Bruno O'Ya

Acting

Bruno O'Ya

Born 1933-02-12 · Tallinn, Harju County, Estonia

Bruno O'Ya (born Bruno Oja; February 12, 1933 – October 9, 2002) was an Estonian-Polish actor. In 1974 he starred in the Academy Award-nominated film The Deluge under Jerzy Hoffman. He also appeared in the 1978 film Centaurs. He released a folk album with 12 songs in 1973. Born on February 12, 1933, in Tallinn, O'Ya was born to Verner and Hilda Oja; his brother was Kenno Oja. He was married four times, and has a daughter, Dominika. O'Ya studied piano with the Estonian composer Eugen Kapp. He was part of a pop music group in Tartu in 1951 and the Riga Teacher's House dance orchestra from 1956–1964. From the late the 1960s, he mainly lived and worked in Wrocław, Poland, but did not renounce his Soviet citizenship, as that was how he was able to visit Estonia. In 1967, he changed his Estonian surname to a foreign one, henceforth writing the surname with a y and adding an apostrophe after the first letter in order to simplify foreign contact. After Estonia regained its independence, O'Ya returned to Estonia, where he supervised a youth theater. On the initiative of Foreign Minister Trivim Velliste, O'Ya became the cultural attaché and honorary consul of the Republic of Estonia in Poland. In 1998 he suffered a stroke.

Acting credits

The Weddings of Ioan Assen poster
8.3

The film takes us back into the times of the Second Bulgarian Kingdom - 13th century. The Bulgarian Emperor - Tsar Ioan Assen - is trying through several marriages to enlarge the State and to support the peace in it.

The Weddings of Ioan Assen

1975

The Red Tent poster
6.1

Torn by personal guilt, Italian General Umberto Nobile reminisces about his 1928 failed Arctic expedition aboard the airship Italia.

The Red Tent

1969

The Deluge poster
7.2

During the Swedish invasion of Poland, the brave warrior Andrzej Kmicic, considered a traitor to the nation, fights for a country, redemption and love across the 17th-century Polish territories.

The Deluge

1974

Fatal Error poster
6.6

At the end of the 19th century, the Wyoming Oil Company has established itself in the vicinity of Wind River City at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, where they have been illegally pumping oil from Native American territory. One of the company's greedy agents, Mike Allison, kicks out both his white partners and the Native Americans. He has his some of his associates secretly murdered and blames it on the Native Americans, who are then killed when they get in the way of his plans. Five chiefs with lifelong shares in the Oil Company die mysteriously as a result. The young chief Shave Head asks his a half-blooded brother Chris Howard for help.

Fatal Error

1970

Tender Spots poster
7.1

The year is 1998 and the world is in an ecological cataclysm: there is shortage of water, environment is polluted and being outside brings high risks. The main character is a tv technician, Jan, an individualist, who is harassed by the conformists. Jan loves Ewa, a ballet student, who in turn is in a liaison with Allan, a successful and powerful man.

Tender Spots

1981

Nobody Wanted to Die poster
5.5

The film is set in Lithuania after the Second World War. It shows dramatic events in a small Lithuanian farming community, where people are split between the Soviets and the "brothers in the woods", who are fighting to defend their land from the Soviets after the end of the Second World War.

Nobody Wanted to Die

1966

An Unknown Friend poster
4.7

The cold and ruthless Bruno is married to Karen. Together they seek out poor and defenseless people offering them life insurance policies. Bruno and Karen make sure that it pays off. A movie about insurance scams. Inspector Susikoski investigates.

An Unknown Friend

1978

Wolves' Echoes poster
7.4

A lonely Border Guard officer, with a girl and a former villain, has to face a local corrupt Militia commandant and his people in wild Bieszczady Mountains in the Polish East.

Wolves' Echoes

1968

49 Days poster
10.0

For 49 days, four young soldiers drifted on a barge that was blown out to sea by a storm. Only by the end of the seventh week they were discovered by American pilots.

49 Days

1962

General and Daisies poster
9.0

A simple Polish man, Władek Lekowski, a former pilot, finds himself in exile after World War II due to a ridiculous accident. Poor and without a job or shelter, he sleeps on the beach. There, he meets and falls in love with Zosia, another Polish emigrant. Determined to get Zosia out of the bar where she works, performing “a little acrobatics and a little undressing,” Władek embarks on a mysterious mission as part of an airplane crew. During the flight, it becomes clear that he has fallen into the hands of militarists and the plane is supposed to drop a bomb on the Soviet Union. Realising that the fate of World War III now rests in his hands, Władek is forced to confront his own actions and the consequences of his choices.

General and Daisies

1963

Cottage in the Dunes poster
NR

A retired former Master of Marine engines decides to purchase a house by the sea. Dreaming of a quiet and happy retirement life, he moves there with his wife and grandson, Volodya.

