Stefan Ihnat (August 7, 1934 – May 12, 1972) was a Slovak-born American actor and director. He emigrated to Canada when he was five years old, and later became a United States citizen.

Early life

Ihnat was born to Andrew and Mary Ihnat in Slovakia and was raised on a farm in

Lynden, Ontario Lynden is part of Flamborough, Ontario, Flamborough, which is itself part of the city of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Lynden now has fewer than 500 residents. There used to be a train station in Lynden that went to Hamilton and Lynden provided goo ...

. His family settled there after fleeing his native Czechoslovakia in 1939, when he was five years old. Ihnat, his mother, father, younger sister, and two young boys from other families left Czechoslovakia three days before

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

was occupied by invading German forces in March of that year.

Film and television career

Ihnat moved to the United States in 1956 to pursue a career in acting and attended the Pasadena Playhouse. He gained United States citizenship. In 1959, he played a truck driver in with cargo hijackers in an episode of ''

Highway Patrol A highway patrol, or state patrol is either a police unit created primarily for the purpose of overseeing and enforcing traffic safety compliance on roads and highways, or a detail within an existing local or regional police agency that is prima ...

''. At a time when he had difficulty finding work he enlisted in the U.S. Army for two years and served at Headquarters U.S. Army, Port

Inchon Incheon (; ; or Inch'ŏn; literally "kind river"), formerly Jemulpo or Chemulp'o (제물포) until the period after 1910, officially the Incheon Metropolitan City (인천광역시, 仁川廣域市), is a city located in northwestern South Kore ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

. In 1960, Pvt. Ihnat won second prize in the Republic of Korea poetry contest for his entry titled "Toil in the Night." Ihnat guest-starred in many

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication Media (communication), medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of Transmission (telecommunications), television tra ...

series during t