Serbian iconic movie actress Milena Dravic dies

Serbian actress Milena Dravic, considered an icon of former Yugoslavia's cinema, has died overnight aged 78, state-run RTS television reported Sunday. Dravic was born in 1940 and featured in more than 100 movies. Dravic died in a Belgrade hospital after a serious illness, it said. Dravic made her movie debut in 1959 with the The Door Remains Open of Czech director Frantisek Cap. She made more than 100 movies and won numerous awards in the former Yugoslavia. Dravic was the joint winner of the best-supporting-actress award at the 1980 Cannes Film Festival for Goran Paskaljevic movie Poseban tretman (Special Treatment) along with Italy's Carla Gravina for La terazza (The Terrace).

Milena Dravic

Milena Dravic passed away in 2018 Source: youtube screen print

IMDb Mini Biography

Born in Belgrade, Dravic was involved with the performing arts from the age of four: first with dance and later classical ballet. In 1959, while in high school, director Frantisek Cap saw her on the cover of a youth magazine in a ballet dancers group photo and decided on the spot to approach her about being in his film Vrata ostaju otvorena. After appearing in few more films she decided to pursue acting full-time and successfully enrolled in Belgrade's Dramatic Arts Academy.

Her big break came in 1962 when she won the Golden Arena for Best Actress award (which was the Yugoslav equivalent of Academy Award) for her role in Branko Bauer's film Prekobrojna. This was the moment that sent her on the way to becoming Yugoslavia's first and arguably the biggest female movie star.

Milena Dravic continued with long and prolific career during which she showed great talent and versatility. She was equally memorable and believable as the tragic heroine in state-sponsored World War II epics, eccentric protagonist of experimental art-house films like WR: Mysteries of the Organism and romantic comedies. She especially excelled in the latter during the 1970s and 1980s. She won the Cannes Best Supporting Actress Award in 1980 for Special Treatment.

For her roles and contributions to domestic cinematography, she received the prestigious Pavle Vujisic Award in August 1994.


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By SBS Serbian
Source: RTS

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