Hlinomaz came from a large family. He was the youngest born of four siblings. But all his siblings came from a previous marriage, so they only had a father in common with the actor. He spent his youth in Příbram, where he moved with his family. The environment in which he grew up hinted at the fact that his life would go into artistic spheres. His father was a well-known and respected person in the Příbram region. He was the head teacher at the school, but also as a music lover he founded a music school. As a gifted violinist, he performed with the Příbram Philharmonic, where he served as chairman. In contrast to him, Josef Hlinomaz was a rebel, which began to manifest itself in adolescence. That’s why he successfully passed the matriculation exam at the Příbram gymnasium only on the second attempt.
But you can’t deny your parents, so he inherited his artistic talents from his father. He showed his greatest talent both in acting and in art. In addition to the Prague Conservatory, he also studied at the University of Applied Arts in Prague. Thanks to his passion for drawing and painting, he became a trained painter. His works are sought after all over the world. To this day, they are exhibited in prestigious galleries and auctioned for hundreds of thousands to millions of crowns. His work can clearly be classified as naive art. But Hlinomaz himself claimed that his style had evolved into a completely new style, which he called surneonaivism.
But most people will forever remember him as a quirky and believable actor. During his career, he managed to portray 140 roles. Although he never got a big role in his entire life, most of them are memorable. He usually played silly grotesque characters, he could portray good guys as well as bad guys. As he himself claimed, he played the roles of negative heroes the best, because in these roles he could use his acting skills more. He never complained about the fact that he never got a big role and always replied that at least he didn’t have to learn a lot of text.
Among the most famous roles from which the audience can remember him, let’s name the role of a drunkard in the film Four murders is enough, dear. He also excelled in the western comedy Lemonade Joe or Horse Opera, where he portrayed the violin eater, i.e. the gunslinger Grimp. Last but not least, it is worth mentioning his character of the neighbor Makovec in the legendary TV series Chalupáři, it was here that his talent for improvisation was shown in the scene when he played a puppet show for children, during which he expressed himself more rudely.
In addition to his passion for acting and painting, Josef Hlinomaz also had a weakness for a number of vices. He loved exuberant parties, drinking alcohol, smoking, but especially women. He was married only once in his life, but had countless mistresses. Helena Růžičková undoubtedly belonged to the most famous of them. They met while filming People and Dogs. Helena herself once declared that there was not only techtle but also mechtle between them. Among his other escapades was the fact that he moved his lover Magda Kalichová into his house, including her husband. It was this couple who eventually inherited the house itself, along with the furnishings and Hlinomaz’s paintings.
As is unfortunately the case, the exuberant life carries with it certain health risks. Unfortunately, it did not escape even Josef Hlinomaz. Although he didn’t look like it physically, he was an avid swimmer who loved the water and the sea. His first warning was a visit to the Žofín swimming pool, where he collapsed and badly injured his head. Despite doctors’ recommendations to at least cut smoking out of his life, Josef Hlinomaz had a peculiar attitude towards his lifestyle. The doctors did not even recommend the planned trip to Split, Croatia. Hlinomaz still left. Unfortunately, it was this holiday that proved fatal for him. Some say he had a heart attack while swimming in the sea, other theories say that after swimming he went to his room to drink his afternoon coffee, fell asleep and never woke up.
The world lost a very talented artist. Let Jiří Kodet’s memorable sentence from the movie Pelíšky remind us. Slogan Proletarians of all countries, lick your ass is a reference to one of the paintings painted with the brush of Josef Hlinomaz.
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Tags: Josef Hlinomaz quirky actor loved women moved mistress husband
