Jan Rubeš
Also Known As: Jan Rubes
Biography: Born in Czechoslovakia. After graduating in 1945 from the Conservatory of Music in Prague, Jan Rubes went on to join the Prague Opera House as their youngest basso singer. He also performed at the Pilsen Opera House in leading roles in his early years. By 1948, he was chosen to represent Czechoslovakia at the International Music Festival held in Geneva and won first prize in his category. He emigrated to Canada on New Year's Eve 1948 with hopes of creating a greater musical career. As a member of the Canadian Opera Company, he achieved recognition for his roles, as Boris in "Boris Godunov", Schigolch in "Lulu" and as Mephisto in "Faust". As well, he served as the company's director of touring and program development. Branching out into radio and, eventually, TV, he wrote and hosted from 1975-83 TVOntario's "Guess What?" and acted in many TV dramas, later receiving the Earle Grey Award for lifetime work in Canadian television.
Department: Acting
Place of Birth: Volyně, Czechoslovakia
Birthday: June 06, 1920
Deathday: June 29, 2009
Adult: No
Gender: Male
Popularity:
Known For:
The Birds II: Land's End
Overview: Ted and his family have just moved to the sleepy coastal town of Gull Island so that he can complete work on his thesis. Everything couldn’t seem more picturesque about their new, seaside home… that is, except for the increasing number of aggressively behaving birds.
Genres: Horror TV Movie
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1994-03-19
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D2: The Mighty Ducks
Overview: After Gordon Bombay's hockey comeback is cut short he is named coach of Team USA Hockey for the Junior Goodwill Games. Bombay reunites the Mighty Ducks and introduces a few new players, however, he finds himself distracted by his newfound fame and must regather if the Ducks are to defeat tournament favourites Iceland.
Genres: Comedy Action Family Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1994-03-25
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The Amateur
Overview: A researcher for the CIA who convinces his superiors to send him to the eastern bloc in order to avenge the murder of his wife by enemy agents discovers a web of deception underneath his wife's death.
Genres: Action Crime Thriller
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1981-12-11
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Witness
Overview: A sheltered Amish child is the sole witness of a brutal murder in a restroom at a Philadelphia train station, and he must be protected. The assignment falls to a taciturn detective who goes undercover in a Pennsylvania Dutch community. On the farm, he slowly assimilates despite his urban grit, and forges a romantic bond with the child's beautiful mother.
Genres: Crime Drama Romance Thriller
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1985-02-08
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One Magic Christmas
Overview: Ginny Grainger, a young mother, rediscovers the joy and beauty of Christmas, thanks to the unshakable faith of her six-year-old daughter Abbie and Gideon, Ginny's very own guardian angel.
Genres: Family Fantasy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1985-11-22
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Devlin
Overview: A troubled cop is framed in the murder of his brother-in-law, whose father is a political boss.
Genres: TV Movie Action Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1992-09-12
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The Amityville Curse
Overview: After purchasing a property in Amityville, New York, Debbie and her husband invite three of their closest friends to help renovate. Immediately uneasy in her new surroundings, she begins experiencing shockingly vivid nightmares.
Genres: Horror Thriller
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1990-05-07
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Our Fathers
Overview: In the '80s, priests and especially the Father Geoghan arrested for sexual abuse of minors. Cardinal Law, also indicted, and the diocese was aware of the actions of these men of the church and was kept secret for years, until the victims decide to seek redress.
Genres: TV Movie Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2005-05-11
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Music from Another Room
Overview: Music From Another Room is a romantic comedy that follows the exploits of Danny, a young man who grew up believing he was destined to marry the girl he helped deliver as a five year old boy when his neighbor went into emergency labor. Twenty-five years later, Danny returns to his hometown and finds the irresistible Anna Swann but she finds it easy to resist him since she is already engaged to dreamboat Eric, a very practical match. In pursuit of Anna, Danny finds himself entangled with each of the eccentric Swanns including blind, sheltered Nina, cynical sister Karen, big brother Bill and dramatic mother Grace as he fights to prove that fate should never be messed with and passion should never be practical.
