
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.
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.
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Bekim Fehmiu
Character:Himself (archive footage)
Release Date:21/09/2023

Heart and Sword
Character:Gormond
Release Date:22/11/1998

A Child Called Jesus
Character:Joseph
Release Date:08/01/1987

The Last Story
Character:
Release Date:01/01/1987

The Red and the Black
Character:Ivan Pipan
Release Date:25/05/1985

Predators Pavilion
Character:Kálmán Furtek
Release Date:01/04/1983

The Balad of Mamelouk
Character:Ruler
Release Date:26/11/1982

The Voice
Character:Nicolay
Release Date:13/02/1982

Broad Are the Leaves
Character:Baja
Release Date:02/04/1981

The Battle of the Eagles
Character:Major Dragan
Release Date:01/07/1979

Arrive Before Daybreak
Character:Esad Ljumi
Release Date:01/01/1978

Special Education
Character:Žarko Munižaba
Release Date:28/04/1977

Black Sunday
Character:Fasil
Release Date:01/04/1977

Ready for Anything
Character:Marco
Release Date:24/02/1977

Salon Kitty
Character:Hans Reiter
Release Date:02/03/1976

Permission to Kill
Character:Alexander Diakim
Release Date:20/11/1975

Pavle Pavlovic
Character:Pavle Pavlović
Release Date:14/07/1975

Libera, My Love
Character:Sandro Poggi
Release Date:21/03/1975

Cagliostro
Character:Count Alexander Cagliostro / Giuseppe Balsamo
Release Date:21/02/1975

The Wind
Character:Adam Milovanović
Release Date:12/07/1974

Silence the Witness
Character:Il dottor Giorgio Sironi
Release Date:16/05/1974

Deps
Character:Deps
Release Date:26/03/1974

Il gioco della verità
Character:Alberto Santoro
Release Date:17/03/1974

The Last Snows of Spring
Character:Roberto
Release Date:20/12/1973

The Reichstag Fire
Character:Georgi Dimitrov
Release Date:02/03/1972

Bekim Fehmiu Visits Albania
Character:Himself
Release Date:01/01/1972

A Trap for the General
Character:Doktor, obaveštajac OZNE
Release Date:26/11/1971

The Deserter
Character:Captain Victor Kaleb
Release Date:04/12/1970

The Adventurers
Character:Dax Xenos
Release Date:25/03/1970

Do Not Mention the Cause of Death
Character:Mihajlo
Release Date:16/04/1968

Odissea
Character:Ulisse
Release Date:24/03/1968

Protest
Character:Ivo Bajšić
Release Date:08/07/1967

I Even Met Happy Gypsies
Character:Bora
Release Date:27/03/1967

The Feverish Years
Character:Mirko
Release Date:14/07/1966

The Time of Love
Character:Milija, trubač (segment "Put")
Release Date:10/07/1966

The Swarm
Character:Halil Beg
Release Date:16/05/1966

Klaxon
Character:Marko
Release Date:15/07/1965

The Enemy
Character:
Release Date:11/06/1965

The Girl
Character:
Release Date:07/05/1965

Shoot and It Shall Open
Character:
Release Date:16/04/1965

Under the Same Sky
Character:Kerim
Release Date:01/01/1964

Sasha
Character:Marić, poručnik Kraljevske vojske
Release Date:01/01/1962

Amazons of Rome
Character:Etruscan Soldier (uncredited)
Release Date:24/03/1961