In recent days, the eXtra.cz editorial staff has published a series of articles with an exclusive interview with director Jan Kačer (85), who was the closest friend of the late Josef Abrham († 82) on Monday. In the last part, his friend recalls how they were together to refuse engagement in the unmissable National Theater, and describes how brilliant Abrham’s acting was.
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Jan Kačer: Beginnings with Josef Abrhám
Pane Duckshow exactly did you meet?
“I met Josef when we were just over twenty, because of deep admiration for his work in film. Then I had the rare opportunity to put together a set of people for Drama club. It was an unprecedented chance then, and even today it would be a rarity. And the first person who attacked me when we were with the director Ladislav Smoček and Jaroslav Vostrý (the first artistic director of the theater – ed. note.) got this chance to create a new imaginary theater, he was Josef Abrham.
He was the only one known to us then. In his first films, he was extraordinarily charming and gentle. And I even think his will agree to go doing theater with the group that was just emerging, and the whole thing was just a chimera, a dream, was related to the fact that Joseph was not only a romantic, but that he was determined to take life very seriously.“
That was brave of him, wasn’t it?
“The drama club is legendary today, but then it was really a risk. After all, he just had an offer to National Theater a na Vinohrady. But after deep thought, he decided not to try it and go with us to our risky business.
I even went with him to the National Theater, where no one knew me. He brought me to my boss to help him refuse the engagement. He looked at us in amazement and then said to me, ‘Then I’ll take you to the National Park too.‘“
Vyhazov
You made a big theater together before you disliked and had to leave…
“I was fired from the file. I moved to Ostrava. It was a long way and I did he couldn’t imagine being without Joseph at all. But then I still had to get used to it. And we kept in touch anyway.
The work there was beautiful, but how many times did I find out even though there were other great actors, for some roles I only need Josef…“
Joseph Abrham had a gift
It is much discussed that as an actor he did not need to use big gestures, that he played it with his personality and civilian expression.
“Don’t say that. I didn’t intentionally talk about his acting. Great actors like him, there is no difference between their personality and acting. The greatness of his acting was that he became the one he played. He received intense talent from the Lord and perceived man as a close creature. He always saw in him something like a kind friendly friend. He expressed his acting attitude as if he invited you over for coffee and talked to you. Of course, he could make big gestures and look like anything, but he deliberately chose where he could empathize with the character. “
He is said to have been quite shy. Did you know him like that?
“You must have noticed, but great actors are mostly shy. I Josef Somr is the same. Then there are some who present themselves in public, such as Lanďák (Pavel Landovský – pozn. order.)but inside they are also very sensitive people who are anxiously protecting their privacy. I wouldn’t say Joseph was shy, but he was chaste. He was a great, wonderful man.“
Josef Abrhám died on Monday, May 16, less than a year after the death of his wife Libuše Šafránková, with whom he lived for many years in a villa in Záběhlice, Prague. After her death, her son took him to Moravia Josef Abrham Jr.who decided to take care of his father, as the website informed some time ago Seven. At the end of his life, Abrham was also taken care of by his son Ludmila, who is a passionate ice cream maker.
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