Czech 1930s film star turns 99

Czech movie star Zita Kabátová, who graced the screen in the 1930s and ‘40s with fellow leads like Oldřich Nový, Vladimír Slavínský and Vlasta Burián, turned 99 on Friday. Ms. Kabátová began acting in amateur theatre as a child; her uncle Josef Šváb–Malostranský was a vaudevillian and actor. She made her professional debut on-screen in 1936 in a sentimental film called Světlo jeho očí (The Colour of his Eyes). Like many fellow actors and actresses of her generation, Ms. Kabátová acted in a number of films under the German occupation; in later years she was banned from the screen for political reasons. Her husband was Jiří Zavřel - an Olympic rower and political prisoner under the Communists.