Božidara Turzonovová

Prof. Mgr. Art. Božidara Turzonovová
Photo: Eduard Kudláč
Born	(1942-05-28) May 28, 1942 Sofia, Bulgaria
Nationality	Slovak
Education	VŠMU, Bratislava (1959-1963)
Occupation	Actor, professor, dean
Years active	1961-present
Employer	SND, Bratislava (since 1963)
Organization	VŠMU, Bratislava (1984-1999) AFF, T.Teplice (1993-2004) AU, B.Bystrica (1999-2002) IFFC, Piešťany (since 2006)
Spouse(s)	Jozef Adamovič (since 1962)
Children	Andrea and Lucia
Signature
Website
Slovak National Theater

Prof. Mgr. Art. Božidara Turzonovová^[1][2] (Slovak: [ˈboʒɪdara ˈturzonovovaː]; born on May 28, 1942) is a Slovak film and stage actress^[1][2] of Bulgarian origins,^[2] often referred to as The First Lady of Slovak Theater^[3][4] and Film,^[5] respectively.

The former chairman of the Art Film Fest (AFF) in Trenčianske Teplice,^[6] nowadays the president of the International Film Festival Cinematik (IFFC) held in Piešťany (from 2006),^[2] Turzonovová is also known as the first dean of the Faculty of Drama at the Academy of Performing Arts in Banská Bystrica (1999–2002), co-established by herself.^[7][8] Since 2009, she occupies the Managing Board of the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava^[9] and, simultaneously, lectures at the Faculty of Mass Media Communication at the University of Saints Cyril and Methodius in Trnava.^[1]

In terms of artistic achievements, the actress is most notable for her portrayal of Emmy Destinn in a Jiří Krejčík's motion picture entitled Divine Emma (1979). The movie was submitted for the 54th Academy Awards in 1982 in the category Best Foreign Language Film. Most currently, the actress was cast in the Palm Springs International ShortFest-winning film The Lunch Box (2009),^[10] which also scored a bronze medal in the narrative category at the 37th Annual Student Academy Awards competition, in 2010.^[11]

Biography

1942-60: Early life and education

Božidara Turzonovová is a daughter of a female medician from Serbia and a reputable architect with origins in Macedonia (near Thessaloniki). As the oldest of three descendents, she was born in the Republic of Bulgaria. After thirteen months spent in Sofia, her mother followed the spouse to Bratislava, where he worked since 1939. From 1943, Turzonovová was therefore raised in Slovakia.^[12] According to the actress, she was often called "that Bulgarian" at that time that led her to a state of feeling rather humbled (as she recollected for the Czech Television in 2011). Although, she originally planned to study art history at the Palacký University of Olomouc in western part of then-Czechoslovakia, for which she would also apply, Turzonovová continued with drama eventually at the Slovak Academy of Performing Arts. While one of her classmates was Emília Vášáryová, her teacher became Ján Borodáč who taught the Stanislavski's method. However as the artist later disclosed, she found difficult to couple with partners on the scene, and wanted to abandon the college actually.^[13] In 2012 for SME she said: "For me 'partnering stuff' has always been a problem in acting, especially when I was yet a student."^[14]

1961-69: Career beginnings and the National Theater

 

"I don't want to mentor here, but even word has a sound content energy, that's all about energies. And when a performance turns out well, if there's my energy, an energy of fellows, an energy of [the] director who put his effort into it, then there's one great synergy which circulates, and after [it] circulates backwards. And that's the atmosphere in theater, that's what makes audience laugh, moves them to tears or completely hushes them up, so they will hold their breath. And those are the moments I love, and which I'll never accomplish on any TV, in any series and in any film - only on stage."^[15]

—Turzonovová on her relation with live audience
(Mestské divadlo Žilina; March 16, 2013).

Photos: Eduard Kudláč

The actress made her official debut on the screen in black-and-white movie entitled Most na tú stranu (English: A Bridge to the Other Side) by Vladislav Pavlovič, to be premiered in January the following year. The psychological drama starred Jozef Adamovič;^[16] a three years older actor whom Turzonovová would marry. Her initial appearance for television came along with Ján Klimo's Mladé letá (English: Young Ages, 1962), respectively another drama based on an autobiographical novel by Martin Kukučín.^[17] While on college, she was cast in two plays at a chamber theatre of the Slovak National Theater, called Malá scéna (English: Small Stage). Following her graduating in September 1963, the actress signed a contract with the professional ensemble, being pregnant actually. As a result, she was accused of cheating as revealed in addition.^[13] After return from parental leave, Turzonovová was cast in the follow-up project by Pavlovič Senzi Mama (English: Smashing Mom, 1964),^[18] while for TV productions taking part in comedies (Charlieho teta,^[19] Dobrodružstvo pri obžinkoch,^[20] Rozmajrín).^[21] In 1969, she would join the crew of Volpone, the only directorial attempt of František Dibarbora.^[22]

1970-79: The Meritorious Artist title and Divine Emma

Filmography

The filmography of Turzonovová chronicles her film work through the artist's 50 years as a motion picture actress. She entered film industry in 1961, and made her official cinematic debut in Vladislav Pavlovič's production of Most na tú stranu. Overall, Turzonovová appeared in one-hundred-thirty-four films to date, of which thirty-three are feature, and ninety-one are television films and/or series.^[23]

