
Otto Šimánek
Actor · 1925 – 1992 · Třešť, Československo
Otto Šimánek (April 28, 1925 Třešť - May 8, 1992 Prague) was a Czech mime, film and theater actor. He has starred in a number of comedies and several fairy tales. Probably his most famous role was the title role in the series Pan Tau. He trained as an electrician at Tesla in Prague and has so far played the theater only amateuristically. He later got to the Theater on May 5 and also traveled for a few months at the Theater under the Placht of Jindřich Plachta. He gained acting experience in various theaters. He worked in theaters in Zlín, Ostrava and finally in 1958 he was engaged in the Municipal Theaters of Prague, where he lasted until 1990. He played a number of large roles on the stage. The character of the clown Jean Debureau remains unforgettable for the audience in the dramatization of Kožík's novel The Greatest of the Pierots, where he could fully use his love for pantomime. Acting in the Prague theater also meant an opportunity to win film and television roles. He mainly played smaller roles in about forty films. The most famous is probably the role from the movie I'll Get Up Tomorrow and Bake My Tea. His character, Mr. Tau, entered the European and, to some extent, world film consciousness in the co-production series of the same name by director Jindřich Polák and screenwriter Ota Hofman. He also taught pantomime at the Prague Conservatory and DAMU. Among his students was, among others, the actor Petr Čepek. On the site of the pharmacy where Otto Šimánek was born, an ash statue was installed in 2011 depicting an actor in the role of Mr. Tau with a typical hand movement near his hat. The author is Daniel Stejskal.
Movies21
Movie7.5FantasyFamilyPopelka, a resourceful and independent young girl, is a servant in her stepmother's house and confides in her closest friend the owl. When she comes across three magical acorns, she's granted a single wish for each one of them.
Movie7.2AdventureScience FictionAs the world progresses into the industrial age, a professor studying the "nature of pure matter" is spirited away by a would-be dictator and connived into building a super-bomb, as a young reporter and a girl rescued from the sea attempt to warn him of their mutual kidnapper's intentions to dominate the world with a new and more-deadly-yet weapon.
Movie7.4AnimationFantasyA 20th century man lands on the Moon and discovers that Baron Munchausen has beaten him to it, accompanied by Cyrano de Bergerac and the characters from Jules Verne's novels about the conquest of the satellite.
Movie6.7DramaA group of outcasts, including a vagabond and a prostitute, gather at the outskirts of the industrial area of a large Czech city, one of the things that helps some of them survive is alcohol.
Movie6.2ComedyScience FictionFormer Nazi Klaus Abard survives to the 1990s by taking anti-ageing pills. He plans to use a time travel trip to return to Germany in 1944 and present Hitler with a hydrogen bomb, so that he can win the war. Unfortunately the pilot, woman-chasing Karel Bures, dies on the morning of the trip and his earnest twin brother Jan impersonates him, without knowing about the plot.
Movie7.0ComedyScience FictionIn this zany Czechoslovakian comedy, a scientist invents a machine that projects a sleeping person's dream on a screen; disaster soon follows when the machine malfunctions and the cartoon-like dream characters become very real!
Movie6.4DramaWarPavel is a Czech partisan fighter in the waning days of the war. Just as peace is declared, Pavel is shot in the spine and sent to the hospital emergency ward. As he fades in and out of consciousness, he recalls the events that led to his participation in the underground. Holding German occupation commander Engelchen responsible for all the horrors and deprivations heaped upon his comrades, Pavel is kept alive by the possibility of recovering and exacting vengeance upon the Nazi officer - no matter how long it takes.
Movie8.0ComedyAn only son, Jirí Valenta (Jaromír Hanzlík), has been drafted to the army. At the barracks he acquires the nickname Seamstress because he sews rugs in his spare time. One day, his friend introduces him to Julka Vávrová (Jorga Kotrbová), a girl he is desperate to get rid of. The naive Jirí falls in love with the girl and accepts her invitation to spend Easter together in the country. There he learns that the girl is the single mother of the young boy Martínek, whose father is the married tractor driver.
