Bekim Fehmiu

Aktor

2 czerwca 1936 — 15 czerwca 2010 (74 years)
Bekim Fehmiu (Albanian: [bɛˈkim fɛhˈmiu]; Cyrillic: Беким Фехмију; 1 June 1936 – 15 June 2010) was a Yugoslavian theater and film actor of Albanian ethnicity. He was the first Eastern European actor to star in Hollywood during the Cold War.

In 1960, Fehmiu became a member of the Yugoslav Drama Theatre in Belgrade, which he left in 1967, citing bad treatment, to become a free artist.

Fehmiu's big break was the 1967 film I Even Met Happy Gypsies, a subtle portrayal of Roma life which won two awards in Cannes and was nominated for an Oscar. Known for his macho appearance and mild manner, Fehmiu was then wooed by Western filmmakers and signed a contract with the Academy Award-winning producer Dino De Laurentiis. It was De Laurentiis who, in 1968, cast him as Odysseus in the acclaimed mini-series of The Odyssey. It was the first blockbuster of Italian television and made Fehmiu an icon in parts of Europe.

Fehmiu seemed poised for stardom in Hollywood as well, but his first American film, The Adventurers, was a critical and financial disaster which "ruined any chances for Fehmiu to achieve similar stardom in Hollywood". In 1971, Fehmiu starred in the western action drama The Deserter, directed by Burt Kennedy. In 1973 he played the role of the busy father in Raimondo Del Balzo's heartbreaking film The Last Snows of Spring, and then in 1975 played the role of ex-politician Alexander Diakim in the movie Permission to Kill, with Ava Gardner and Dirk Bogarde. In 1976, Fehmiu starred as fictional murdered Luftwaffe pilot, Hans Reiter in Tinto Brass's film, Salon Kitty alongside Helmut Berger, Ingrid Thulin and Teresa Ann Savoy. He portrayed a Palestinian terrorist in John Frankenheimer's 1977 political thriller, Black Sunday. Despite his Hollywood films achieving little success, he did well in European art house cinema as well as in the theatre, the latter being his preferred medium. He portrayed the father of Mother Teresa, Nikola Boyaxhiu, in the 1982 film La Voce (The Voice). He acted as Joseph in the Italian production A Child Called Jesus (1987). He was to have acted in the movie Genghis Khan (1992), but it was ultimately never made.

In 1987, in protest at the Yugoslavian government's treatment of Kosovar Albanians, he walked off the stage at the Yugoslav Drama Theatre in Belgrade during the play Madame Kollontai by Agneta Pleijel. He left the stage, and soon after, film.

Fehmiu was found dead on 15 June 2010 in his apartment in Belgrade. Initial reports stated he committed suicide. Interior Minister Ivica Dačić said Fehmiu was found shot in his apartment and the gun was registered in Fehmiu's name. He was 74 years old. His body was cremated and the ashes were scattered in Prizren Bistrica in Prizren, his childhood home.

Description above from the Wikipedia article Bekim Fehmiu, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Movies & Shows on Plex

  • Dezerter
    Dezerter1970

Known For

  • Spotkałem nawet szczęśliwych Cyganów
    Spotkałem nawet szczęśliwych Cyganów1967
  • Czarna niedziela
    Czarna niedziela1977
  • Edukacja specjalna
    Edukacja specjalna1977
  • Odyseja
    Odyseja8 episodes
  • Partyzancka eskadra
    Partyzancka eskadra1979
  • Dezerter
    Dezerter1970
  • Ostatni wiosenny śnieg
    Ostatni wiosenny śnieg1973
  • Spirala śmierci
    Spirala śmierci1975
  • Awanturnicy
    Awanturnicy1970
  • Cagliostro
    Cagliostro1975
  • Silence the Witness
    Silence the Witness1974
  • Dziecko zwane Jezus
    Dziecko zwane Jezus1988
  • Ready for Anything
    Ready for Anything1977

Filmografia

1998
Il cuore e la spada · as Gormond
1992
1989
Disperatamente Giulia · as Armando Zani #2
1988
1985
Crveni i crni · as Ivan Pipan
1981
Siroko je lisce · as Baja
1979
Partizanska eskadrila · as Major Dragan
1978
I vecchi e i giovani · as Aurelio Costa
1978
Arrive Before Daybreak · as Esad Ljumi
1977
Special Education · as Žarko Munižaba
1977
Black Sunday · as Fasil
1977
Ready for Anything · as Marco
1976
Salon Kitty · as Hans Reiter
1975
The Executioner · as Alexander Diakim
1975
Pavle Pavlovic · as Pavle Pavlović
1975
Libera, My Love · as Sandro Poggi
1975
Cagliostro · as Count Alexander Cagliostro / Giuseppe Balsamo
1974
The Wind · as Adam Milovanović
1974
Silence the Witness · as Il Dottor Giorgio Sironi
1974
Deps · as Deps
1973
1971
Klopka za generala · as Doktor, Obaveštajac Ozne
1970
The Devil's Backbone · as Captain Victor KalebNa Plex
1970
The Adventurers · as Dax Xenos
1968
1968
Die Odyssee · as Ulisse
1968
The Odyssey (1968) · as Ulisse
1967
1967
Protest · as Ivo Bajšić
1966
Hot Years · as Mirko
1966
Roj · as Halil Beg
1966
Morgan! · as Cast
1965
Klakson · as Marko
1965
1965
1965
1962
Sasa · as Marić, Poručnik Kraljevske Vojske
1961
Thou Shalt Not Kill · as Cuvar U Cekaonici
1961
Amazons of Rome · as Etruscan Soldier (uncredited)
1960
The Fourteenth Day · as Milicioner
1957
Saturday Night · as Milicioner (segment: Na Kosavi)