Genres: Comedy Drama Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1998-04-24
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Serving in Silence: The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story
Overview: After serving in the military for more than twenty years, including a tour of duty in Vietnam, Colonel Margarethe Cammermeyer (Glenn Close) had seen her share of battles. But nothing could prepare her for the fight ahead: an intensely personal struggle against the U.S. Army when she becomes the highest ranking officer ever to be discharged for being a lesbian. With the support of her partner Diane (Judy Davis), Cammermeyer undertakes an against-all-odds battle against the Army's policy. But to do so, she must risk everything – her career, her privacy and even the love of her family.
Genres: Drama TV Movie
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1995-01-23
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The Christmas Secret
Overview: In this magical story, a scientist sets out to prove that reindeer can fly and along the way discovers the true meaning of faith, family and Christmas.
Genres: Family Fantasy Drama TV Movie
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2000-12-12
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Mesmer
Overview: A biography of the eighteenth century Viennese physician, Franz Anton Mesmer, who used unorthodox healing practices based on his theory of "animal magnetism."
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1994-08-25
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Dead of Winter
Overview: A fledgling actress is lured to a remote mansion for a screen-test, soon discovering she is actually a prisoner in the middle of a blackmail plot.
Genres: Thriller Horror
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1987-02-06
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The Experts
Overview: Travis and Wendell are two down-on-their-luck New Yorkers who think they're relocating to a small town in Nebraska to open a nightclub. What they don't know is they've actually been abducted by a KGB operative and flown to the Soviet Union, where they'll unwittingly serve as "experts" on all things cool in America. The town, created expressly for KGB spies-in-training, is meant to serve as a training ground for Soviet agents. What can these two hapless Americans possibly teach the Soviet spies, and will they ever learn they are not actually in Nebraska?
Genres: Action Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1989-01-13
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Deadly Harvest
Overview: Farmer struggles to keep food on the table, and regain his son who has joined a gang of marauding city-folk during the world's worst famine.
Genres: Science Fiction Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1977-08-21
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The Kiss
Overview: After the death of her mother, a teenage girl is faced with bizarre supernatural occurrences when her mother's estranged sister arrives and begins to infiltrate her and her father's lives.
Genres: Thriller Horror Drama Fantasy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1988-10-14
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Daniel and the Superdogs
Overview: A young boy still recovering from his mother's recent death teams with his two best friends to turn a regular pooch into a stunt-performing super-dog in this affectionate comedy for the whole family. Losing a parent is never easy, but for 11 year old Daniel it's been especially hard; when his father dives into work in an attempt to keep his grief at bay, Daniel starts causing mischief around the neighborhood with his best friends William and Colin. When the kids catch wind of a canine.
Genres: Drama Family
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2004-10-27
Popularity:
Believe
Overview: After being continually kicked out of boarding schools, Ben is sent to live with his stern Grandfather in a small town. Almost as soon as he arrives he begins to see the ghost of a woman around his grandfather's house. He also gets to know a girl named Kathrine and the two fast become friends. They both want to help the ghost who holds a connection to both of their families. As they research the past, Ben and Katherine find out that sometimes all you need to do to help someone is to believe.
Genres: Horror Thriller Family
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2000-03-22
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Cold Front
Overview: An American cop teams up with a Royal Canadian Mounted Policeman and together they uncover a plot to hide international terrorists in Vancouver.
Genres: Crime
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1990-06-09
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What Katy Did
Overview: A 13-year-old girl is more than her widowed father can handle at times, even with help from her aunt, until a tragic accident changes her outlook on life.
Genres: Drama TV Movie
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1999-01-01
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Blood Relations
Overview: A trip to meet her fiance's family becomes a descent into hell when Marie discovers that her future husband wants more than just a wife... Dying for a rich husband, Marie is thrilled when Thomas brings her home to his family's massive estate. But there is something wrong in the house, and as the days go by and Marie wanders the dim halls, she makes a gruesome discovery. There is a lab underground, and a body, and all that's missing is a brain...
Genres: Horror
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1988-07-01
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Something About Love
Overview: Wally Olynyk (Stefan Wodoslawsky) returns home to the Cape Breton region of Nova Scotia in this somber drama. After years of living in Los Angeles, he hopes to attend his high-school reunion and visit with his father Stan (Jan Rubes). Stan is the local mortician who suffers from Alzheimer's disease, but the 63-year-old father is too stubborn to admit anything is wrong. The contrast between Los Angeles and the grim Canadian steel town clashes like the father and son.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1988-12-09
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No Blame
Overview: Amy Donaldson, a successful fashion editor of City Magazine, is married to Carl, an accountant, and they have one young son, Brian. Amy is pregnant and she finds that she tests positive for HIV. The films traces the effect of this on her, her family, and her best friend Suzanne.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1988-12-12
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The Witches of Eastwick
Overview: An unsold TV series pilot about three single witches living together who try to conjure up their idea of the "perfect man." One day, their wish comes true when a seemingly perfect man named Darryl Van Horne moves into town and sweeps them off their feet by making all their dreams come true. However, they soon realize that "perfect" isn't exactly the best word to describe their devilish new man after strange and unexplainable incidents begin occurring. The pilot was inspired by both John Updike's original novel and the 1987 movie that followed.
