Actor and screenwriter Ladislav Smoljak dies

The theatre director, actor and screenwriter Ladislav Smoljak, who co-founded the famous Žižkov Theatre of Jára Cimrman, has died at the age of 78. He had been in hospital following a long bout with illness. The news was confirmed by his son as well as a theatre spokesman on Sunday. Mr Smoljak was a household name in the Czech Republic for film roles in the 1970s and ‘80s and well as for his creative collaboration with writer/director Zdeněk Svěrák. Together, along with Jiří Šebank, they founded and wrote satirical plays for the Žižkov Theatre of Jára Cimrman, based in Prague, focussing on the fictional comic character of Jára Cimrman who somehow wound up involved in defining moments in modern history.