1930s Czech film star Zdenka Sulanova dies at 84

One of the stars of Czech film in the 30s and 40s, Zdenka Sulanova, has died at the age of 84. Thanks to her unmistakable singing voice and her delicate appearance so unlike the great divas' of the age, Zdenka Sulanova never lost the affection of Czech audiences even though political circumstances prematurely ended her promising film career.

1930s Czech film star Zdenka Sulanova dies at 84

Zdenka Sulanova, photo: CTK

Zdenka Sulanova is best known for her roles as pretty and somewhat naïve country girls who thanks to their talent and moral virtues achieve professional success and - of course - win the heart of a wealthy young man on the way. In a series of black and white films she looked frail and very young for her age and it was her disarmingly vulnerable beauty and her crystal soprano than made the audiences adore her.

But her soaring career was brought to a premature end by historic developments in Central Europe. Zdenka Sulanova's most famous movies, "Liza Soars to the Skies" (Lízin let do nebe), "Liza's Happiness" (Lízino št"stí) and "Madla Sings for Europe" (Madla zpívá Evrop"), were directed by Vaclav Binovec. The last of these films was made in 1940 during the German occupation, and Binovec was later accused of collaboration. Zdenka Sulanova was tarred with the same brush, and the post-war communist regime labelled her as a "capitalist star" and her bourgeois parents as "class enemies".

'Madla Sings for Europe'

After the Second World War, the communists banned Zdenka Sulanova from the silver screen. She worked as a theatre actress for a while and sang for the Kosice studio of Czechoslovak Radio in East Slovakia. In later years she also worked in a clothes shop in Prague.

During the thaw of the 1960s, Zdenka Sulanova was allowed to get a job in the Film Institute and be at least closer to her former profession, if not in front of the camera. She spent the last years of her life in a village in her native region of South Bohemia, where she died earlier this week.