Bekim Fehmiu

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 Fehmius 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 Awardwinning producer Dino De Laurentiis It was De Laurentiis who in 1968 cast him as Odysseus in the acclaimed miniseries 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 Balzos heartbreaking film The Last Snows of Spring and then in 1975 played the role of expolitician 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 Brasss film Salon Kitty alongside Helmut Berger Ingrid Thulin and Teresa Ann Savoy He portrayed a Palestinian terrorist in John Frankenheimers 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 governments 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 Fehmius 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 CCBYSA full list of contributors on Wikipedia