Zdeněk Svěrák
Birthday: Born in 1936-03-28 in Prague, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic]
Deathday: Alive
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Zdeněk Svěrák (born 28 March 1936 in Prague) is a Czech actor, humorist and scriptwriter. He is one of the most popular Czech cultural personalities. In 1989, he was a member of the jury at the 39th Berlin International Film Festival. In 1958, he graduated in Czech language and literature at the Faculty of Education of Charles University in Prague. He has worked in a wide variety of capacities. His work contains more than 300 musical texts, plays and more than ten movies. Among his film scripts are Kolya (Czech: Kolja, Academy Award winning film) and The Elementary School (Czech: Obecná Škola, nomination for Academy Award), both directed by his son Jan Svěrák. With his close friend Ladislav Smoljak, he created the fictional personality (universal genius, inventor, sportsman, criminalist, poet, writer and philosopher) Jára Cimrman who won the voting for The Greatest Czech in 2005 (only the fact that Cimrman is fictional prevented him from actually winning). Zdeněk Svěrák also founded a charity organization Paraple (in English, "Umbrella") which focuses on helping paralyzed individuals.
TV Credits
Cimrman sobě
Character:
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Veselé příhody z natáčení
Character:
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StarDance
Character: Special Judge
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Zpátky se Sobotou
Character: Self (archive footage)
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Movie Credits
Kolya
Character: František Louka
After a fictitious marriage with a Russian emigrant, Cellisten Louka, a Czech man, must suddenly take responsibility for her son. However, it’s not long before the communication barrier is broken between the two new family members....
Empties
Character: Josef Tkaloun
Czech literature teacher Josef Tkaloun, who is past retirement age, realises one day that he no longer understands his pupils, and so he quits… dramatically. What he does not predict is that in doing this he will lose his sense of place in society....
My Sweet Little Village
Character: malíř
The movie's main storyline follows the life of Otík, a young man, in a tight-knit village community. The sweet-tempered Otík works as an assistant truck driver with Mr. Pávek, his older colleague and practical-minded neighbor. Pávek's family takes care of Otík, whose parents are dead. However, the two coworkers become at odds over Otík's inability to perform even the simplest tasks. Pávek demands that Otík be transferred to assist another driver, who happens to be a choleric and suspicious man n...
Pocta V+W
Character: Self
Jiří Suchý recalls two of the most prominent artistic and creative figures in Czechoslovak culture of the last century: Jiří Voskovec and Jan Werich....
Ball Lightning
Character: Dr. Ječný
A comedy about exchange of 12 apartments , which, its organizer, lawyer Radosta, rightly called Action Ball Lightning. To prepare, organize and execute the exchange of twelve apartments is a work worthy champions. Radosta, who was excellently played by Rudolf Hrušínský, solved all sudden difficulties and complications on the fly and with grace. To be sure that the on the D-day everything goes well he prepares a little rehearsal, which reveals many minor issues caused for example by wedding order...
The Three Veterans
Character: ministr
It is a story of three veterans released from the army. During one night spent camping in the country they one by one wake up and meet three elvish brothers. Each of the veterans is given a magic item - one gets magic harp that provides him with servants by wish, other one endless pouch of gold and the last one owns magic hat that can create all the staff excluding money and people....
Accumulator 1
Character: Fišárek
In this movie, TV sets are full of life. If a person is in TV (e.g. because it was filmed on the street) it has a double that's right in the TV set. This double needs energy from the true character to survive. Each time, the real human watches TV, his Double will pull life energy from him. So there's a mysterious Death-serial. Many persons die in front of their TV set and nobody knows why. Olda, the main character, is one of the persons, that get more and more weak. He is near death, till Fisare...
Calamity
Character: učitel
Funny banter about love, sex, social status, and other ideals, while a new railway employee is trained and sent on his first run as driver....
Dissolved and Effused
Character: Jelínek
A police inspector and inexperienced trainee search for a mysteriously disappeared manufacturer of ointments for hair growth....
Investigation of the Loss of a Class Book
Character: Teacher
The impetus for writing the play was a real event - the investigation of the loss of the class register at a boys' school in Vienna's 4th district. The perpetrator was most likely a student named F. Kirchner. Cimrman was a police inspector in Vienna's 4th district at the time, and the school principal turned to him when all educational measures had failed. Six police officers followed the suspect for three days, but to no avail. Cimrman therefore decided to influence Kirchner in a different way:...