Cottage in the Dunes

1963

The Hyperboloid of Engineer Garin poster
4.9

A Russian engineer Petr Garin possesses a unique beam-shooting weapon that can destroy any target. His goal is to achieve world domination with the help of this weapon. Vasily Shelga is out to stop him and also to prevent others getting possession of this weapon.

The Hyperboloid of Engineer Garin

1965

Black Rusks poster
8.0

The November Revolution of 1918 in Germany, famine and social upheaval evoke a response from the young Soviet government in Russia. To provide food assistance, trains with bread are being formed. One of them, on the personal instructions of V.I. Lenin is accompanied by the young revolutionary Tatyana . On the way, she meets a former German prisoner of war, Kurt . A romantic relationship arises between them. The train with bread, despite all the difficulties, was delivered. In a clash with a detachment of counter-revolutionary German troops, Tatyana was wounded. She returns to Moscow, and Kurt goes to Berlin to continue the revolutionary struggle.

Black Rusks

1972

Nazis and Blondes poster
6.0

Veteran actors from the 3 Baltic countries - Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania - gather at a castle in Latvia to receive awards for their roles as Nazi villains in propagandist Soviet war films. They reminisce about the films that made them famous throughout the USSR, but also stigmatized the Baltic countries as Nazi sympathizers in the eyes of many Russians - a misconception that is nowadays exploited by the Russian media, desperate to label the Baltic countries as a fascist haven.

Nazis and Blondes

2008

The Last One Will Go to Hell poster
5.4

A historical film that takes place on the eve of the thirty year war combines aspects of fairy-tales with historical dramas, fencing with a child heroes who find themselves in great dangers. We are in the year 1611 and mercenaries that had previously invaded Czech lands now have to withdraw before the Hungarian king's army. In this chaos a magical bottle, that fulfills the owner one single wish, appears among some fugitives - however after the fulfillment it has to be sold for half it's price to a new owner. The director Ludvík Ráža has created an attractive and surprisingly cruel film aimed not only at young viewers.

The Last One Will Go to Hell

1982

A Shot in the Fog poster
7.0

The very first work of a young scientist Igor Panteleyev caused a sensation. Not surprisingly, they are interested in foreign intelligence. Soviet security officers are taking measures to protect the scientist. The name of Panteleyev disappears from the pages of newspapers and magazines. The scientist is transferred to work in another research institute, changing his surname to Evdokimov. But due to chance, foreign spies found a researcher.

A Shot in the Fog

1964

The Lark poster
5.4

Russian prisoners of war commandeer a tank and lead the Nazis on a cross-country chase in this World War II adventure drama. The Russians use their own tanks so the Nazis can use them as target practice to test a new anti-tank weapon. Knowing that death is near, the brave Russians run amok and tear down German monuments before heading out to a field where female slave laborers are working.

The Lark

1964

Operation 'Trust' poster
5.9

A story about CHeKa operation against a foreign spies during the early years of Soviet Russia.

Operation 'Trust'

1968

Mr. Blot in Space poster
5.5

It's Christmas, and children at an orphanage in Maliszewo receive a computer that was given to them by another orphan who used to live there many years ago. During the night, the computer awakes itself and tells the children a story that will happen in 25 years...

Mr. Blot in Space

1988

Wedle wyroków twoich... poster
7.0

As the Germans invade Poland Jewish Ruth and her mother are trapped by the oncoming Nazis. When they are loaded onto a truck for transportation to a ghetto, Ruth is told by her mother to jump from the truck at the first chance and to make her way to relatives in Warsaw. While the war progresses Ruth tries to survive and grow up.

Wedle wyroków twoich...

1984

Ostrze na ostrze poster
7.0

The action of the film takes place in the 17th century. Piotr Wolski returns to the country and is appointed juridic governor. A man tries to rule fairly and restore order. He soon falls in love with Konstancja, but his background causes problems.

Ostrze na ostrze

1983

Copernicus poster
6.0

A biography of Nicholas Copernicus covering 50 years of the astronomer's life - from his studies in Europe to his theological work all the way to the creation of his magnum opus, On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres.

Copernicus

1973

Time, Forward! poster
5.3

The film is set in the 1930s in the USSR. The film tells about one day of the construction of the Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works. The heroes of the film are simple construction workers who are burning at work. Upon learning that their colleagues in Kharkov have set a record, they mobilize to break it. The entire construction site was engulfed in immense socialist competition. The teams are ready to complete the work on time at any cost. A Moscow journalist who has come to cover the scale of the great construction project is looking for the hero of his report...

Time, Forward!

1965

Rykowisko poster
6.0

The 1970s. Senator Caposta, an American of Polish descent, is due to arrive for trade negotiations. A condition of his arrival is to obtain permission to shoot a magnificent deer. The hunt is to be led by Wiktor Szalaj from the Kosy forester's lodge.

Rykowisko

1987