Karel Lamač (27 January 1897 – 2 August 1952) was a Czech film director, actor, screenwriter, producer and singer. He directed more than 100 films in Czechoslovakia, Austria, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

Life

Lamač was born 27 January 1897 in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

. His parents were Karel Lamač sr. (1863–1938), opera singer and a pharmacist, and Františka Lamačová (née Prusíková, 1860–1949). In his childhood Lamač was interested in pharmacy, electrical engineering, stage magic and acting. Before WWI he went to apprentice in camera manufacturer company Ernemann in

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...

. During the war he was a combat cameraman. After the war he became a technical director of film laboratory in Excelsiorfilm. He started working in movies in 1918, first as an actor, later as a writer and a director. Among his best movies of this period are crime drama '' The Poisoned Light'', comedy ''Catch Him!'' and drama '' White Paradise''. In 1923 he wrote a book ''How to write a film libretto''. His frequent collaborators were actress

Anny Ondra Anny Ondra (born Anna Sophie Ondráková; 15 May 1903 – 28 February 1987) was a Czech film actress. She began her career in 1920 and appeared in Czech, German, Austrian, French and English films. In 1933, she married German boxing champion M ...

, cinematographer Otto Heller and screenwriter Václav Wasserman. In 1926 he co-founded a film studio Kavalírka where he made his movies until it burned down in 1929. In 1930 he founded a production company Ondra-Lamač Film with his then girlfriend

in Berlin. During 1930s he was making movies in Germany, Czechoslovakia, France and Austria. After the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia he left to Netherlands to make '' De Spooktrein'' and then to United Kingdom where he joined Czechoslovak Army. He served in

RAF The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

until 1941 and in infantry division until 1946. He made war documentaries and three feature movies during WWII. After the war he made two movies in France. In 1947 then went to USA where he worked on technical innovations of color film and camera lenses. In 1951 he returned to Germany and directed his last film '' The Thief of Bagdad''. He died in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

, West Germany due to serious problems with his kidneys.

Selected filmography

Director

Actor

* '' Lead Us Not into Temptation'' (1922) * '' Helena'' (1924) * '' The Secret Agent'' (1924) * '' White Paradise'' (1924) * '' The Lantern'' (1925)

Producer

* '' The Double'' (1934)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lamac, Karel 1897 births 1952 deaths Male actors from Prague People from the Kingdom of Bohemia 20th-century Czech male actors Czech film directors Czechoslovak film directors Silent film directors Czech film producers Czech male film actors Czech male silent film actors Czech screenwriters Male screenwriters Silent film screenwriters German-language film directors English-language film directors 20th-century screenwriters