Lijavec
Character: Inspektor starobinců
When late in life was presenting Cimrman his artistic activity, came arresting knowledge: none of the works he had signed, not recognition. And so he decided to retreat to the anonymity of the author and become folklore. Clairvoyantly recognized that the modern era marked for extinction of folk creativity in areas such as the national song, story, legend, proverb or weather lore. The only thing from the oral folklore of die and stay alive is an anecdote. And she plays a significant role in his p...
Marecek, Pass Me the Pen!
Character: Šlajs
This comedy is about one average family. The father works as master in the factory and his son is studying on high school. One day father must start to visit the evening school. It's the same school as his son visiting. The lives both students are connecting together. The son must teach the math and physics his own father. The father getting to know, that the life of the students is not simple as he supposed....
Secluded, Near Woods
Character: Lavička
The Lavicka's, a Czech family from the city, rents a house in the country with the option to buy. However, old Mr Komarek seems reluctant to sell the house as they agreed....
An Uncertain Season
Character:
The small group of actors have to face many problems while preparing a new performance....
The Hit
Character: scénárista Jíša
Mr Jiš managed to give his first script at Barrandov. Already in the preparatory phase, he discovers with horror that the filmmakers have completely bypassed his intention - instead of a probe into the life of a contemporary village, they are preparing a spectacular musical show, which they are convinced will be a hit with the audience. The very first shots speak volumes. An elegiac arrives in the village of Lipovec and is greeted with singing and dancing by all the local officials and ordinary ...
Africa
Character: Dr. Emil Žába
The fourteenth Cimrman play takes us to the heart of a continent almost untouched by civilization. Czech travelers encounter a strange tribe of cannibals and almost end up on their menu. The members of this tribe are unusual in two ways: their appearance and their extraordinary docility. These characteristics enabled Cimrman to solve linguistic and staging problems with an elegance that other world playwrights can only envy. If, say, G. B. Shaw had tackled such a theme, the audience would have s...
Basically Normal
Character:
The film follows Karel Novák, who is appointed as the head of a research institute's new department. His ambitious wife, Eva, sees this as an opportunity for social advancement. She quits her job, turns their apartment into a hair salon, and begins networking with influential people. However, her efforts entangle Karel in a web of shady business dealings, including a dubious connection with a foreign company, Djungarden. As misunderstandings and comedic mishaps unfold, Karel finds himself in tro...
Chain
Character: Mikeš (voice)
Carefree young nurse Marta learns upon her husband's death that he was involved in all manner of criminal activity, which puts her life in danger....
Hearty Greetings from the Globe
Character:
Two aliens stir up trouble on Earth in order to study humans. Misunderstandings ensue....
Czech Heaven
Character: Jan Ámos Komenský
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Pub in the Glade
Character: Taverner
On the occasion of the opening of the famous Vienna "Riesenrad," a competition was held for the best operetta. A Czech, Jára Cimrman, also submitted his entry, a sweeping seven-hour work entitled "Proso." Due to what was perhaps his only negative trait, a slight stinginess, he did not send the score by registered mail, which allowed Franz Lehár, Johann Strauss, Oskar Nedbal, and other members of the jury to literally tear apart the brilliant operetta fresco. After many decades, a team of Czech C...
Dumb Bobes, or Czech Tarzan
Character: Physician
The result of a clash between two intellectual forces: the artist's irrepressible creative instinct and the equally irrepressible instinct of the small Czech self-sufficient farmer. While on the one hand we see an admirable effort to understand and portray the world and get to the essence of human behavior, on the other hand we encounter only a mundane effort to dry a few mushrooms for the winter. In the case of this play, Josef Padevět's small, bitter world unfortunately prevails....
Long, Broad and Nearsight
Character: Clever-eyesighted
The play itself tells the story of a harrowing journey aimed at restoring Princess Goldilocks’s feminine beauty—she had been enchanted by the evil giant Koloděj. In the first scene, Prince Jasoň arrives at the royal castle and discovers that his beloved bride—Princess Zlatovláska—has (thanks to Koloděj’s magic) a beard and a foot size of “45.” Jason decides to free Zlatovláska from the evil curse, and together with her, her royal father, and Bystrozrakým, he sets off to see Děd Vševěd for advice...
The Conquest of the North Pole
Character: Teaching Assistant
Cimrman's play about Czech expedition to north pole....
