WHERE THE FAMOUS LIVED: His family lost the beloved villa of the dubbing king

PHOTO, VIDEO: Peaceful and hidden in a flood of greenery, yet a stone’s throw from the center. It’s no wonder that the horrendous villa district also charmed the legendary dub artist František Filipovský. Eight years after his death, however, a sale took place, due to which the locals only remember his family today.

The expressive actor, whose name became synonymous with the French comedian Louis de Funèse thanks to his excellent dubbing, was one of the famous faces who caught the eye of Prague’s Strašnice in the 1970s. In the end, he found a new home for his family on the opposite side of the street, just a few meters from the luxurious villa in the art deco style, which the filmmakers transformed in 2005 into the office of Béla Valšíková from the series Office in the Rose Garden.

František Filipovský as district inspector Venkrát in Zdenek Podskalský’s 1968 detective comedy Prague Sherlock Holmes. Photo: courtesy of Czech Television

Writer Kožík’s tip

A comfortable family residence with a typical red facade in Okrajní Street No. 454/4 was built in the 1920s by the Prague factory owner Med for his lover. The one-story building with an area of ​​260 square meters has grown on a slope, so that from the garden it offers residents an even higher floor than is visible from the street at first glance. Sufficient privacy is provided even by Prague standards by an exceptionally large plot of more than a thousand meters. His friend, the writer František Kožík, pointed out the villa to the actor. Filipovský bought it in 1975 and moved into it with his family of four, including daughter Pavlína and son Jan. Shortly thereafter, detective Mrázek from Hříšné lyťových útě Prague was followed to Strašnice by his series boss, Vacátka council representative Jaroslav Marvan.

First Republic villa bought in 1975 by František Filipovský. Photo by Nikola Balcarová

Loss due to divorce

Living in this magical corner of Prague is a dream come true, so it’s no wonder that at the beginning of the new millennium, the villa caught the eye of entrepreneur and former activist from the era of the Velvet Revolution, Jan Bubeník. It is said that he approached Filipovský’s daughter Pavlína because he was very interested in the house, then he also met her daughter Pavlína Wolfová. At that time, the price of the villa was around twelve million, but Pavlína Filipovská sold it to Bubeník in 2001 for only six. At that time, her daughter was already dating Bubeník, so she apparently met her future son-in-law. The drummer became her second son-in-law, with Pavlína she has a daughter Matylda and a son Matouš, but after five years the marriage ended in divorce. But Bubeník bought the villa before the wedding, so the family of the legendary comedian can only remember it.

The river enchants:

There was no time left for studies

František Filipovský was born on September 23, 1907 in Přelouč to the family of a flautist of the Provisional Theater orchestra, composer and conductor František Filipovský senior. Since childhood, he played various musical instruments and sang in the choir in church, but he did not like school. He failed the first year at the Pardubice grammar school, so he had to transfer to Hradec Králové, and finally completed a course at the business academy in Chrudim. At the same time, he played in student performances and during the holidays with rural theater companies. In 1929, he began studying art history and aesthetics at the Faculty of Philosophy in Prague, but did not finish his studies because he devoted most of his time to acting and directing. He went through the Great Operetta, collaborated with the Voice – EF Burian’s band and Jiří Frejka’s Modern Studio, then played in the Intimní divadla and the Smíchov Arena.

The Good Soldier Schweik:

Horror live

At the age of twenty-three, he had just volunteered, so he accepted a job as a conductor of special trains with Poles traveling to France for work. He was responsible for their health and mental condition, but some ended up not being allowed to enter, so they were on the verge of collapse. They panicked, crammed into wagons, injured themselves and died. “I saw emaciated poor people dying on the seats, on the ground, under the wheels. I have witnessed suicides and accidental accidents. Such images will never disappear from your memory,” he revealed in one interview. He even gave birth to several children in field conditions. “These were the happier moments,” he added. Crushed fingers, hands, severe fractures and death became his daily bread and he did not talk about them until a few years before his death. “I have never known such a vast difference between the middle class and the poorest layer of socially degraded people,” he stated.

