Juraj Ďurdiak (73) is well known to the audience in Slovakia and the Czech Republic from the fairy tale The Prince and Večernicawhere he portrayed the beautiful Prince Velen alongside Libuša Šafránková. The well-known Slovak actor and opera singer had an older sister, Judita, who also chose an acting profession.
She was a representative of small, genre-diverse characters in films such as I’m Sitting on a Branch and I’m Good, Someone Like Me, Ripe Wine, Adventures in Obžinky, Sváko Ragan or In the Backyard.
Judita Ďurdiaková was born on February 14, 1948 in Horná Štubna. After graduating from acting studies at the VŠMU in Bratislava in 1970, she became a member of the SND Theater, where she worked until her death in 1992. Her life was prematurely ended by a car accident that happened just a few days before her birthday. She died on February 5 at the premature age of 44.
Ďurdiak also worked as a businessman in the 1990s. Right after the fall of the communist regime, he founded a boutique in Bratislava, which was successful and expanded branches to western and central Slovakia. He admitted to TASR in the past that his sister’s unexpected departure was one of the reasons why he ended his business.
„The strongest impulse was my sister Judita’s fatal accident, because it all started through her husband, who was Austrian. I wasn’t done right away and not with everything. I changed commodities and continued in the field of textiles until the possible closure of the company. You can’t stop doing business right away. It is a rolling boulder that is very difficult to stop. If you want to behave seriously towards employees, suppliers, you have a lot of work to do for years to come…“ he revealed.