The Stand In
Character: Vavroch
Poverty was one of the many unfortunate aspects of Cimrman's life. His traveling theater company, Lipany, suffered from high actor turnover. If an actor's departure was agreed upon well in advance, the situation could be managed. However, if it happened with shouting and slamming doors, often just a few hours before the performance, the troupe and its director experienced some tense moments. Such experiences form the backdrop to the play. Lovers of the work of this unrecognized Czech artist are ...
The Nude
Character: Dr. Turnovský
This traditional seminar will introduce you to the most basic facts about Jára Cimrman. The ensuing play will show how difficult it is for some people to come to terms with new knowledge from their past....
Cimrman in the World of Music
Character: colonel "Colonel"
The original score was in a sorry state: the notes were carelessly marked, the lines were broken, and the paper was covered in smudges. I took the utmost care in reconstructing it: I erased the smudges, traced the lines with a ruler, blackened the bellies of the quarter notes, and added tails to the eighth and sixteenth notes. I believe that today's version of the work will stand up to even the most rigorous standards....
Jára Cimrman Lying, Sleeping
Character: Jára Cimrman
Czechoslovak comedy film directed by Ladislav Smoljak, about the fictional national hero Jára Cimrman (universal genius, inventor, sportsman, criminalist, poet, writer and philosopher)....
Joachim, Put It in the Machine
Character: podnikový psycholog Klásek
A sincere provincial young man, Frantisek Koudelka leaves to work in Prague. For the trip he buys a computer made horoscope with biorhythms charts, marked according to his date of birth, there are trappy, precarious, unsuccessful and even critical days and few successful days. The clumsy luckless person Frantisek has finally a guidance for his life....
Larks on a String
Character:
In post-WWII Communist Czechoslovakia, several characters considered bourgeois are sentenced to work in a junkyard for rehabilitation. Among them is a young man who pines for a female convict....
40 let Divadla Járy Cimrmana aneb Ze hry do hry
Character:
Jára Cimrman in the whirlwind of the past forty years, as discovered, recorded, and brought to life by the theater....
Chinaski: Každej ví kulový
Character: Self
Documentary about the Czech band Chinaski....
What's Up Doc?
Character: Bohouš Burda
Bohouš Burda, a forty-year-old idealist disillusioned with city life and his failing marriage, abandons it all to run a mobile dental clinic in the mountains. He meets Terezka, who shares his yearning for a simpler existence, but even in remote nature they must confront unforeseen challenges....
Kooky
Character: Hergot (voice)
Young Ondra has asthma and so his parents throw away his favourite toy: a musty old stuffed bear named Kooky. That night Ondra dreams that Kooky is determined to find his way back home from the dump. In the boy's fantasy, the bear gets lost in a forest occupied by strange animals and remarkable beings that he never heard of while living on the toy shelf in Ondra's room. And of course even in this small imaginary world, true good exists as does real evil, which Kooky must face up to in order to b...
The Elementary School
Character: Fan Souček, Eda's dad
The time is 1945-46. 10 year old Eda and his friend Tonda live in a small village outside Prague. In school, their class is so wild and indisciplined that their teacher quits and is replaced by the militant Igor Hnidzo. He is very strict – but also very fair. His weakness though, is his interest in young women....
Lucie and the Miracles
Character: Constable (voice)
The harsh reality of a home for abandoned children blends with episodes of youthful fantasy and slapstick comedy in this story of an orphan girl. Lucy's fondest wish is to find new parents and leave an orphanage. She befriends a man who can create doors from paint. He gives her a stuffed dog that magically comes alive when placed on the ground, and he and his wife end up adopting the little girl. After finding parents of her own, Lucy sets out through fantasy to find parents for her orphan frien...
Three Brothers
Character: Vypravěč
Three brothers leave their home to see the world. During their journey, young men as by miracle enter into famous fairy tales (Little Riding Hood, Sleeping Beauty, Twelve Months) and face traps, unexpected moments and even love in a story full of humor and songs....
Daddy
Character: Self
This film is a documentary-style look at the life of the beloved Czech actor, Zdeněk Svěrák....
Silvestr 79 aneb Hrajeme si jako děti
Character: Self
A New Year's Eve television variety show from late 1979....
As Good as Poison
Character: Pavel Hnyk
Engineer Pavel Hnyk is successful at work, but not very happy in his private life. He is approaching his fiftieth birthday and he can't shake the feeling that life is slipping away from him. The most effective medicine for such woes is amorous adventures, and Pavel indulges in them. His wife Alice is a lawyer by profession, so she knows about such cases, and because she is a wise woman, she passes them over in silence. One day, however, a new colleague appears at Pavel's workplace - the charming...
