Biography

Father of Jiří Schmitzer

Due to his illness at the time of shooting, he turned down the part of Zásinek in All My Good Countrymen (1969), eventually played by Waldemar Matuška.

He turned down the part of fake butler Franc in Hubert the Smart Boy (1985), eventually played by Lubomír Lipský.

He was considered for the part of Lucifer in Give the Devil His Due (1985), eventually played by Karel Heřmánek.

His name is pronounced "Yir-zhee Soh-vaak".

[on working with Jan Werich]: "Werich was a giant for me. A giant of calm, of sovereignty. And I fell in love with him all the more when I found out on the set that this great Werich also had stage fright, that his soul was also fluttering."

[on playing negative roles]: "I never want to portray a negative character as a deterrent. I always want to find something human in it. You're not bad because you want to be bad. To master negative features of the character also needs a bit of courage to reveal one's own."

[on his acting style]: "When a situation is so-called funny, I look for its sadness and seriousness. When it's serious, I try to find the humorous side of it. I believe it's the basis of acting, and it defies the division of actors into comedians and tragedians and questions about which is more difficult."

[on his unfulfilled aspirations]: "I thought many times that I should get behind the camera and direct. I should have done it, I had no shortage of ideas, but the times didn't favor one person directing, writing and acting - he would have been too visible. It wasn't possible. I'd have had more money, too. That wasn't possible either."

[on Vladimír Menšík] How did we even meet? I don't know exactly, I'm still in a fog about it, but I think it was in some kind of a big hurry. We were pulling it off in some big company, day and night. And I suddenly woke up in a completely strange apartment, I look around, I see a man sitting next to me with happy eyes, a mouthful of teeth, I can't help wondering. I see him for the first time and he jumps up and says, 'I'm Mensík!' That's how our friendship began.