Lída Baarová

Lída Baarová (September 14, 1914 in Prague – October 28, 2000 in Salzburg) was a movie actress. Born Ludmila Babková, she studied acting at Prague's conservatory and got her first movie role in a Czech film at the age of 17. Her mother appeared in several theater plays and her younger sister, Zorka Jan?, was also a movie actress. Lida Baarova's first love affair was with the film director Karel Lama?. People who used to know her reminisce that she was the most beautiful woman they have ever seen. The foremost Czech movie director, Otakar Vavra said that her beauty likely infatuated every man she met. After being discovered by talent scouts for the German movie studios, Lida Baarova left Prague for Berlin.

After the fall of the Berlin wall

In the 1990's Lída Baarová reappeared on the cultural scene of the Czech Republic. She published her autobiography and a movie, Lida Baarová's Bittersweet Memories, appeared in 1995 and won an award at the 1996 Art Film Festival in Trencianske Teplice, Slovak Republic.

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Joseph Goebbels never forgot Lída, nor did she forget him. Shortly before his death in 1945, while burning his personal papers in the Berlin underground army headquarters, the last thing he threw into the flames was the photograph of Lida he kept all these years, telling his adjutant:

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:: "She was a beautiful woman."

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In 1997 Lída publicly remembered him saying:

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::"There's no doubt that Goebbels was an interesting character, a charming and intelligent man and a very good storyteller. You could be sure that he'll keep a party going with his reminiscences and anecdotes."

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Lída Baarová suffered from Parkinson's disease and died in 2000 in Salzburg, while living alone on the estate she inherited after the death of her second husband, Dr. Lundwall. Her ashes were interred in Prague's Stra?nice cementery, where she rests with her parents and sister Zorka Jan?. Shortly after her passing away, Bohumil Dolezal (Události, November 8, 2000) commented on the incessant accusations, allegations, and media hate campaigns that were part of Lida Baarova?s life since the end of the World War II and did not cease even after her death. He writes that

Related Topics:
Parkinson's disease - Salzburg

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:: "This type of publicity is modeled on behavior of an animal pack of predators and has nothing in common with human morality".

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Lida Baarova?s life-long love affair was with movies. Her filmography bears testimony to the courage and determination with which she overcame the overwhelming odds she faced during most of her life.

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