Otto Šimánek had a 100th birthday: the elegant child hero from space

In the 1970s, the cult series “Pan Tau” was an integral part of German children’s television, only the Swedish TV anarchist Pippi Longstocking gathered more young spectators in front of the flicker box. For Otto Šimánek (1925-1992), the Czechoslovak actor of the extraterrestrial gentleman magician, it was the role of his life.

At Pan Tau, which simply means “Lord Tau” in German, it is one of the most peaceful and distinguished series heroes of all time. The good-natured older gentleman from the space always appeared in the fine Stresemann suit and with a white clove in the buttonhole, through a magical drum on the clamp of his black melon, he was able to make little miracles. In most episodes he didn’t speak a single word.

In the middle of the Cold War prevailing at the time, “Pan Tau” was also a small TV wonder. The children’s series was an extremely fruitful co -production of the WDR and the state television institution of the then Czechoslovakia. The 33 episodes of the durable film series between 1970 and 1978 were also very popular in the GDR. Ten years after the end of the series, Otto Šimánek once again embodied the figure in the movie “Pan Tau – The Film”.

Away from “Pan Tau”, the actor was seen in numerous other children’s films and children’s series, for example as a detective in “Luzie, the horror of the street” (1980). He also played as a permanent ensemble member at the Prague city theater and taught at the Pantomime Conservatory there.

On May 8, 1992, Šimánek surprisingly died of cancer at the age of 67. Two years earlier, at the request of the German pop queen Nena (65), he returned to the role of Pan Tau one last time and participated in the main actor. In one, the singer later said: “Pan Tau caught me as a child. I feel at home with that. And television was good for me for that. It was someone for me who understood me, I still love it today.”