Otto Šimánek

Acting

Otto Šimánek

Born 1925-04-28 · 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.

Acting credits

The Hope poster
6.7

A 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.

The Hope

1964

The Fabulous World of Jules Verne poster
7.2

As 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.

The Fabulous World of Jules Verne

1958

Death Is Called Engelchen poster
6.4

Pavel 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.

Death Is Called Engelchen

1963

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Vo modrým ptáčku

1968

Three Wishes for Cinderella poster
7.5

Popelka, 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.

Three Wishes for Cinderella

1973

The Fabulous Baron Munchausen poster
7.4

A 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.

The Fabulous Baron Munchausen

1962

Tomorrow I'll Wake Up and Scald Myself with Tea poster
6.2

Former 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.

Tomorrow I'll Wake Up and Scald Myself with Tea

1977

Dva muži hlásí příchod poster
8.0

An 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

Who Wants to Kill Jessie? poster
7.0

In 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!

Who Wants to Kill Jessie?

1966

Touha Sherlocka Holmese poster
6.0

Sherlock Holmes likes to play violin and expects a great career in music. He gets a place in a spa orchestra, but he is again and again distracted by criminal cases. Therefore he is the only one who does not see that his violin has no future. He solves the criminal mysteries in passing but the final test shows that the famous detective is tone-deaf.

Touha Sherlocka Holmese

1972

No artwork available
1.0

No synopsis available yet.

Bidýlko

1967

No artwork available
10.0

The growing conflict between the unruly owner of the villa and his lodger ends up in court. The cohabitation ends in bodily harm - and the film actually translates two versions of the same events, as seen by each of the parties involved. However, the attempt at morality, which proclaimed the necessity of removing the old survivals in people's thinking, did not quite work, and the testimony presented is at times a bit stiff.

Dům na Ořechovce

1959

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Nedělní dostaveníčko

1954

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Poslední návrat

1983

No artwork available
2.0

No synopsis available yet.

Kamenný orchestr

1982

No Magic from Tomorrow poster
7.6

Mr. Tau, the quiet and kind magician with a bowler hat and an umbrella, shows up unexpectedly on the wings of a plane during flight. The terrified crew contact the airport security service. After the plane lands, Mr. Tau disappears. The third security inspector Málek is determined to catch the hooligan at any price. To achieve this, he gives up his holiday to visit the children's summer camp. Mr. Málek's son, who just like all the other children is delighted by the new camp cook, Mr. Tau himself, has unknowingly set the inspector on the magician's trail. But the children at the camp are determined not to let their beloved magician get caught and ingeniously place all sorts of traps in Inspector Málek's way.

No Magic from Tomorrow

1979

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Stalo se jedné neděle

1985

The End of Agent W4C poster
6.1

The 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.

The End of Agent W4C

1967

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Bajaja

1960

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Maryla

1969

You Are a Widow, Sir poster
6.9

After 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.

You Are a Widow, Sir

1971

Poslední růže od Casanovy poster
7.5

The story takes place at the time when Giacomo Casanova, probably the most famous conqueror of women, held the position of librarian at the Valdštejn castle in Duchcov. He was then a rather bored and grumpy old man who enjoyed only writing his memoirs and then a daily game of cards with the Count. But all that changed when Wallenstein's young nephew František Adam arrived at the chateau with his charming wife Valeria. She wanted to see the famous seducer with her own eyes. However, she was somewhat disappointed by the reality, as well as by the seducer's outdated views on love.

Poslední růže od Casanovy

1966

Svatby pana Voka poster
5.6

Czech 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

The Phantom of Morrisville poster
7.0

Inspector Brumpby (Jaroslav Marvan) and the young crime reporter Allan Pinkerton (Vít Olmer) attend wedding of Sir Hannibal Morris (Oldrich Nový) with beautiful Clarence (Kveta Fialová). After the ceremony, Clarence's ex-husband, criminal Manuel Diaz (Waldemar Matuska), who was believed dead, shows up in her room. He wants to get his hands on Clarence and, most importantly, on the money she would inherit in the eventuality of her new husband's death. Diaz makes attempts on Hannibal's life. He knows his way about an underground labyrinth in the château and the traps he sets up for Hannibal seem to work, since Hannibal is apparently found dead after an explosion in the labyrinth, after which his body vanishes. The inspector tries to solve the countless mysteries. In this, he is joined by Allan, always ahead of the man of the law in his estimation and judgment of the situation.

The Phantom of Morrisville

1966