Genres: Drama Fantasy Horror TV Movie
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1992-07-03
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On My Own
Overview: Simon Henderson is at boarding school in Canada while his father works in Hong Kong, and his mother lives in England. When his parents visit him in the holidays, Simon discovers that his mother has schizophrenia.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1993-07-02
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Sarabande
Overview: The film explores the relationships that a limousine driver, a doctor, and a real estate agent have amongst each other and with Yo-Yo Ma as he travels to Canada to perform Bach's Cello Suites.
Genres: Drama Music TV Movie
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1997-10-24
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Rescuers: Stories of Courage - Two Couples
Overview: Two fact-based tales about citizens who risked everything, including their lives, to save Holocaust victims.
Genres: Drama History War TV Movie
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1998-05-10
Popularity:
Blind Fear
Overview: A blind employee at a New England lodge is in danger when a gang of killers arrives to stay at the lodge.
Genres: Mystery Horror Thriller
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1989-01-01
Popularity:
Roommates
Overview: An elderly, yet young-at-heart man, moves in with his grandson, and both their lives turn upside-down.
Genres: Drama Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1995-03-03
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Murder: By Reason of Insanity
Overview: A married couple from Poland emigrates to the U.S.,. but things don't turn out as well as they had imaged. The husband's business fails, while his wife's career really takes off. The husband, unable to cope with the pressures of his failed business, his failing marriage and the adjustments necessary to live in a completely different society, begins to take out his frustrations on his wife.
Genres: Crime Drama TV Movie
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1985-10-01
Popularity:
Divided Loyalties
Overview: Story of Joseph Brant, chief of the Mohawks, and the events that led to the birth of Canada as a nation. During the time of the American Revolution, while Britain faces full scale insurrection in its American colonies, the great Indian empire of the Six Nations must choose between longtime British allies and the American Patriots, whose democratic ideals they share.
Genres: History Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1990-02-13
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The White Raven
Overview: A journalist gets pulled into an intrigue by his editor that involves a story that he received a Pulitzer for years before. It seems that the second largest diamond ever mined was used during World War II to buy a Jewish woman freedom from a prison camp. Only trouble is it disappeared after the war and now everyone is after it, including the Russians, former Nazis, gangsters, and the original owner. Somehow, the story that the journalist originally wrote about a camp survivor is believed to have leads to the diamond.
Genres: Action Crime Thriller
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1998-12-18
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Snow Falling on Cedars
Overview: In the 1950s, a Japanese-American fisherman is suspected of killing his neighbour at sea. For Ishmael, a local reporter, the trial strikes a deep emotional chord when he finds his ex-lover is linked to the case. As he investigates the killing, he uncovers some startling clues that lead him to a shocking discovery.
Genres: Drama Romance
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1999-12-22
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Charlie Grant's War
Overview: A Canadian artist turned diamond merchant in Vienna, Austria risks his life to smuggle Jews out of the Third Reich.
Genres: Drama TV Movie War History
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1985-01-27
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The Outside Chance of Maximilian Glick
Overview: The early 1960s: In preparation for his Bar Mitzvah, a Jewish boy, Max Glick (Noam Zylberman) from a small Manitoba community with an overbearing family tries to navigate his coming-of-age with his family's condescension and bigotry using his sarcastic, Jewish humour. The town's rabbi dies, and a sub-plot develops in which Max's father (Aaron Schwartz) and grandfather (Jan Rubes)-both synagogue leaders-are saddled with a traditional Hassidic rabbi who sticks out like a sore thumb among the otherwise assimilated Jewish community. To make matters more difficult, Max likes a Catholic girl (14 year old Fairuza Baulk in just her third film), whom he later competes with in a piano competition. The quirky, fun-loving rabbi tries to help him with his problems, yet harbours a secret ambition of his own. Filmed in Winnipeg and rural Beausejour, Manitoba, Canada.
