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Bruno O'Ya

Acting Born Feb 12, 1933 Tallinn, Harju County, Estonia 24 credits

Biography

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.

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Known for

Film

Less Than Zero

as Gryzboń's Bodyguard
Film

The Deluge

as Józwa Butrym

Soldiers of Freedom

as Otto Skorzeny

The Time Traveler's Wife

as Piotr Słotwina

Full filmography

  • Calling 07 (1976) as Gryzboń's Bodyguard
  • The Deluge (1974) as Józwa Butrym
  • Soldiers of Freedom (1977) as Otto Skorzeny
  • Operation 'Trust' (1968) as Бирк
  • Útek zo zlatej krajiny (1979) as Elam Harnish
  • The Red Tent (1969) as Norwegian Radio Operator (uncredited)
  • Przyłbice i kaptury (1986)
  • Time, Forward! (1965) as Thomas Bixby
  • Operation 'Trust' (1968) as Birk
  • On the Same Planet (1966)
  • Fatal Error (1970) as Hank Jackson
  • A Shot in the Fog (1964) as Бинкль - атташе
  • The Hyperboloid of Engineer Garin (1965) as Янсен, капитан яхты "Аризона"
  • Possession (1973) as Apartment Owner
  • An Unknown Friend (1978) as Bruno Linden
  • Cottage in the Dunes (1963)
  • When Love Was a Crime (1968) as Denis Lenoir
  • Black Rusks (1972)
  • Wolves' Echoes (1968) as Piotr Słotwina
  • Nazis and Blondes (2008) as (archive footage)
  • The Centaurs (1979) as Nilson
  • The Weddings of Ioan Assen (1975) as Knyaz Yuriy
  • Copernicus (1973) as Color Bearer (uncredited)
  • Das letzte Wort (1971)