Dva muži hlásí příchod
1975 · 3 votes
Movie6.1ComedyThe invincible agent Cyril Juan Borguette alias W4C has been assigned a mission to go to a hotel in Prague, get hold of a saltcellar with a plan for the military exploitation of Venus hidden in it, and hand it over to the beautiful agent Alice. He will have to compete for the saltcellar with other agents working for the world's various greater and smaller powers. The head of the Prague counter-intelligence unit gets news of agent W4C's mission. Deficient in personnel, he nominates accountant Foustka as agent 13B. Mr Foustka takes his dog Pajda with him and the two head for the airport. Pajda helps him track down agent W4C in a classy hotel that becomes the battleground for the interests and plans of the secret agents from different countries, each trying to get hold of the precious saltcellar.
Movie6.8Science FictionComedyAfter a soldier cuts off the arm of king's cousin, king decides to deactivate the army. Of course, generals don't like it at all and they try to kill the king. The assassin should be artificial body in the shape of actress Evelina Keleti and with brain of psychotic serial killer Fany Stubová. They also manage to kill king's astrologer Stuart Hampl, who warns the king. Accidentally, Hampl's brain is implanted into assassin's body, actress Keleti is killed and chaos begins.
Movie6.4FamilyFantasyPan Tau, the friend of all children, now also helps the adults. A movie producer is in trouble and decides to shoot another Pan-Tau movie. But the old Pan-Tau actor Karasek is no longer young enough to walk the almost weightless walk of Pan Tau. Mr. Novak turns up - he resembles Pan Tau like a twin brother. He succeeds every pirouette. And as if by magic, he solves all the problems between people! Who is Mr. Novak? Is he really ...?
Pan Tau – der Film
1988 · 15 votes
Movie6.4ComedyCrimeThree short story omnibus. The main hero and connecting link is Lieutenant Boruvka, created by Lubomír Lipsky. He deals with the murder case between climbers, the death of the dancer in the music theater and the strange disappearance of the mathematics professor.
- MovieComedy
Movie6.7ComedyFamilyA second part of a funny adventures of six years old Lucie and her two magic dolls.
Movie7.5Crime“A bored housewife, a husband who married her for show, and a stupid boy who is full of himself because he is dating a Swiss woman.” The words of Inspector Tůma sound like they’re from a European melodrama, but in fact they come from a Czechoslovak crime story. A pair of detectives, counterfeit medicine, the high-society setting of a Karlovy Vary hotel, and Oldřich Nový as the aging hotel manager Kraus.
- Movie1.0Drama
Bidýlko
1967 · 2 votes
Movie6.6ComedyScience FictionWhile on vacation with their bickering parents, young Eva and her little brother Johnny find in a polluted lake two strange friendly sentient octopuses made of strange material that attracts electricity. They take them as pets.
Movie7.7MusicRomanceThe Haszler songs of Prague, so popular in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, have not aged. They are still sung in pubs and on construction sites, in short, everywhere. They also have their place in the love stories from old Prague, so beautifully told by Miss Veronika. Their heroine is Miss Stázi, who at first had no luck in love with the student Tadeáš. But then she fell in love with three gentlemen at once. The shy Mr. Alois, the cheerful Mr. France and Mr. Johannes, who seduced her behind the Horse Gate. But in the end she preferred the old but rich landlord. Three abandoned gentlemen nearly took their own lives under the Stone Bridge. But grief overcame them and the gentlemen settled down to marriages richly blessed with adorable children. And Miss Stasi? She ran away from the old man and returned to Mr. Franco when he came home from the army.
Ta naše písnička česká
1967 · 3 votes
Movie7.3ComedyFamilyA first part of a funny adventures of six years old Lucie and her two magic dolls.
