Bekim Fehmiu
Acting
Biography
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.
Known For
In Nazi Germany, Kitty runs a brothel where the soldiers come to 'relax'. Recording devices have been installed by a power-hungry official who plans to use the information to blackmail and usurp Hitler. One of the girls discovers the ploy and, with the madam's help, takes on the dangerous task of exposing the conspiracy.
Salon Kitty
Odysseus' journey, told in Homer's Iliad and Odyssey. After fighting in the Trojan War, Odysseus spends years trying to return home to Itaka.
The Odyssey
An Israeli anti-terrorist agent must stop a disgruntled Vietnam vet cooperating in a Black September PLO plot to commit a terrorist attack at the Super Bowl.
Black Sunday
The wealthy playboy son of an assassinated South American diplomat discovers that his father was murdered on orders of the corrupt president of the country- a man who was his father's friend and who, in fact, his father had helped put into power. He returns from living a jet-set life in Europe to lead a revolution against the government, only to find out that things aren't quite as black and white as he'd assumed.
The Adventurers
After attending esoterical studies with a wise man, Cagliostro, a mysterious Italian count, received the gift of supernatural powers. He started to travel all over Europe to heal the poor. But he is also a member of a pre-revolutionary lodge the aim of which is to give freedom to the populations of Europe. This cannot be tolerated by the 18th century's establishment and bought the Pope and the regal house of France try to eliminate him. So Cagliostro is locked up in a castle, while his wife is killed. But when in 1795 the door of his cell is opened there is nothing inside but a sword...
Cagliostro
A young cavalry officer finds his woman tortured by the Apaches and blames the Army for not properly protecting the outpost, so becomes a deserter and an avenger, stalking and killing Indians without warning.
The Deserter
Italy, 1940: Carmen de Blasco is married to a fascist, but falls in love with a friend of her father Ubaldo, the young partisan Armando Zani. At the end of the war, their daughter Giulia is born, but Carmen returns to her husband. Two decades later, Giulia falls in love with university student Ermes Corsini. Nevertheless, he decides to marry the egocentric, but rich heiress Marta Montini. After some years and a disastrous marriage, Giulia meets the love of her life again. Ermes is annoyed by Marta, so he starts an affair with Giulia, but one day she gets a horrible diagnosis...
Julia Forever
Marching down the Italian peninsula to sack ancient Rome, Etruscan warrior Drusco instead offers to hold back his onslaught if the Romans hand over hostages, including Clelia, the sexy leader of a clan of woman warriors. But before long, intrigue and betrayal unravel the fragile peace. Directors Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia and Vittorio Cottafavi helm this vintage sword-and-sandal epic.
Amazons of Rome
Odysseus' journey told in Homer's Iliad and Odyssey. After fighting in the Trojan War, Odysseus spends years trying to return home to Itaka.
Odissea
A 10-year-old boy starts to die of neglect when his widowed father spends too much time forsaking his parental duties in favour of playboy activities and a jet-set life-style.
The Last Snows of Spring
This film is the true story of the creation of Labin Republic in 1921. When Italy annexed Istria, Labin area that is very rich in coal became strategically important for the new government. Domestic Croatian and Slovene population were disappointed by the method of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia of selling foreigners. Accumulated social problems and the growing terror of Italians lead to great miners' strike, led by favorite union leader Ivan Pipan. The strikers will be join young miner Ive Blazina, who as commander of the Red Guard workers struggles for the mining republic and the love of beautiful Mary Brezac. The sudden intervention of the Italian army destroys their dreams, and resigned Pipan surrenders. But not everyone agrees with his behavior.
The Red and the Black
Western intelligence agents try, by all means necessary, to prevent a Communist-bloc defector from leaving the West in his bid to return home to lead an uprising.
Permission to Kill
A strong-willed woman risks everything to support the cause of anti-fascism in World War II Italy.
Libera, My Love
The action takes place in 1943 and today, and a Partisan school in Srem is in the center of action. A young journalist gets appointed to shoot a film report about the participants in the Liberation War from this area. In Srem village she meets common, simple people. She discovers that a free territory and a Partisan school was there. She also finds out that everybody acted as one. Deply going through all of those events, young reporter grows mature, identifying herself with the revolution participants.
Broad Are the Leaves
An ex-soldier named Slobodan Antic, referred to by a friend as one of the last idealists, finds himself losing control over his own life when a man identical to him starts following him around, claiming to be a friend but behaving suspiciously. Before long his dealings with this doppelganger begin to cost him and his professional and romantic life grow more and more confused.
The Enemy
Anna, a young stenography student who after a chance meeting in a park, begins a steamy relationship with Marco (Bekim Fehmiu) a much older married man, who dotes on his young daughter but is quite happy to cheat on his wife. When they first make love Anna reveals her masochistic streak so it's not long before their relationship takes a much darker turn as Marco increasingly pushes the boundaries between love and abuse in the things he asks her to do.
Ready for Anything
The first Yugoslav Partisan air force unit. Loosely based on historical facts.
The Battle of the Eagles
The story of political prisoners, detained in a jail before the start of the WWII, and their torture and attempts to escape, and join a partisan unit.
Arrive Before Daybreak
During turbulent times of the First Serbian uprising in 1804, on a freshly liberated land, a woman who betrayed her husband to the Turks has been taken to the court. A complicated truth and the real motives of the case get overlooked by the judge, a neutral Turk.
The Swarm
The story of two workers who returned from abroad. One of them wants to find a good job, Adam, and the other one wants to earn money by smuggling, Beli. Between them two there's young woman, Mila, who has had experience with the second one. Running away from the man who is the incarnation of evil for her, she is trying to find happiness and peace with another one in vain.