Pavel Landovský (11 September 1936 – 10 October 2014), nicknamed Lanďák, was a Czech actor, playwright, and director. He was a prominent dissident under the communist regime of former Czechoslovakia.

Biography

Landovský was born in Havlíčkův Brod in 1936, and after finishing his studies at the secondary technical school of mechanical engineering, he tried four times to enter the Faculty of Theatre in Prague, without success. He started his acting career as a supernumerary actor in the regional theatre in Teplice and continued to perform in regional theatres in Šumperk, Klatovy, and

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 ...

. The first play that he wrote, ''Hodinový hoteliér'', premiered at the Činoherní klub theatre in Prague on 11 May 1969. In 1971, the communist regime banned him from film and television. He continued acting at Činoherní klub and other theatres. Landovský was one of the initiators of the human rights petition

Charter 77 Charter 77 (''Charta 77'' in Czech language, Czech and Slovak language, Slovak) was an informal civic initiative in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic from 1976 to 1992, named after the document Charter 77 from January 1977. Founding members ...

and along with

Václav Havel Václav Havel (; 5 October 193618 December 2011) was a Czech statesman, author, poet, playwright, and dissident. Havel served as the last List of presidents of Czechoslovakia, president of Czechoslovakia from 1989 until 1992, prior to the dissol ...

and

Ludvík Vaculík Ludvík Vaculík (23 July 1926 – 6 June 2015) was a Czech writer and journalist. He was born in Brumov, Moravian Wallachia. A prominent samizdat writer, he was best known as the author of the " Two Thousand Words" manifesto of June 1968 ...

, was one of the three official spokesmen for the resulting civil rights movement. He was subsequently banned from working at the theatre. Constantly harassed by the secret police ( Státní bezpečnost), during the winter of 1978–79, Landovský was accosted at night by an agent, severely beaten, and had his leg broken. Feeling compelled to leave for his safety, when he was offered a position in the ensemble of the Burgtheater in Vienna, Austria, he accepted. While there, he participated in productions by

Peter Zadek Peter Zadek (; 19 May 1926 – 30 July 2009) was a German director of theatre, opera and film, a translator and a screenwriter. He is regarded as one of the greatest directors in German-speaking theater. Biography Peter Zadek was born on 19 May ...

, among others. After the Velvet Revolution, Landovský was able to return to Prague in January 1990. There he began to act again, performing regularly at the Theatre on the Balustrade, the National Theatre, Divadlo v Dlouhé, and Divadlo Hybernia between 1990 and 2008. He played one of the lead characters in ''

Audience An audience is a group of people who participate in a show or encounter a work of art, literature (in which they are called "readers"), theatre, music (in which they are called "listeners"), video games (in which they are called "players"), or ...

''—written by his friend Václav Havel, who had recently been elected president of Czechoslovakia— at Činoherní klub. The play was directed by Jiří Menzel. Landovský acted in a number of famous Czech films, including '' Closely Watched Trains'', '' Marketa Lazarová'', '' Adelheid'', and '' Černí baroni''. Towards the end of his life, the actor suffered from diabetes and, after having had a stroke, used a wheelchair. He died at home in Kytín on 10 October 2014 from a heart attack, aged 78.Pavel Landovsky, Actor and Vocal Czech Dissident, Dies at 78
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Selected filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Landovsky, Pavel 1936 births 2014 deaths Charter 77 signatories Czech male stage actors Czech male film actors Czech male television actors Czech male dramatists and playwrights Czechoslovak dissidents Academy of Performing Arts in Prague alumni People from Havlíčkův Brod 20th-century Czech dramatists and playwrights