Anupras Lauciūnas

Anupras Lauciūnas (born 10 January 1926) is a Lithuanian former stage and film actor, and director of the first Lithuanian television broadcast along with Vitalis Gruodis.

Biography Early life and theatre career Anupras Lauciūnas was born on 10 January 1926 in the town of Panemunis of the Rokiškis district in Lithuania. In 1944 Lauciūnas graduated from the Vilnius School of Fine Arts. In 1949 he graduated from the Lithuanian National Drama Theatre studio headed by Kazimiera Kymantaitė and began working as an actor in an official capacity for a total of ten years. Here he met fellow actors Vitalis Gruodis and . From 20 February 1957, Lauciūnas began working as Gruodis' assistant. In the summer of the same year, along with cameraman Jurgis Čepulis, Lauciūnas broadcast the first television broadcast in Lithuania from Šiauliai along with Vitalis Gruodis. Lauciūnas described working in the newly founded television studio as working "in a team of fire-fighters", due to the amount of pressure he received from being assigned difficult tasks. He further worked in various television editorials as senior director. In 1996 Lauciūnas received the Auksinė bitė (Golden bee) award. He retired from television on 9 August 1999.