Milena Dravić

Biography

Milena Dravić (Belgrade, 1940–2018) was a Serbian actress and one of the best-known performers of Yugoslav cinema. Her career also took in television and theatre, lasted more than half a century, and kept her a familiar face on screens across the region.

Born in Belgrade, she first came into contact with performing arts at the age of four, when her parents enrolled her in a dance programme, and later turned to classical ballet. In 1959, while still at high school, director František Čáp noticed her on the cover of a youth magazine, in a group photograph of ballet dancers, and offered her a role in Vrata ostaju otvorena. After a few more appearances she committed to acting full-time and gained a place at the Academy of Theatre Arts in Belgrade.

Her breakthrough came in 1962 with Branko Bauer's Prekobrojna, which won her the Golden Arena for best actress, the Yugoslav equivalent of an Academy Award. In the following years she appeared in large-scale productions such as The Battle of Neretva and in more personal films such as Man Is Not a Bird and W.R.: Mysteries of the Organism. Her roles ranged from historical drama to satire and political cinema. In 1980 she won the Cannes award for best supporting actress for Special Treatment, one of the most frequently cited international honours of her career.

Alongside five Silver Arenas and two Golden Arenas, she received the Pavle Vujisić Award in August 1994 and the Dobričin prsten lifetime achievement award in Belgrade. Outside film she was a popular television presence: in the 1970s she co-hosted the programme Obraz uz obraz with her third husband, the actor Dragan Nikolić. She was married three times.

Her work continued for decades, with titles such as Cabaret Balkan, Sky Hook and St. George Shoots the Dragon, and she remained active on screen until the end. She died on 14 October 2018 from an illness that was never publicly disclosed. Her legacy is that of a prolific actress who left a notable mark on Yugoslav and Serbian cinema.

Key films

• Prekobrojna (1962): leading role that earned her the Golden Arena for best actress.
• Man Is Not a Bird (1965): one of her early prominent appearances in Yugoslav art cinema.
• The Battle of Neretva (1969): a role in a large-scale historical war epic.
• W.R.: Mysteries of the Organism (1971): a part in a provocative film centred on Wilhelm Reich.
• Special Treatment (1980): a performance recognised at Cannes for best supporting actress.