Olga Schoberová, filmová hvĕzda v kontextu československé kinematografie 60. let.

This study deals with the Czech actress Olga Schoberrová (aka Olinka Berova) who represented a very specific type of film star in the context of socialist Czechoslovakia. As her fillm career culminated in the late 1960s when the political regime was temporarily loosened and many previously undesirable tendencies were tolerated, her star image was in many respects similar to those of Western fillm stars. After a brief summary of the discourse on stars in 1960s Czechoslovakia, the study focuses on three aspects of Olga Schoberová's star image: her film image constructed by her Czech and foreign films made during the 1960s and released theatrically in Czechoslovakia, the discourse on her in the Czechoslovak press of the 1960s and finally on the o&cial attitude to her as a star manifested by promotional materials and her salaries. The most significant aspect of her film image is her sex appeal -- inherent in her looks of a blonde bombshell and enhanced by her revealing clothing and frequent scenes of undressing. Another aspect of her image is youth - unlike other popular Czech actresses, she made almost all her films between the ages of 19 and 27 and didn't pursue her film career afterwards, so in her film image she always remains young. Similarly to Jana Brejchová or Brigitte Bardot, she started shooting films with no previous acting training or stage experience but unlike Jana Brejchová, she was mostly typecast in films of light, popular genres. All these aspects make her image very similar to those of typical Western film stars. The discourse on Olga Schoberová in the Czechoslovak press also contains very specific aspects that haven't been present in the discourse since the communist coup in 1948. First of all is the unusual extent of information about her private, off-screen life: The discourse gives detailed information about he realationship and marriage to the American actor Brad Harries as well as about her daughter. Second is the emphasis on her physical attractiveness and erotic appeal. By contrast, the most frequent theme of the discourse on Czech actors in the socialistic period - acting talent and artistic creation - is almost absent. Instead, working conditions, promotional practices and the "making of stars" in Western film industry are discussed. Her success is explained partly by her good looks and resemblance to Western sex symbols, and partly due to "luck" and "chance". Also, her being cast in the leading role of THE VENGEANCE OF SHE is regarded as the break-through of her career as only the Anglo-American film industry is considered to be able to make her a "real" world-known film star. The promotional materials, as well as her salaries, show how Olga Schoberová evolved from an unknown actress to an established star. Since the beginning of her career, photographic promotional materials capitalized on her physical attractiveness, as showed by the quantity and sometimes also the erotic character of her photographs used in the materials. Her name, however, was promoted in accordance with the importance of her role in the film. This changed only in 1970 when Olga Schoberová appeared in the Czech film PANE, VY JSTE VDOVA! after several years of shooting abroad during which her star status has been established. Not only did she manage to get a second billing, although her role in the !lm wasn't correspondingly, important but her star status also in"uenced the promotional discourse used for this particular fillm. Olga Schoberová constituted a new type of film star in the context of socialist Czechoslovakia, combining typical aspects of Western film stars with specifically Czech features. The only actress who could rival her exceptional star status was Jana Brejchová. Her image was however very dissimilar, even antithetical, as she began her film career in a completely different socio-political context of the late 1950s. Olga Schoberová thus illustrates the political, social and cultural changes that occurred in Czechoslovakia during the 1960s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]