Štěpánka Haničincová († 68) she was known to television viewers primarily as an author and presenter of children’s shows, but she was also a talented actress. She was loved by children and adults, but in private she received one blow after another and her ending was not happy either, she writes
Haničincová was born in 1931 in Kvíčovice and after graduating from the business academy in Děčín she studied acting and dramaturgy at the Prague DAMU. Since 1953, she cooperated with Czechoslovak Television and as a presenter and author of children’s programs, she left an indelible mark on the hearts of many television viewers.
Her most famous TV shows included, for example Stepan’s Beads, Rosemary, Mom, Dad, Watch With Us and Little TV Cabaret.
Three marriages and a psychiatric hospitalization
First marriage with Peter Haničincom († 77) ended in divorce after three years. Second relationship with director Ján Valášek († 42), father of her son Ján, was marked by his jealousy and health problems. When they divorced Valášek fell ill with severe kidney disease and later died of a stroke. Štěpánka suffered a mental breakdown from these wounds and had to be briefly hospitalized in a psychiatric hospital.
She only found true happiness with her third husband, actor Ján Přeučil (88). He and his colleague looked at each other during the filming of the fairy tale The Princess and the Goosebumps. Despite the love and support of her husband, Haničincová was haunted by depression and the shadow of the past. In 1981, because of the wedding of her daughter Alexandra with the signatory of Charter’77, she was banned from television. Loneliness and the loss of her career destroyed her mentally. The depressions she faced deepened and she began to seek solace in alcohol. She did not return to television until November 1989.
At the end of her life, her health problems worsened until a tragic accident ended it all on October 27, 1999. Her husband found her dead at home when he returned from filming. She was lying motionless by the radiator, where she had apparently fallen due to dizziness and low blood pressure. The official report called it an unfortunate accident, but a combination of drugs and alcohol may have played a significant role.
