Naďa Urbánková (born Naděžda Balabánová; 30 June 1939 – 3 February 2023) was a Czech singer and actress.
Life and career
Born in
Nová Paka
Nová Paka (, ) is a town in Jičín District in the Hradec Králové Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 9,000 inhabitants.
Administrative division
Nová Paka consists of 13 municipal parts (in brackets population according to the 2021 cen ...
, Urbánková grew up in
Borovnička and graduated as a nurse at the Higher Medical School in
Trutnov
Trutnov (; ) is a town in the Hradec Králové Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 30,000 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected as an urban monument zone.
Administrative division
Trutnov consists of 21 ...
.
After some experience in amateur dramatics, she made her professional stage debut in 1959 in the
Pardubice
Pardubice (; ) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 92,000 inhabitants. It is the capital city of the Pardubice Region and lies on the Elbe River. The historic centre is well preserved and is protected as an Cultural monument (Czech Repub ...
Theatre.
After marrying the actor she moved to Prague, where she worked at
Magician's Lantern and was part of the CSSPT (the ).
Urbánková had her breakout in 1964, when she started a ten-years-run in the stage company of the
Semafor theatre, and made her film debut in the successful musical ''
If a Thousand Clarinets''.
In the 1960s and 1970s, she appeared in ''
Closely Watched Trains'', ''
Larks on a String
''Larks on a String'' () is a 1969 Czech film directed by Jiří Menzel. The film was banned by the Czechoslovak government, but was later released in 1990 after the fall of the Communist regime. It tells the stories of various characters consider ...
'' and ''
Seclusion Near a Forest''. As a singer, her major hits were "Závidím" (Czech cover of "
Il ragazzo della via Gluck") and "Drahý můj" (Czech cover of "
A Dear John Letter
"A Dear John Letter", or "Dear John" is a popular country music song written by Billy Barton, Fuzzy Owen and Lewis Talley. It was popularized by Ferlin Husky and Jean Shepard, and was a crossover country-pop hit in 1953.
The song played on the c ...
"), in duet with
Jiří Grossmann.
She was later part of the 's Country Beat band.
Starting from 1972, she won five
Golden Nightingales in a row.
Urbánková died on 3 February 2023, from complications from cancer and COVID-19, at the age of 83.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Urbankova, Nada
Czech pop singers
Czech women pop singers
1939 births
2023 deaths
Czech film actresses
20th-century Czech women singers
People from Nová Paka
Deaths from cancer in the Czech Republic
Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in the Czech Republic
Zlatý slavík winners