Bang on the Lagoon:

Eternal old-young

He never created his characters in full width, but broke them down into small and sharp details of actions and gestures. He started his professional acting career in 1931 at Osvobozený divadlo, where he introduced himself to the audience in his original, comic style. He excelled in musical and physical talents, which predestined him for singing and farcical roles, and already at a young age he portrayed small mercurial, lively and horned gentlemen and grandfathers of an older date of birth. In the 1939-1940 season, he worked in the Švand Theater in Smíchov, he spent the next two seasons in the Modern Theater in Žižkov, and in 1942-1944 he played in Urania. From there he joined the National Theater and was a member of its troupe until 1992. At the same time, from the 1950s, he performed as a guest on various Prague stages, for example in Semafor and Viola.

Sinful people of the city of Prague:

The legendary Mazánek

He started as an extra in front of the film camera, he got his first real role in 1932 in Innemann and Vančura’s drama Before graduation. In the 1930s and 1940s, he portrayed various clerks, secretaries, accountants, waiters, tailors, doctors, lawyers, and oddball men in a variety of other professions. However, he only became known to the audience with the characters of student-nerds and slobs in the successful comedies of director Martin Frič, Krhounk in School, the foundation of life and Mazánek in the legendary Journey to the depths of a student’s soul. And he played both brilliantly, despite being well over thirty at the time. He could not miss the whirlwind of events even in the days of May 1945, and he experienced them all the more because his wife Hilda, whom he married in 1937, was giving birth in Bulovka. His son Jan was just about to be born, and František was put in charge of the first-born Pavlína, so even with he hurried on foot to Vinohrady, where he handed it over to his grandmother and at the last moment got to the radio building. “In the meantime, they shot several people on the street, it was very sad, but joyful at the same time. The war was ending,” he recalled.

The Phantom of the Operetta:

Live without error

After the war, he was given more and more important roles and gradually changed to mature men, mostly impulsive, moody or kind. One of the most striking is his Inspector Mrázek from the series Sinful People of the City of Prague and the following four feature films. Towards the end of his life, he played various grandfathers, both good and bad, and made his last film appearance in 1987 as an old beggar in the crime comedy The Furious Reporter. He also made a very significant contribution to radio and television, where he even started the first ever broadcast of Czechoslovak Television. “When the First Live Broadcast began on May 1, 1953, he was called an hour and a half before the start, and although he barely had time to jump into a parked car, he ended up playing Harpagon brilliantly on camera,” recalled colleagues.

Lakomec:

Better than original

He is forever and unforgettably inscribed in the history of Czech dubbing, and many people have no idea what the French comedian Louis de Funès’s voice actually was, because he has always spoken to us only in the voice of František Filipovský. The great dubbing artist has many more successful dubbing roles to his credit, and the award for the best performances in Czech dubbing is named after him, and the František Filipovský Award is given in his honor every year in his native Přelouč. All the honors he received for his mastery, he very frankly refused, for he had a very low opinion of his voice. That’s why he didn’t want to do dubbing at all at first, he was convinced only by Miroslav Horníček, who literally got rid of his minders.

Dubbed by Louise de Funés:

Cruel departure

He had the title of Meritorious Artist, which he received already in 1958, in 1968 the management of the National Theater named him a meritorious member, and in 1984 he was awarded the title of National Artist. He wrote a book of memoirs, entitled Six Pipes of František Filipovský and Friends of Good Mood: From the Memories of František Filipovský. The writer Milica Zdražilová also dealt with his life vicissitudes in the book František Filipovský. He last appeared on television as the popular Blekota in 1990 in the TV series Arabela returns, or Rumburak, the king of the fairy-tale kingdom. Then suddenly his health failed him. He suffered a stroke, after which he completely stopped talking. But he did not lose his mind. “Everyone around him was depressed, only grandpa was smiling. Even so, he got along with his grandmother without words,” claimed his granddaughter Pavlína Bubeníková. Three years later, on October 26, 1993, he left forever. A year later, a commemorative plaque was placed on his birthplace in Přelouč.

Sources: Wikipedia, ČSFD, FDB, Czech Film, Empty Houses, Čtrnáctka.net, Blesk, Czech Television, Czech Radio, National Theater, Jiří Tvrzník: František Filipovský the comedian returns