Ilja Prachař

Born

1924-04-30

Died

2005-08-10

Birthplace

Malenovice u Zlína, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic]

Biography

Ilja Prachař ( April 30, 1924, Malenovice – August 10, 2005, Prague ) was a Czech actor and playwright. He was born in Malenovice near Zlín as the middle of three sons of František Prachar (1899–2001), an official of the district health insurance company in Zlín, and his wife Ludmila (1901–1981). The elder brother Drahomír (1922–2008) later worked in a foreign trade company, the younger Kamil (1931–2020) became a theater actor and worked almost his entire professional career in the theater in Cheb . In Zlín and Malenovice, the parents actively engaged in associational life and performed volunteer theater. His wife Jana (*1937) is a puppeteer, his son David (*1959), grandson Jakub (*1983), granddaughter Mariana (*1994) and great-granddaughter Alžběta Malá (*1997) are acting. He began his acting career as a member of the drama group of the Army Art Ensemble of Vít Nejedlý (1945–1947), in the Workers' Theater in Zlín (1947–1952) and in the theater in Ostrava (1952–1954). From 1954 he performed at the S. K. Neumann Theater in Prague and from 1959 to 1990 at the Vinohrady Theatre. His best-known film role is probably the greedy and miserly landowner Trautenberk in the evening series Krkonošské pohádyky. He is the author of several plays and television scripts. Already in 1951, he received the State Prize for the play " Hádajú se o rozumné " and for his acting he was awarded the award for outstanding work (1967), the title of meritorious artist (1983) and the František Filipovský Award for lifetime mastery in dubbing (1997). Ilja Prachař was a member of the Communist Party . In November 1989, he gave a speech at the Summer Speech as a representative of the actors from the Vinohrady Theatre . In his personal life, Ilja Prachař was a big supporter of the football club Slavia . At the turn of the 1980s and 1990s, he was even the chairman of the civic association of the Friends of Slavia for seven years.