Biography

Alena Vránová was born on July 30, 1932 in Prague, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic]. She is an actress, known for Sny na nedeli (1959), Hudba z Marsu (1955) and The Proud Princess (1952).

[on her shyness] "I'm such a non-public person, if I have to appear in public somewhere, if I have to say something, if I have to say thank you for something, I don't feel comfortable, I'm anxious. It's strange that an actress who has dedicated her life to public speaking is actually afraid of public speaking. Maybe that's one of the reasons I started doing theater. I wasn't happy with my life, I didn't have a very nice childhood, I would even say a very unpleasant childhood, and I needed to sort of hide behind someone. And so even the childhood opportunities of those roles were huge for me in that it wasn't me, I loved the fact that I could live someone else's life."

[on her first stage experiences]: "My father was a great amateur actor and even wrote plays for amateur actors, but he died when I was five. But I have my first stage experience with him. It was at the Sokol Hall in Branik, where I played a child sleeping in a crib in one of his plays. I still remember being carried to that cot on stage, and because it was already late, I really fell asleep there. When it was over, they carried me off again and I got a giant candy bar. I don't know if that was the moment when I decided that this is what I wanted to do in life, but I was all out of that candy. Then, as a schoolgirl, I got into Disman's children's radio troupe, and they took us to the theaters, and soon I was playing child roles alongside professional actors. So the theatre became part of my life very soon."

[on her mono-drama era]: "I've been in theaters where the management has changed and thus the repertoire, and I wondered whether it was worth staying there at all. I am thinking of the time when the Municipal Theatres of Prague were falling apart in the early 1990s. Eventually, I left and started doing my own shows. The first one was a mono-drama called 'You Don't Know, My Love' by Jirí Just. It was a success, so I staged 'Medea' by Árpád Göncz, who then became the president of Hungary. I did one performance for him in Budapest. I remember it very fondly. Then I staged a dramatization of Anita Loos' famous book 'Gentlemen Prefer Blondes'. It was directed by Karel Smyczek. At that time, Milan Hein approached me and asked me if I wanted to play at the Ungelt Theatre. I was enchanted by the premises and we quickly agreed on what I would do here and with whom. Today I know that the moment he offered me to work with him was a complete turning point in my artistic life."

[on Hrátky s certem (1957)]: "I wanted to be a funny princess, and my appearance corresponded to that, so that I wouldn't repeat the model of Krasomila from The Proud Princess (1952). I think it worked. But I refused other offers for princess roles on principle, these two were enough."