Pavel Landovský

Pavel Landovský (11 September 1936 – 10 October 2014) was a renowned Czech actor, playwright and director whose career spanned more than five decades and whose personal life was inseparably tied to the political turbulence of the former Czechoslovakia. Born in Havlíčkův Brod, he first attended a secondary technical school of mechanical engineering before attempting four times to gain admission to the Faculty of Theatre in Prague, finally launching his professional path as a supernumerary actor at the regional theatre in Teplice and later performing in Šumperk, Klatovy and Pardubice. His early theatrical work quickly evolved into writing, and on 11 May 1969 his first play Hodinový hoteliér premiered at the Činoherní klub in Prague, marking the beginning of a prolific playwriting career. In 1971 the communist regime barred him from film and television, yet he continued to appear on stage and became a prominent dissident, signing Charter 77 and serving alongside Václav Havel and Ludvík Vaculík as an official spokesman for the civil‑rights movement. This activism provoked severe repression: the secret police beat him, broke his leg in the winter of 1978‑79 and ultimately forced his exile when he accepted an invitation to join the Burgtheater ensemble in Vienna, where he worked with director Peter Zadek among others. After the Velvet Revolution, Landovský returned to Prague in January 1990, re‑establishing himself at the Theatre on the Balustrade, the National Theatre, Divadlo v Dlouhé and Divadlo Hybernia, and starring in Václav Havel’s Audience under Jiří Menzel’s direction. His filmography includes celebrated Czech classics such as Closely Watched Trains, Marketa Lazarová, Adelheid and Černí baroni. In his later years he battled diabetes, suffered a stroke and used a wheelchair, but continued to inspire audiences until his death from a heart attack at his home in Kytín at the age of 78. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Merit for his extraordinary contributions to Czech culture and democratic freedom.