Samuel Adamcík

Czechoslovakian theatre and film actor. He was born in what is now Bohunice, Levice District, Slovakia (then Czechoslovakia) on July 23, 1904. Adamcík was the first of three children of a schoolteacher. As a young man he planned to become a teacher for the deaf and thus entered the teacher's institute in Banská Stiavnica. Following his training, he served for nearly twenty years (1925-1944) as a teacher at what was then known as the State Institute for the Deaf and Dumb. He subsequently became for two years the director of the State Continuing School for the Deaf and Dumb in Kremnica. His work as a teacher took precedence in his early life, but he was always drawn to the theatre and performed in numerous amateur theatrical productions. While a member of the Kremnice amateur company, he was noticed at a 1941 amateur competition and invited to join the Slovak National Theatre. He rejected the offer in order to continue his teaching work. But the director of the Slovak National Theatre was persistent. Following the Second World War, the director, Drahos Zelenský, cajoled Adamcík and finally convinced him to join his company. Adamcík left teaching and began a new career as an actor, in Bratislava. His deep, gravelly, hoarse voice placed him almost exclusively in character parts, and he performed in the classics as well as modern plays. He made his film debut in 1948's Vlcie diery, about the Slovak national uprising. Over the next thirty-five years, he appeared in nearly four dozen films. He continued to work simultaneously in the theatre and for nearly twenty-five years was a regular with the SND theatre in Bratislava. Adamcík in 1955 was named Slovak Artist Emeritus for his work his work as an actor. He spent his leisure time in nature photography and playing the double bass. Shortly before his 80th birthday, soon after completing his last film, he died, on July 10, 1984. He was survived by his wife, the actress Olga Adamcíková.