Czech director Krejca dies at 87

Posted 11 8 2009 8:34PM

PRAGUE – Otomar Krejca, a renowned theater director in the Czech Republic, has died at the age of 87.

Prague's National Theater says Krejca died Friday in Prague. The cause of death was not given.

Krejca was born on Nov. 23, 1921 in Skrysov u Pelhrimova, Czechoslovakia.

He joined the National Theater as an actor in 1956 and later became a director.

In the 1965, he co-founded the theater Za Branou in Prague.

After the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, he was banned and only allowed to work abroad. He directed more than 40 productions in theaters in Germany, Austria Italy, Belgium, France, Finland and Sweden.

He received several Czech and foreign awards.

Funeral arrangements were not immediately announced.