Velimir Bata Živojinović

Biography

Velimir "Bata" Živojinović (5 June 1933 – 22 May 2016) was a Yugoslav and Serbian actor, widely regarded as one of the finest performers of the former Yugoslavia. He appeared in more than 340 films and television series. Alongside his acting career he served in the Serbian Parliament and ran in the 2002 presidential election.

Born in a village beneath Mount Kosmaj, near Mladenovac, he grew up in Belgrade after his family left the countryside during the Second World War, following a dispute between his father and the Chetniks. His interest in acting was sparked at the cinema near his home, and he famously watched an amateur troupe through a window for days before being invited in. He trained at drama schools in Niš and Novi Sad before entering the Drama Academy in Belgrade.

He preferred the stage but made his screen debut in 1955 with Pesma sa Kumbare. He played heroes and villains alike, moving between leading and supporting parts. His greatest popularity came in the 1970s with Partisan films about the war, among them Walter Defends Sarajevo, which found a large audience and a cult following in China. He won the Golden Arena for Best Actor at the Pula Film Festival three times and took the Best Actor prize at the Moscow International Film Festival in 1979.

In 1990 he was elected to the Serbian Parliament for the Socialist Party of Serbia. His long friendship with the Croatian actor Boris Dvornik ended in 1991 in a public exchange of open letters, often read as a symbol of Yugoslavia's breakup; the two reconciled on television in 2006. After a heart attack in 2006 and a severe stroke in 2012, his health declined until his death in Belgrade in 2016. His work remains a reference point for regional cinema, and in 2016 he received the Belgrade Victor life achievement award.

Key films

• The Battle of Neretva (1969), directed by Veljko Bulajić: a role in one of the period's large-scale war epics.
• I Even Met Happy Gypsies (1967), directed by Aleksandar Petrović: a prominent part in one of the emblematic films of the Belgrade School.
• The Fifth Offensive (1973): a Partisan film that cemented his image as a heroic figure.
• The Master and Margarita (1972): he plays Korovyov in the adaptation of Bulgakov's novel.
• Walter Defends Sarajevo (1972): his most famous role in the Partisan cycle.