Bruno O'Ya
Acting
Born February 12, 1933, Tallinn, Harju County, Estonia
Bruno O'Ya (born Bruno Oja; February 12, 1933 – October 9, 2002) was an Estonian-Polish actor. In 1974 he starred in the Academy Award-nominated film The Deluge under Jerzy Hoffman. He also appeared in the 1978 film Centaurs. He released a folk album with 12 songs in 1973. Born on February 12, 1933, in Tallinn, O'Ya was born to Verner and Hilda Oja; his brother was Kenno Oja. He was married four times, and has a daughter, Dominika. O'Ya studied piano with the Estonian composer Eugen Kapp. He was part of a pop music group in Tartu in 1951 and the Riga Teacher's House dance orchestra from 1956–1964. From the late the 1960s, he mainly lived and worked in Wrocław, Poland, but did not renounce his Soviet citizenship, as that was how he was able to visit Estonia. In 1967, he changed his Estonian surname to a foreign one, henceforth writing the surname with a y and adding an apostrophe after the first letter in order to simplify foreign contact. After Estonia regained its independence, O'Ya returned to Estonia, where he supervised a youth theater. On the initiative of Foreign Minister Trivim Velliste, O'Ya became the cultural attaché and honorary consul of the Republic of Estonia in Poland. In 1998 he suffered a stroke.
Filmography
- 2008Nazis and Blondes — (archive footage)
- 1988Mr. Blot in Space
- 1987Rykowisko — senator Mickey Caposta
- 1986Na całość — Skandynaw
- Przyłbice i kaptury
- 1985Przyśpieszenie — Father Christmas
- 1984Wedle wyroków twoich... — chłop Pietrek
- 1983Heads Full of Stars — Soviet Officer
- 1983Ostrze na ostrze — Jacek Dydyński
- 1982The Last One Will Go to Hell — pasovský fendrich Hoff
- 1981Tender Spots — Oficer
- 1979The Centaurs — Nilson
- Útek zo zlatej krajiny — Elam Harnish
- 1978An Unknown Friend — Bruno Linden
- Soldiers of Freedom — Otto Skorzeny
- Calling 07 — Gryzboń's Bodyguard
- 1976Kazimierz Wielki — Spytek from Melsztyn
- 1975The Weddings of Ioan Assen — Knyaz Yuriy
- 1974The Deluge — Józwa Butrym
- 1973Copernicus — Color Bearer (uncredited)
- 1973Possession — Apartment Owner
- 1972Black Rusks
- 1972Tauriņdeja — Harijs Maurs
- 1971Aktorka — Kasjo
- 1971Das letzte Wort
- 1970Fatal Error — Hank Jackson
- 1969The Red Tent — Norwegian Radio Operator (uncredited)
- 1968Operation 'Trust' — Birk
- Operation 'Trust' — Бирк
- 1968When Love Was a Crime — Denis Lenoir
- 1968Wolves' Echoes — Piotr Słotwina
- 1966Nobody Wanted to Die — Bronius
- 1966On the Same Planet
- 1965Early in the Morning — певец в ресторане
- 1965Remember, Kaspar!
- 1965The Hyperboloid of Engineer Garin — Янсен, капитан яхты "Аризона"
- 1965Time, Forward! — Thomas Bixby
- 1964A Shot in the Fog — Бинкль - атташе
- 1964The Lark — Obersturmbannfuhrer
- 1963Cottage in the Dunes
- 1963General and Daisies — Vladec Lekhovski
- 196249 Days
- 1961Tēva zeme