Milka Grgurova-Aleksić ( Sombor,

Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire (german: link=no, Kaiserthum Oesterreich, modern spelling , ) was a Central-Eastern European multinational great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the realms of the Habsburgs. During its existence, ...

, 14 February 1840 —

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

Kingdom of Yugoslavia The Kingdom of Yugoslavia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Kraljevina Jugoslavija, Краљевина Југославија; sl, Kraljevina Jugoslavija) was a state in Southeast Europe, Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 unt ...

, 25 March 1924) was a Serbian stage actress who starred in some of the most popular Serbian plays of the second half of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, including the role of ''Ljubica'' in ''Mejrima'' by

Matija Ban Matija Ban ( sr-Cyrl, Матија Бан; 6 December 1818 – 14 March 1903) was a Serbo- Croatian poet, dramatist, and playwright. He is known as one of the earliest proponents of the Serb-Catholic movement in Dubrovnik. Ban was born in near ...

, ''Posmrtna slava kneza Mihaila'' by Djordje Maletić,

Jaquinta Jaquinta ( sh, Jakvinta/Јаквинта; 1081 – 1118) was a queen consort of Dioclea by marriage to king Constantine Bodin. She is best known for her role in the Dioclean civil war, where she violently intervened in a succession crisis follow ...

, the wife of

Constantine Bodin Constantine Bodin (Bulgarian and sr, italic=no, Константин Бодин, ''Konstantin Bodin''; 1072–1101) was a medieval king and the ruler of Duklja, the most powerful Serbian principality of the time, from 1081 to 1101, succeed ...

, in the drama by the same name by

Dragutin Ilić Dragutin Ilić (Belgrade, 2 February or 14 February 1858 – Belgrade, 1 May 1926) was a Serbian playwright, poet, novelist, journalist and politician. Along with Matija Ban and Djordje Maletić, Ilić dominated the Serbian stage during the la ...

, and many more. She also starred in some of the most popular Serbian adaptations of plays by foreign playwrights, notably

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's ''

Romeo and Juliet ''Romeo and Juliet'' is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about the romance between two Italian youths from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetim ...

''. Her contemporaries were actors

Miloš Cvetić Miloš Cvetić (1845-1905) was a Serbian actor and writer. His contemporaries were Serbian actors Aleksa Bačvanski, Milka Grgurova-Aleksić, Pera Dobrinović and Toša Jovanović. He was the director and actor of the Serbian National Theater ...

and

Pera Dobrinović Petar "Pera" Dobrinović ( sr-cyr, Петар „Пера“ Добриновић; 1853–1923) was a Serbian actor and director at the Serbian National Theatre in Novi Sad Novi Sad ( sr-Cyrl, Нови Сад, ; hu, Újvidék, ; german: Neu ...

Early life and career

She was born Milka Grgurov, daughter of Sofia and Sava Grgurov, a wealthy Sombor merchant. As soon as she finished high school she married a man that her parents picked out for her. After the birth of her daughter and two years into the marriage she left her husband and came back to live with her parents with her daughter. She always loved acting even as a child she imagined playing roles and now with most of her close friends involved in the Touring Amateur Theatre in Sobor, she began seriously considering it as a career. Although the theatre company included some of her relatives, Milka's parents initially disapproved of her choice of profession. At that time, acting was not generally accepted by everyone as a respectable profession, though a change was beginning to take place. Milka made her first amateur acting debut with the Sombor touring theatre company in early 1862. Her premiere was a success although she felt she needed to learn more about acting and the theatre. That same year she enrolled at a Women's College in Belgrade where she attended classes in literature and drama. In 1864, Milka won her first professional success as ''Ljubica'' in Matija Ban's ''Mejrima''. This brought her to the attention of

Jovan Đorđević Jovan Đorđević (13 November 1826 – 9 April 1900) was a Serbian writer, dramatist, Minister of Education and the co-founder of the Novi Sad Serbian National Theatre in 1861, the National Theatre in Belgrade in 1868 and the Academy of Dramatic ...

, who immediately signed her up as a member of the

National Theatre in Belgrade The National Theatre ( sr-cyr, Народно позориште, Narodno pozorište) is a theatre located in Belgrade, Serbia. Founded in the later half of the 19th century, it is located on the Republic Square, at the corner of Vasina and Fra ...

. She was engaged to appear in all the theatrical productions scheduled for that season. There was no turning back for her and for the next 40 years her life was dedicated exclusively to the stage. She traveled in all of our Serbian lands from Vojvodina which was part of the Habsburg Empire to

Bosnia and Hercegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and He ...

which was part of another empire -- Ottoman—and in

Mostar Mostar (, ; sr-Cyrl, Мостар, ) is a city and the administrative center of Herzegovina-Neretva Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the historical capital of Herzegovina. Mostar is sit ...

she made a great impression on her Serbian public whether Orthodox or Muslim. In 1903, she wrote about her experiences in Mostar in the magazine ''Bosanska Vila''. In her career that spanned four decades, she performed in more than 400 roles on the stage.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grgurova-Aleksic, Milka 1840 births 1924 deaths Serbian actresses 19th-century actresses 19th-century Serbian women 19th-century Serbian actors Actresses from the Austrian Empire