Naďa Hejná

Naďa Hejná was born in Martin to a locally prominent family belonging to petty nobility. Her grandfather Ambro Pietor and father Miloš Pietor were prominent journalists. Both of her parents were amateur actors. Her brother Ivan Pietor served as a Commerce and Transportation minister between 1945 and 1948.[1] She studied commerce in Prague for a year, but abandoned her studied due to financial constrains and also to pursue acting.[2] Following her return to Martin, she played with various amateur troupes and worked in theatre administration. In January 1944, she became an actress of the newly formed Slovenské komorné divadlo in Martin.[3]

Upon the outbreak of the Slovak National Uprising, Hejná applied to join the Front Theatre, a troupe established by the actor Andrej Bagar with the aim to increase the morale of the rebels and to promote the antifascist resistance among population. Nonetheless, she was not accepted as it was considered too dangerous for a woman. Instead, she worked as a host of the rebel radio in Banská Bystrica.[4]

From 1945 to 1948, Hejná lived in Prague again for family reasons – her brother was a minister and her husband had a job in the film industry. Following the 1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état, the family faced persecution. Hejná with her husband had to leave Prague and settled in a village of Štiavnička, nearby Martin. There, she returned to acting at the Martin theatre, where she remained active until 1990.[3]

In addition to stage acting, Hejná appeared in a number of films, including Marketa Lazarová (1967), Rosy Dreams (1977) and Forget Mozart (1985).[5]