Petr Čepek

16 September 1940, Prague – 20 September 1994, Vrchlabí

Petr Čepek studied acting at the Theatre Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts (DAMU) and got his first employment in the Petr Bezruč Theatre in Ostrava. Three years later, he became a co-founding member of the Drama Club (1965), where he worked for the rest of his life as one of the principal actors. Here he played many exceptional roles in a number of famous pieces, e.g. I Served the King of England (Obsluhoval jsem anglického krále), John Gabriel Borkman, The Government Inspector, Crime and Punishment, The Gentle Barbarian (Něžný barbar), Long Day's Journey into Night and many others.

His first film appearance was in the tragicomedy Hotel for Strangers (Hotel pro cizince, 1966), directed by Antonín Máša. However, he became famous for the collaboration with František Vláčil, for whom he portrayed distinctive heroes in historical films Valley of the Bees (Údolí včel, 1967) and Adelheid (1969). In 1970s, after the advent of Normalisation, he focused more on negative heroes, such as the one in Juraj Herz’s drama The Petroleum Lamps (Petrolejové lampy, 1971), which represents one of Čepek’s best achievements. He also excelled in a number of other roles, including comedic ones, e.g. Menzel’s Cutting it Short (Postřižiny, 1981) and My Sweet Little Village (Vesničko má středisková, 1985), Smoljak’s fictional biography Jára Cimrman Lying, Sleeping (Jára Cimrman ležící, spící, 1983) and the popular story by Oldřich Lipský The Three Veterans (Tři veteráni, 1983). He was also famous for the main role of Jan Jesenius in the TV series Doctor of the Dying Time (Lékař umírajícího času, 1983).

The audience remembers him as a serious, character actor with expressive features and bewitching stare, although he was also good at subtle humour. He frequently portrayed young, unbalanced and disordered heroes with a thoroughly elaborate psychological characterisation. Petr Čepek last, even symbolic (double) role was Faust and Mephistopheles in Švankmajer’s Faust (Lekce Faust, 1993), for which he was awarded a Czech Lion in memoriam.