User:MelioraCogito/Vladimír Valenta Bio

Biography of Czech actor, screenwriter and director, Vladimír Valenta (1923-2001) by Jaroslav "krib" Lopour. (Google translated from https://www.csfd.cz/tvurce/40542-vladimir-valenta/ )

Vladimír Valenta was born on May 28, 1923 in Prague. While still studying and during the war in Horní Měcholupy, he also lived and played with amateurs, and in Prague he was a collaborator in the drama studio Čin. He graduated in 1942 and went straight to film. During the occupation, he worked from 1942 to 1945 as an assistant director and production assistant at the Foja film studios in Radlice and then at the Lucernafilm factory, where he also collaborated with director František Čáp (DANCERS, etc.).

As an employee of Lucernafilm, he switched to nationalized film. At this time, he was trying to become a film director, which he never succeeded in doing. As a directorial collaborator, he participated in Weiss's drama ULOUPENÁ HRANICE (1947), when he was in full-time military service.

A year later, screenwriters Jiří Fried and J. A. Novotný used Valent's original theme for a psychological film by director Jiří Krejčík SVĚDOMÍ (1948). However, after this film, he had to remain silent for many years. Vladimir Valenta was sentenced to twelve years in prison for his anti-communist and political activities. He served his sentence in the years 1949 - 1956 in Jáchymov and Leopoldov.

He was released in 1956 after a retrial and acquittal. He made a living as a ČSAD driver at the freight station for a while, but from 1958 he collaborated with film and did not return to the Barrandov Film Studio until the mid-1960s as a member of the teaching department (1965-1968). At the same time, in November 1965, he became a founding member of FITES.

He collaborated on themes and screenplays for the films Vojtěch Jasný DESIRE (1958), František Vláčil HOLUBICE (1960), Miroslav Hubáček BLACK SATURDAY (1960) and for the film DEFENDED (1964) by Kadár and Klose. He won Trilobite (1964) with Kadár and Klos for his screenplay for the DEFENDANT for 1963. However, some of his screenplays and texts were never realized. He also created a screenplay for the Slovak drama SHERIFF BEHIND THE NETWORKS (1965) by Dimitri Plichta.

Already as a FSB lecturer, he was used by three directors not as a screenwriter, but as a distinctive and distinctive representative of four film roles. The first was the most distinctive: the head of the station in Jiří Menzel's film according to Bohumil Hrabal, SHARPLY WATCHED TRAINS (1966).

He also played episodes of fizz in Menzel's next film CRIME IN CHANTAN (1968), a Turkish knight in the short story POISONED TRAVICE by Miloš Makovec from the short story film PRAGUE NIGHTS (1968) and his biggest and very last role in a Czech film, The Farmer in the Parable of Evald Schorm FAR THE END (1968).

During the occupation of Czechoslovakia by Warsaw Pact troops in August 1968, Vladimir Valenta was on a short visit to London. Before returning to Bohemia, he preferred to emigrate with his family. They went to Canada and settled permanently in Edmonton. He worked as a car wash for half a year, but in the end he managed to fully participate in the local cultural life.

He gradually published and edited the political and cultural magazine "Telegram" (December 1, 1969 - December 31, 1975), was a playwright and producer of the Montreal Canadian National Film Office (1974 to 1980), and established cooperation with Mr. and Mrs. Škvorecký and their publishing house '68 Publishers, he wrote for the exile magazine "Reporter" and became involved in the Canadian Czechoslovak Society of Sciences and Arts. He retired in 1988.

After 1989, he visited his native Bohemia several times. He had a daughter with his second wife Eva, also Eva. He left his complicated life path in Tom Radford's co-production documentary SHARPLY WATCHED FREEDOM (1994) and especially in an exhaustive interview with Jan Lukeš from July 1997, which was published in 2004 for seven sequels in "Divadelní noviny".

He also worked abroad for film (eg THE AMATEUR, THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING, THE LAST WINTER) and television (eg DIE EINFÄLLE DER HEILIGEN KLARA / IDEAS OF THE HOLY CARA, DRAW !, MANIA and the series CASTLE ZAREMBA, NORTH OF 60 etc.). He seldom wrote screenplays (ET DU FILS / IN THE NAME OF A SON, I WASN’T SCARED).

And for the already mentioned film office he produced (FOR GENTLEMEN SCARED, SO LONG TO RUN) and worked as a playwright (BRAVERY IN THE FIELD, THE WAR IS OVER). He also participated in pedagogical work. Actor, screenwriter, playwright, producer, educator, journalist and lecturer Vladimír Valenta died on May 13, 2001 in Edmonton, Canada, shortly before his 78th birthday. He is buried at home in the Olšany cemeteries in Prague.