Movie5.3ComedyA short film about Prague, Prague residents, and the beginning of the weekend.
Zelená vlna
1982 · 6 votes
Movie5.6HistoryComedyCzech nobleman Petr Vok of Rozmberk (Milos Kopecký) is no longer so young, but his amatory adventures continue to arouse the envy of men and the indignation of respectable ladies. In his "female retinue" at the chateau in Bechyne he has twelve comely girls, but he still manages to seduce the miller's wife and the maid. Lord Vok is in great financial difficulties. His elder brother Vilém advises him to marry a rich woman. Petr surprises him by announcing his intention to marry the very young Katerina of Ludanice.
Svatby pana Voka
1971 · 7 votes
Series21
TV7.0ComedyBakaláři
1972 · 2 votes
TV7.1FamilyPan Tau always had a gentle expression and a friendly smile, he was elegantly dressed in a stroller, with an umbrella and a white carnation in the lapel. Foremost, he was famous for his magic bowler hat. By tapping on his hat, Pan Tau was able to change his appearance into a puppet, to conjure up miscellaneous objects or to do other magic. His most characteristically behavior is that he would help children who were experiencing some sort of difficulties in-between their dreams and reality, like finding a place for skiing, settling family problems on Christmas, and even give a boy a good time at a fair when he is supposed to have piano lessons. To adults, he usually remained invisible.
Pan Tau
1970 · 17 votes
TV8.2Sci-Fi & FantasyComedyArabela was a children's television series produced in Czechoslovakia which aired from 1979 to 1981. The series has 13 episodes and is in the Czech language.
Arabela
1980 · 48 votes
- TVReality
TV7.3CrimeMalý pitaval z velkého města
1983 · 6 votes
TV8.0CrimeHříšní lidé města pražského
1969 · 13 votes
TV7.0DramaF. L. Věk
1971 · 5 votes
TV9.0FamilyDramaA story of a little girl Verka and her life during the beginning of WWII. Based on Vera Sládková novels.
TV7.6Sci-Fi & FantasyFamilyIt's the year 2484 and the Earth is threatened by a rogue comet which could fatally change its orbit. The solution is surprising - Adam Bernau, the greatest genius of 20th century developed 500 years ago an ingenious formula for easy transporting of continents and even worlds. Unfortunately, he made this discovery at the age of 11 and the exercise book containing it was destroyed in the fire. But this is not a challenge to Academic Filip who decides to send an expedition back in time to retrieve the precious exercise book from the fire. But everything is not so simple as it seems...
TVDramaMuž na radnici was a Czechoslovak television program which was broadcast in 1976. The program was directed by Evžen Sokolovský. In 2011, it was announced that the program, along with 17 others, would be released on DVD within three years.
Muž na radnici
1976
TVDramaInženýrská odysea is a Czechoslovak/Czech TV series about three young students and their lives.
TV7.8DramaSňatky z rozumu was a Czechoslovak television programme which was first broadcast in 1968. The programme was directed by František Filip.
Sňatky z rozumu
1968 · 4 votes
- TVComedy
Úsměvy světa
1969
TV7.0ComedySci-Fi & FantasyWhile on vacation with their bickering parents in Portugal, Eva and her little brother Johnny find two strange clots of clay on a polluted beach, who can speak and move on their own. They create two octopuses out of the blue and green material and take them home to Prague, soon discovering that their new pets attract electricity and other disasters.
- TV8.0MysteryDrama
The Dow Hour of Great Mysteries is a 1960 series of seven television specials hosted by Joseph Nye Welch.
The Dow Hour of Great Mysteries
1960 · 1 votes
TV8.0ComedyBejvávalo
1966 · 1 votes
- TVDrama
Had z ráje
1981
- TVCrimeFamily
Poručík Petr
1981
- TVKids
TV6.0ComedyDobrodružství šesti trampů
1970 · 1 votes
- TVComedy
Tři mušketýři
1983