Run, Waiter, Run!
Character: Pařízek
A comedy concerning a down on his luck bookshop owner with a penchant for women who decides to make some money by pretending to be a waiter and collecting cash from unsuspecting diners....
Bridal Tour to Jilji
Character: průvodčí
A scientist meets a nice girl and they start dating. He decides the only way to find out for sure if she’s the one is to take a long trip with her, but things don’t go quite as he’d hoped....
Like Rabbits
Character: otec Dusek
A story of two boys who during the summer at a recreation area become best friends despite being enemies at first....
How Poets Are Losing Their Illusions
Character:
A story about a young medical school student and his adventures....
Brontosaurus
Character: Bobr
Tomás lives in a very small Czech town and is a nature lover and a birdwatcher. He struggles to keep the forests he loves clean and constantly fights his "archenemy" whose sister and Tomás's classmate is secretly in love with him....
Stopa vede do Liptákova
Character:
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Barefoot
Character: Headmaster
Story of a small boy is forced to move out of Prague during World War 2 to a small village of Slavonice where he meets the rest of his family. He needs to make new friends and get used to a new life which is immensely different from what this city boy was used to....
Psaní do nebe
Character:
The Jára Cimrman Theater staged its first premiere exactly 50 years ago, on October 4, 1967. Its members celebrated the half-century anniversary with a special program that included scenes from plays by the trio of authors Cimrman, Smoljak, and Svěrák, which have since become cult classics. Psaní do nebe (Writing to Heaven) is a letter written by Zdeněk Svěrák to his long-time friend and colleague Ladislav Smoljak in connection with the 50th anniversary of the Jára Cimrman Theater. It became the...
Ruffiano and Sweeteeth
Character: vypravěč
Famed outlaw Lotrando sends his son to a strict Catholic boarding school to learn manners, but the boy becomes too polite to lead the band. When they inadvertently arrive in a sultanate where the princess Zubeida lies gravely ill and are mistaken for physicians, father and son must overcome their inexperience and imposture to heal her and save the realm....
Crime in the Night Club
Character: Prokurátor
The theft of a pearl necklace and subsequent murder took place at the Tartaros cabaret. All this could compromise the minister, who is an admirer of the singer Clara. The real culprits must be found as soon as possible......
You Are a Widow, Sir
Character: kritik v divadle
After a soldier cuts off the arm of king's cousin, king decides to deactivate the army. Of course, generals don't like it at all and they try to kill the king. The assassin should be artificial body in the shape of actress Evelina Keleti and with brain of psychotic serial killer Fany Stubová. They also manage to kill king's astrologer Stuart Hampl, who warns the king. Accidentally, Hampl's brain is implanted into assassin's body, actress Keleti is killed and chaos begins....
The Snowdrop Festival
Character: řidič trabanta
An episodic film about the inhabitants of Kersko, their hardships and their joys, most prominently hunting. A lyrical and humorous adaptation of writings by Bohumil Hrabal....
30 Maidens and Pythagoras
Character: profesor (uncredited)
A musical starring Jiří Menzel (whose part is sung by Achilles Michailidis) as a math and physics teacher employing innovative teaching methods....
Bethlehem Light
Character: Karel Šejnoha
A well-known writer now aged 75 is aware of his increasing age and the risk that his literary style will grow worn. His everyday existence is enlivened by characters from his stories, who tend to enter reality in unexpected ways, at various stages of completeness and with all kinds of strange demands....
Zdeněk Svěrák 90
Character:
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The Ride
Character: Driver
Two guys buy a car and travel through the country until they meet a lonely girl on the road. They begin travelling together, having fun, enjoying life. But then there is another guy who has a better car and who is looking for this girl because he is her lover, her first one. What is going on inside the mind of this girl? Nobody knows, until the very end....
The Invisible Jan Gogola
Character: Self
A dramaturg is present during the writing of the screenplay, but does not write the film. A dramaturg is present on set, but does not direct the film. A dramaturg sits in on the editing process, but does not edit the film. A dramaturg is also involved in many other activities throughout a film’s production, yet performs none of them directly. In this sense, the dramaturg is invisible. The same could be said of the life of the distinguished Czechoslovak dramaturg Jan Gogola, who influenced count...