Genres: Drama Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1988-09-16
Popularity:
Class Action
Overview: A liberal activist lawyer alienated his daughter Maggie years ago when she discovered his many affairs. Now a conservative corporate lawyer, Maggie agrees to go up against her father in court. To gain promotion, she must defend an auto manufacturer against charges that their explosion-prone station wagons are unsafe. As her mother begs for peace, Maggie takes on her dad in a trial that turns increasingly personal and nasty.
Genres: Drama Crime History
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1991-03-15
Popularity:
Anthrax
Overview: When cattle mysteriously start dying of anthrax in a small Alberta ranching community, an RCMP officer tries to keep the peace as ranchers lay the blame on a local agricultural research center. A reporter encourages the angry ranchers - led by the Mountie's mother-in-law - to stage a sit-in at the research center. When an eccentric old rancher dies after being exposed to a deadly strain of anthrax, the protesters are quarantined. No one notices that the reporter has disappeared - along with several vials of the deadly bacteria. The RCMP officer begins his own investigation, gleaning information from a U.S. government agent. He finds himself racing against time to recover the stolen anthrax.
Genres: Drama Thriller Science Fiction
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2001-01-01
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The Incredible Journey
Overview: The story of three pets, a cat and two dogs, who lose their owners when they are all on vacation. Can they find their way home?
Genres: Adventure Family
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1963-11-20
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The Marriage Bed
Overview: Linda Griffiths stars as very pregnant Annie Graham, who's about to give birth to her third child in seven years. Annie looks back via flashbacks at how her own plans for a career got sidetracked and how her marriage suddenly went off the rails on a crazy train. At the same time she's trying to cope with a Christmas season full of inlaws, family and neighbours.. and a husband who's gone awol in order to 'find himself'.
Genres: Drama TV Movie
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1986-12-22
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Deceived
Overview: The murder of a museum curator places art dealer Jack Saunders under suspicion for selling forged treasures to museums. When Jack suddenly dies in a car crash, his wife Adrienne tries to discover what he did on her own. She finds that she knew little about the man she was married to. The more she learns about her husband's possible illegal activities and double life, the more she places her daughter, and herself, in grave danger.
Genres: Thriller
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1991-09-27
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Your Ticket Is No Longer Valid
Overview: Set within the super-rich jet-set society of Paris, Richard Harris portrays a man whose life is gradually being destroyed. From sexual trauma to financial disaster, he slowly descends into a world of insanity, perversion and finally the bottomless pit!
Genres: Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1981-09-19
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Descending Angel
Overview: A recently engaged man getting to know his future father-in-law better unearths clues that the man may have been a Nazi collaborator and a mass murderer.
Genres: Drama Thriller TV Movie
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1990-11-25
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Courage Mountain
Overview: At the beginning of World War I, a young Swiss girl is sent off to boarding school.
Genres: Drama Family
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1990-02-14
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Lamb Chop in the Haunted Studio
Overview: Shari, Lamb Chop, and the gang visit a studio haunted by a mysterious phantom.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1994-10-21
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Murder in Space
Overview: Set in the "not-so-distant future", the crew of an international space station are set to return triumphantly to Earth, until someone starts killing the other crew members.
Genres: Mystery Crime Science Fiction TV Movie Horror
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1985-07-28
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Never Too Late
Overview: Four old friends reunite to investigate the death of a good friend.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1996-08-26
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Flood: A River's Rampage
Overview: After heavy rain, the Mississippi is breaking it's banks flooding small towns. Richard Thomas and Kate Vernon realise their town is next on the hit list. Lots and lots of sand bags might not do the trick but a huge explosion might. In the meantime the plot is filled up with a predictable story about a family dreading their mistake of staying behind when they become entrapped in their own home.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1997-11-16
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Mr. Patman
Overview: Women, patients and paranoia surround an Irish night-shift orderly in a Canadian mental ward.
Genres: Thriller
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1981-04-22
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Nightmare Man
Overview: After recovering from a near-fatal wound, a cop develops the ability to see crime scenes through psychic flashes.
Genres: TV Movie
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1999-01-01
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Lions for Breakfast
Overview: A man, a dog, and two boys travel together by bus, including a tour through a safari park.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: en
Release Date: 1975-05-07
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