Miloslav Kopečný was a Czech stage and film actor. He was born in Třebíč, performed with amateurs at grammar school and in 1965 graduated from the Janáček Academy of Performing Arts in Brno. Until the end of the 1960s he worked at the Východočeské divadlo in Pardubice, then until 1983 at the Divadlo F. X. Šaldy in Liberec.

In 1983 he moved to Činoherní studio in Ústí nad Labem, where he became the doyen of the company. There he played, among others, the Marquis de Sade in the 1988 production of Peter Weiss's play Marat/Sade directed by Petr Poledňák, which the company also took on tour to Paris, as well as Schwitter in Dürrenmatt's Meteor and old Karamazov in The Brothers Karamazov. From 1993 he was a guest at the Divadlo Labyrint in Prague and worked with the Divadlo pod Palmovkou, where he later joined the ensemble and until 2014 played dramatic and comic roles. For two years he worked at the Divadlo v Dlouhé. In the Spolek Kašpar he played the physicist Bohr in the production of Copenhagen (2001) and the dresser Norman in The Dresser (2003). He also performed at the Summer Shakespeare Festival and at the Divadlo v Řeznické, and appeared as a guest at the National Theatre and the Divadlo Palace. He studied almost 190 stage roles.

He made his screen debut in 1966 in the detective film Poklad byzantského kupce. He appeared in the films Kalamita, Rozpuštěný a vypuštěný and Antonyho šance (1986, directed by Vít Olmer). His best-known film role was the black-market currency dealer Slepejš in the film Bony a klid from the late 1980s, whom he also played in the 2014 sequel. In supporting roles he appeared in the films Čas sluhů and Kousek nebe, and most recently in the 2024 film Vlny, directed by Jiří Mádl. He also acted in the television series Život na zámku, Dobrodružství kriminalistiky, Černí andělé and Stopy života.

In 2025 he received the Master Prix, awarded by the Nadace Život umělce foundation for lifetime artistic contribution and work. He died on 7 October 2026 in Prague at the age of 82.

Chronology

Sources

  1. ČTK / České noviny — 8 October 2026
  2. iDNES.cz — 8 October 2026