Otto Šimánek
Birthday: 1925-04-28
Place of Birth: Třešť, Československo
Biography: 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.
Movies
Dařbuján a Pandrhola
The miner Dařbuján has a lot of children that he cannot support and another one has just been born. ...
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Where an Alibi Is Not Everything
“A bored housewife, a husband who married her for show, and a stupid boy who is full of himself beca...
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Tři chlapi v chalupě
The three Potůčks live in a house in Ouplavice: a widower grandfather, a son whose wife has run away...
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Dům na Ořechovce
The growing conflict between the unruly owner of the villa and his lodger ends up in court. The coha...
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The End of Agent W4C
The invincible agent Cyril Juan Borguette alias W4C has been assigned a mission to go to a hotel in ...
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Tomorrow I'll Wake Up and Scald Myself with Tea
Former Nazi Klaus Abard survives to the 1990s by taking anti-ageing pills. He plans to use a time tr...
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Black Saturday
In this crime story, surprisingly, neither the all-powerful criminals nor the spies or saboteurs are...
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Policejní hodina
The story of a poor, disintegrating family of a mother Fišerová and her three children. It is set in...
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The Black Dynasty
The family is connected with Prague's "Kolbenka", the ČKD locomotive factory. Grandfather Antonín, a...
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Mature Wine
A loose sequel to the 1976 comedy Stormy Wine. The screenwriters and the director recreate on screen...
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Malý Bobeš ve městě
A loose sequel to the film Little Bobes, it catches up with the title child hero in the town where h...
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Objev na Střapaté hůrce
The Pioneers are leaving for a holiday camp for young astronomers. And it's going to be an interesti...
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Death Is Called Engelchen
Pavel is a Czech partisan fighter in the waning days of the war. Just as peace is declared, Pavel is...
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Začít znova
Young Jan Stehlík signs up for a job to build a new mine. On the train he meets the pretty Alena, wh...
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Bubny
An anthology in three jazz-infused tales: an idealistic student’s romance with a pragmatic trumpeter...
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Zelená vlna
A short film about Prague, Prague residents, and the beginning of the weekend....
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Lucy, the Menace of Street
A first part of a funny adventures of six years old Lucie and her two magic dolls....
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Crime at the Girls School
Three short story omnibus. The main hero and connecting link is Lieutenant Boruvka, created by Lubom...
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Poslední růže od Casanovy
The story takes place at the time when Giacomo Casanova, probably the most famous conqueror of women...
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The Phantom of Morrisville
Inspector Brumpby (Jaroslav Marvan) and the young crime reporter Allan Pinkerton (Vít Olmer) attend ...
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Who Wants to Kill Jessie?
In this zany Czechoslovakian comedy, a scientist invents a machine that projects a sleeping person's...
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Sedm žen Alfonse Karáska aneb Když holky berou, já nevím kterou
Alfons Karásek says goodbye to his wife Růžena at the train station, who is going to the spa. He pla...
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One of Them Is the Murderer
Marek (Jirí Holý), formerly a driver of a long-distance lorry, has served his term for smuggling art...
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Svatby pana Voka
Czech nobleman Petr Vok of Rozmberk (Milos Kopecký) is no longer so young, but his amatory adventure...
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Pan Tau – der Film
Pan Tau, the friend of all children, now also helps the adults. A movie producer is in trouble and ...
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Letiště nepřijímá
The conflicts in one pilot's fractured marriage come to a head just as Soviet jets are introduced to...
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Touha Sherlocka Holmese
Sherlock Holmes likes to play violin and expects a great career in music. He gets a place in a spa o...
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No Magic from Tomorrow
Mr. Tau, the quiet and kind magician with a bowler hat and an umbrella, shows up unexpectedly on the...
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Alarm in the Clouds
In defiance of all the laws of physics Mr. Tau is walking on the wing of an aircraft flying close to...
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Světáci
Two families live in a weaver's cottage - the Menecs and the Hroms. The women are pretty from the st...
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Every Young Man
Jurácek's feature debut is shot in two parts. In the first, a corporal accompanies a new recruit wit...
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Dva muži hlásí příchod
An only son, Jirí Valenta (Jaromír Hanzlík), has been drafted to the army. At the barracks he acquir...
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Wine Working
It is the summer of 1968 and also in South Moravian Pálavice appear political clashes. The so far pe...
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...and again that Lucy!
A second part of a funny adventures of six years old Lucie and her two magic dolls....
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Ohnivé ženy se vracejí
A loose continuation of the production of The Fiery Women. The souls of the witches Marta and Magdal...
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The Hope
A group of outcasts, including a vagabond and a prostitute, gather at the outskirts of the industria...
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Chicken on Travels
The story of a childhood dream come true. Schoolchildren discover an abandoned poultry farm with an ...
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The Fabulous Baron Munchausen
A 20th century man lands on the Moon and discovers that Baron Munchausen has beaten him to it, accom...
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Desire
A poignant overview of how short life can be, this interesting drama from Czech director Vojetch Jas...
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The Fabulous World of Jules Verne
As the world progresses into the industrial age, a professor studying the "nature of pure matter" is...
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You Are a Widow, Sir
After a soldier cuts off the arm of king's cousin, king decides to deactivate the army. Of course, g...
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O bílém jadýrku
A romantic fairy tale about how a castle lady found her lost son, who demonstrated rare bravery, kin...
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Kde bydlí štěstí
The poor shoemaker's daughter was hardworking, kind, and honest, and with her character and immense ...
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Panenka z vltavské tůně
The funny TV fairy tale THE DOLL FROM THE VLTAVSKA POOL (1976) tells not only about the coexistence ...
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A Prayer for Katerina Horovitzova
A group of wealthy American Jewish businessmen have been captured by the SS and are told that they a...
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Fear
A car deliberately runs down a young man on a road by a small border town. The locals recognize the ...
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Merry Christmas Octopus
Eva and her younger brother Johnny own two sentient octopuses made out of strange matter. Will their...
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Spadla s měsíce
A story about the uproar caused by the arrival of a new, young and, by local standards, too energeti...
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Shoesmachine
The happenings in a shoe factory serve as a not very thinly veiled examination of the pros and cons ...
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Šlechetný cowboy Sandy
In a small Texas town where cowboys lived their usual lives, local villain Bill Crooked Mouth and hi...
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Všude žijí lidé
Even if a person grumbles about difficulties, he should realize that he will find a place where he d...
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Svatební cesta aneb Ještě ne, Evžene!
After a night of partying together, the groom-to-be and his friend wake up to find that the wedding ...
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Ta naše písnička česká
The Haszler songs of Prague, so popular in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, have n...
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Statečný Azmun
In a seaside village, fishermen have no catch and are starving. The bravest of them, Azmun, sets off...
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Přísně tajné premiéry
A crime writer is accused of being too imaginative and his ideas unworkable, but everything changes ...
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Co je platno kárat, co je platno kázat
The story of how it turned out when a young lawyer tried to intellectually elevate a cute dancer fro...
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Zkouška pokračuje
As a young actor František Lukávec and his teacher Vladimir Tuma became enemies. František insisted ...
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Three Wishes for Cinderella
Popelka, a resourceful and independent young girl, is a servant in her stepmother's house and confid...
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The Octopuses from the Second Floor
While on vacation with their bickering parents, young Eva and her little brother Johnny find in a po...
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Young Wine
Third wine session, this time with a computer. The film was made in direct relation to the audience ...
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