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Bekim Fehmiu

Bekim Fehmiu

Actor · 1936 – 2010 · Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

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.

Movies24

  • Movie5.6

    Salon Kitty

    1976 · 152 votes

  • Movie6.7

    Black Sunday

    1977 · 170 votes

  • Movie6.5

    La spina dorsale del diavolo

    The Deserter

    1970 · 6 votes

  • Movie7.6

    Odissea

    The Odyssey

    1969 · 33 votes

  • Movie6.4

    Partizanska eskadrila

    The Battle of the Eagles

    1979 · 16 votes

  • Movie7.1

    Skupljaci perja

    I Even Met Happy Gypsies

    1967 · 36 votes

  • Movie6.8

    Devojka

    The Girl

    1965 · 5 votes

  • Movie4.8

    Le vergini di Roma

    Amazons of Rome

    1961 · 8 votes

  • Movie4.7

    The Adventurers

    1970 · 13 votes

  • Movie9.0

    Il cuore e la spada

    Heart and Sword

    1998 · 2 votes

  • Movie6.8

    Special Education

    Специјално васпитање

    1977 · 24 votes

  • Movie5.8

    Libera, amore mio...

    Libera, My Love

    1975 · 10 votes

  • Movie7.2

    L'ultima neve di primavera

    The Last Snows of Spring

    1973 · 19 votes

  • Movie10.0

    Poslednja priča

    The Last Story

    1987 · 1 votes

  • Movie6.6

    Saša

    Sasha

    1962 · 6 votes

  • Movie6.8

    Siroko je lisce

    Broad Are the Leaves

    1981 · 5 votes

  • Movie6.0

    Cagliostro

    1975 · 2 votes

  • Movie5.8

    Permission to Kill

    1975 · 6 votes

  • Movie6.0

    Il testimone deve tacere

    Silence the Witness

    1974 · 3 votes

  • Movie
  • Movie4.6

    Disposta a tutto

    Ready for Anything

    1977 · 6 votes

  • Movie6.8

    Un bambino di nome Gesú

    A Child Called Jesus

    1987 · 11 votes

  • Movie6.0

    Uzrok smrti ne pominjati

    Do Not Mention the Cause of Death

    1968 · 6 votes

  • Movie6.0

    Crveni i crni

    The Red and the Black

    1985 · 4 votes

Series2

  • TV8.5

    Odissea

    The Odyssey

    1968 · 19 votes

  • TV7.0

    Disperatamente Giulia

    Julia Forever

    1989 · 1 votes