia Moravian Wallachia ( cs, Moravské Valašsko, or simply ''Valašsko''; ro, Valahia Moravă) is a mountainous ethnoregion located in the easternmost part of Moravia in the Czech Republic, near the Slovak border, roughly centered on the cities Vs ...

). In 1997 he began a collaboration with Tomáš Harabiš, who had independently created and officially registered a separate fictional "Wallachian Kingdom", complete with "passports". Polívka, as a well-known actor, became the public face of the "Wallachian Kingdom" as "Wallachian King, Boleslav I the Gracious, Forever", and Harabiš and Polívka's partnership made the "Wallachian Kingdom" one of the most successful tourist attractions in the Czech Republic. Their working relationship continued amicably until 2000, when an acrimonious dispute erupted over legal ownership of the "kingdom", as the kingdom's name had been trademarked by Harabiš. In 2001 Harabiš deposed "King Boleslav", but in 2002 Polívka retaliated with a lawsuit, which accused Harabiš of making unlawful profits from Polívka as "King Boleslav". In 2008 Polívka lost the case.

Selected plays

* ''Am a Ea'' (Am and Ea) * ''Pezza versus Čorba'' * ''Pépe'' * ''Trosečník'' (Castaway) * ''Poslední leč'' * ''Šašek a královna'' (The Jester and the Queen)

Selected filmography

* '' Balada pro Banditu'' (1978) * '' Kalamita'' (Calamity) (1981) * ''

Poslední leč Alexei Maximovich Peshkov (russian: link=no, Алексе́й Макси́мович Пешко́в; – 18 June 1936), popularly known as Maxim Gorky (russian: Макси́м Го́рький, link=no), was a Russian writer and sociali ...

'' (1981) * ''

Šašek a královna ''The Jester and the Queen'' ( cs, Šašek a královna) is a 1987 Czechoslovak comedy film directed by Věra Chytilová Věra Chytilová (2 February 1929 – 12 March 2014) was an avant-garde Czech film director and pioneer of Czech cinema ...

'' (1987) * '' Něžný Barbar'' (1989) * ''

Sedím na konári a je mi dobre ''Sitting on a Branch, Enjoying Myself'' ( sk, Sedím na konári a je mi dobre) is a 1989 Czechoslovak-West German comedy-drama film directed by Juraj Jakubisko. It was entered into the main competition at the 46th Venice International Film Festiv ...

'' (1989) * ''

Dědictví aneb Kurvahošigutntag ''The Inheritance or Fuckoffguysgoodday'' ( cs, Dědictví aneb Kurvahošigutntag) is a 1992 Czechoslovak comedy film directed by Věra Chytilová.

'' (1992) * ''

'' ( cs, Zapomenuté světlo; 1996) * '' Pelíšky'' (Cozy Dens) (1999) * '' Divided We Fall'' ( cs, Musíme si pomáhat; 2000) * '' Out of the City'' (2000) * ''

Pupendo ''Pupendo'' is a 2003 Czech comedy drama film directed by Jan Hřebejk Plot Pupendo shows the difficulty of life in Czechoslovakia during the 1980s. Artist Bedřich Mára (Bolek Polivka) is unable to find much secure work due to his public ant ...

'' * ''

Something Like Happiness ''Something Like Happiness'' (Czech title: ''Štěstí'' ) is a 2005 Czech movie directed by Bohdan Sláma. It is about finding hope in the midst of disappointment by three young people who grew up in the same run-down block of flats and are now ...

'' ( cs, Štěstí; 2005) * '' Roming'' (2007) * '' Bathory'' (2008) * ''

Men in Hope ''Men in Hope'' ( cs, Muži v naději) is a 2011 Czech romantic sex comedy film written and directed by Jiří Vejdělek. Plot Ondřej ( Jiří Macháček), a timid and reserved man, is in a monotonous marriage with Alice (Petra Hřebíčkov� ...

'' (2011) * ''

The Magical Duvet ''The Magical Duvet'' ( cs, V peřině) is a 2011 Czech musical film directed by F. A. Brabec. It is the first Czech non-animated 3D feature film. Cast * Eliška Balzerová as Babička * Karel Bělohradský as Velký chlap / Holubář * Luci ...

'' (2011) * '' Revival'' (2013) * ''

Home Care Homecare (also spelled as home care) is health care or supportive care provided by a professional caregiver in the individual home where the patient or client is living, as opposed to care provided in group accommodations like clinics or nursing ho ...

'' (2015)

References

Bibliography

External links

*
Filmography at the Fandango.com

Czech Republic - The official Website

Bolek Polívka profile at the Czech Television Website

Polívka at the BBC News
{{DEFAULTSORT:Polivka, Bolek 1949 births Living people People from Vizovice Czech male film actors Czech screenwriters Male screenwriters 20th-century Czech dramatists and playwrights Czech male dramatists and playwrights Czech mimes Czech clowns Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts alumni 20th-century Czech male actors 21st-century Czech male actors Czech Lion Awards winners Micronational leaders Recipients of the Thalia Award