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.

Filmography

• 1998Heart and Sword — Gormond
• 1997Balkan Island: The Last Story of the Century — Mentor
• Julia Forever — Armando Zani #2
• 1987A Child Called Jesus — Joseph
• 1987The Last Story
• 1985The Red and the Black — Ivan Pipan
• 1983Predators Pavilion — Kálmán Furtek
• 1982The Balad of Mamelouk — Ruler
• 1982The Voice — Nicolay
• 1981Broad Are the Leaves — Baja
• 1979The Battle of the Eagles — Major Dragan
• 1978Arrive Before Daybreak — Esad Ljumi
• 1977Black Sunday — Fasil
• 1977Ready for Anything — Marco
• 1977Special Education — Žarko Munižaba
• 1976Salon Kitty — Hans Reiter
• 1975Cagliostro — Count Alexander Cagliostro / Giuseppe Balsamo
• 1975Libera, My Love — Sandro Poggi
• 1975Pavle Pavlovic — Pavle Pavlović
• 1975Permission to Kill — Alexander Diakim
• 1974Deps — Deps
• 1974Il gioco della verità — Alberto Santoro
• 1974Silence the Witness — Il dottor Giorgio Sironi
• 1974The Wind — Adam Milovanović
• 1973The Last Snows of Spring — Roberto
• 1972The Reichstag Fire — Georgi Dimitrov
• 1971A Trap for the General — Doktor, obaveštajac OZNE
• 1970The Adventurers — Dax Xenos
• 1970The Deserter — Captain Victor Kaleb
• 1969Le avventure di Ulisse — Ulisse
• 1969The Odyssey — Odysseus
• 1968Do Not Mention the Cause of Death — Mihajlo
• The Odyssey — Odysseus
• 1967I Even Met Happy Gypsies — Bora
• 1967Protest — Ivo Bajšić
• 1966The Feverish Years — Mirko
• 1966The Swarm — Halil Beg
• 1966The Time of Love — Milija, trubač (segment "Put")
• 1965Klaxon — Marko
• 1965Shoot and It Shall Open
• 1965The Enemy
• 1965The Girl
• 1964Under the Same Sky — Kerim
• 1962Sasha — Marić, poručnik Kraljevske vojske
• 1961Amazons of Rome — Etruscan Soldier (uncredited)

Appearances as themselves (2)

• 2023Bekim Fehmiu — Himself (archive footage)
• 1972Bekim Fehmiu Visits Albania — Himself