Year	Title	Role	Awards and/or nominations
1961	A Bridge to the Other Side	Eva	Film debut	[23]
1971	The Gamekeeper's Wife†	(unknown)	Golden Croc[A] for Best Actress	[24]
1977	Penelope	Eva Kamenická	Film a Divadlo Award[B] for Best Actress
	Will-O'-The-Wisp	Katarína	Film a Divadlo Award[B] for Most Popular Actress
1979	Divine Emma	Emmy Destinn	Submitted — Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film
1980	Retaliation	Kučerová	Film a Divadlo Award[B] for Best Actress	[24]
1983	Angel in a Devil's Body	Madam	ČSF Banská Bystrica Award for Best Actress
1997	Orbis Pictus	Marta	Nominated — Czech Lion for Best Supporting Actress	[25]
2009	The Lunch Box‡	Ružena Stoláriková	Palm Springs IF ShortFest for Best Live Action over 15 Minutes Bronze medal — Student Academy Awards for Narrative Film	[10] [11]
"†" denotes a TV film; "‡" denotes a short film.

Notes

• A ^ The original show ran until 1989. (Simultaneously, a similar pool called Television Bells ran in the Czechoslovakia since 1985. In 1990, the Golden Croc was replaced by I Like; for the only year, eventually. Starting 1991 TýTý Awards is effective in the Czech Republic, while OTO Awards was founded in Slovakia in 2000).
• B ^ The winners of the 77' edition were awarded in 1979.^[24]

Awards

Year	Nominated work	Award	Category	Result
Cinema
1977	Penelope	Film a Divadlo Award[A]	Best Actress		Won	[24]
1978	Will-O'-The-Wisp		Most Popular Actress		Won
1982	Retaliation				Won
1984	Angel in a Devil's Body	ČSF BB Award	Best Actress		Won
1998	Orbis Pictus	Czech Lion	Best Supporting Actress		Nominated	[25]
Television
1972	The Gamekeeper's Wife	Golden Croc[B]	Best Actress		Won	[24]
2001	The Meadow's Harp (as Verena)	Golden Loop	Best Female Dubber		Nominated	[26]
Stage
1996	Allergy (by J.Uličiansky)	LitFond Award	Outstanding Performance		Won	[27]
1997	A Little Night Music (by S.Sondheim/H.Wheeler)	Crystal Wing	Theater and Audiovisual Art		Won	[28]
1998		LitFond Award	Outstanding Performance		Won	[27]
2001	The Neverending Story		For the Study		Won
2002	Zorba (by J.Stein/J.Kander)	DOSKY Award	Best Actress		Nominated	[29]
2004	Memoir (by J.Murrell)				Nominated	[30]
		LitFond Award	Outstanding Performance		Won	[31]
2008	The Cripple of Inishmaan (by M.McDonagh)				Won	[32]
2009	She Returned Once Upon A Night (by E.Rovner)				Won	[33]
2012	Pagans (by H.Yablonska)	DOSKY Award	Best Actress		Won	[34]

Lifetime honors and other achievements

Year	Nominated work	Award	Category	Result
1979	Herself	Meritorious Artist	Lifetime achievement		Won	[35]
2002		Actor's Mission Award			Won	[25]
		Pribina Cross — 1st class			Won	[36]
2007		LitFond Award			Won	[37]
2008		Pribina Cross — 2nd class			Won	[38]
2009		Jozef Kroner Award			Won	[39]
2010		Thalia Flower			Won	[40]
2012		The Woman of the Year	Art and Culture		Won	[41]
		Slovenka Award	Special achievement[42]		Won
		Pavol Strauss Award	Lifetime achievement		Won	[43]

See also

Book: Božidara Turzonovová

• List of submissions to the 54th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film

References

General

• "Božidara Turzonovová -> Filmography". Czecho-Slovak Film Database (in Czech and Slovak). POMO Media Group. csfd.cz. Retrieved 2011-05-08. 
• "Božidara Turzonovová -> Stageography". Slovak National Theater (in Slovak). Slovenské národné divadlo. snd.sk. Retrieved 2011-05-08. 
• Šmatláková, Renáta (ed.). "Božidara Turzonovová -> Awards -> Filmography". Slovak Film Database (in Slovak). Slovak Film Institute. sfd.sfu.sk. Retrieved 2011-05-08. 

Specific

Bibliography

• Fuchs, Aleš (2000). Intimacies of Božidara Turzonovová (in Czech) (1st ed.). Prague, Czech Republic: Faun. p. 147. ISBN 978-80-86275-08-6. 

Further reading

• Šimková, Soňa, ed. (1994). Anthology of Habilitation Lessons by Associate Professors -> About Acting: Božidara Turzonovová (in Slovak) (1st ed.). Slovakia: Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava. p. 65. ISBN 80-85182-35-1. 
• Podmaková, Dagmar, ed. (2003). Jozef Kroner -> The Actress of Intuition and Humility: Božidara Turzonovová (in Slovak) (1st ed.). Bratislava, Slovakia: Slovak Academy of Sciences - Section of Theatre and Film. p. 199. ISBN 80-967283-7-7. 

External links

Božidara Turzonovová at SND Božidara Turzonovová at AllRovi Božidara Turzonovová at AMPAS Božidara Turzonovová at ČSFd

Božidara Turzonovová at IMDb Božidara Turzonovová at KinoBox Božidara Turzonovová at SFd Božidara Turzonovová at TCMd

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