Karel Steklý
Steklý, Karel
Born Oct. 9, 1903, in Prague. Czechoslovak film director.
From 1928 to 1938, Steklý acted in the Liberated Theater in Prague. In 1933 he began working as a screenwriter, and in 1945 he became a film director. His most important film, The Siren (1947; after the poem by M. Majerová), deals with the miners of Kladno and the heroic struggle for their rights in the late 19th century. His other films include Darkness (1950; afer A. Jirásek), Anna the Proletarian (1952; after the novel by J. Olbracht), The Piper of Strakonice (1955; after the play by J. K. Tyl), The GoodSoldier Svejk (1956–57; in two parts, after the novel by J. Hašek), In Pursuit of a Meteorite (1962; after J. Verne), The Wedding ofMr. Vok (1971), The Hippopotamus (1973), and The Enemy IsBehind the Wheel (1975). Steklý was awarded the State Prize of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic in 1953.