His acting talent was unmistakable. He was born in Smíchov, Prague, on June 10, 1958. He was the son of an engineer and a first league handball player. He originally wanted to become a bricklayer, but already at the age of twelve he got his first role in the drama I’m Jumping Over Puddles Again. It was then that other filmmakers noticed him. But during his studies at the conservatory, his unruliness and peculiar nature began to show. Right after school he headed to the pub, where he was one of the local regulars.
At first he was troubled by ulcers, caused by frequent drinking of beer and something stronger. But there was nothing to tell about his work. Even his friends had no idea how serious a problem Vladimír Dlouhý had. He worked on many Prague stages. Zlata Adamovská remembered him the most. In the last years of his life, he was so ill that he hardly ate anything. However, he always performed at his best during filming and on stage.
Photo: Author: TomasMohelsky – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=26530733
Vladimir Dlouhy
His brother did not speak to him for a year, he was afraid of the people around him
To this day, his colleagues agree that if he didn’t drink so much, he would surely be an even better actor. Slovak actress Jana Nagyová once revealed that when they filmed the series Arabela together, he was already drinking to the point of his strength, and that was when he was less than twenty years old. Nagyová tried to talk him out of his lifestyle, but he never listened to anyone. But his younger brother Michal Dlouhý never accepted the claim that his brother was an ordinary alcoholic. It is said that he was not addicted to alcohol, but he always drank in a controlled and conscious manner. If he wanted to stop drinking, he would do it. But it bothered Michal Dlouhé that when he drank alcohol, he tended to drive a car. Because of that, they didn’t talk to each other for over a year. In addition, Vladimír Dlouhý was a big introvert and was afraid of people. He suffered from so-called social phobia, which, paradoxically, is a very widespread disease in acting. And that’s why, according to his brother, he also found solace in alcohol.
He did not follow the doctors’ advice and died too soon
At a later age, Vladimír Dlouhý finally fell in love with the actress Petra Jungmanová. But a lot of time passed before they could finally be together. She was entered first, then he. But the third time it finally worked. As soon as they started making a couple, the actor calmed down and devoted himself to his family. They even had twins and got married two years later. Soon after, however, he began to fall back into his stereotype. In addition, he has been battling stomach cancer for the past two years. The doctors prescribed a moderate lifestyle, no alcohol or cigarettes and no staying up all night. But the actor was not going to be guided by this and constantly lived as he himself saw fit. Eventually he also got pancreatic cancer and was addicted to drips. He only managed to see from the hospital when he had a performance. But he always took it through his favorite pub on the way. On Saturday, June 20, 2010, he died in a hospital on Prague’s Charles Square.
