Semka Sokolović-Bertok (22 December 1935 – 4 March 2008) was a Bosnian and Croatian actress. She also was a competitive

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...

player in her youth, winning the Croatian Chess Juniors Championship eight times.

Personal life

Semka was a descendant of an influential

Sokolović family In the Ottoman period, in the 16th century, there was an influential Sokolović family in the Sanjak of Bosnia that had two branches, one that was Eastern Orthodox Christian and was dominant in the Serbian Orthodox Church, while the other became I ...

. She was born in

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see names in other languages'') is the capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its administrative limits. The Sarajevo metropolitan area including Sarajevo ...

Kingdom of Yugoslavia The Kingdom of Yugoslavia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Kraljevina Jugoslavija, Краљевина Југославија; sl, Kraljevina Jugoslavija) was a state in Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1941. From 1918 ...

. Her mother Abida was a seamstress. Sokolović's older sister Badema (1929–1969) was a mezzo-soprano singer. In March 2008, Sokolović's son Mario Bertok announced her death from

internal bleeding Internal bleeding (also called internal hemorrhage) is a loss of blood from a blood vessel that collects inside the body. Internal bleeding is usually not visible from the outside. It is a serious medical emergency but the extent of severity dep ...

following a stroke. She was 72.

Career

In addition to her work at a theatre in

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital and largest city of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb stands near the international border between Croatia and Slov ...

, she appeared in numerous film roles. She made her film debut in 1956. Among others, she performed in the 1967 TV film ''Kineski zid'' (an adaptation of the

Max Frisch Max Rudolf Frisch (; 15 May 1911 – 4 April 1991) was a Swiss playwright and novelist. Frisch's works focused on problems of identity, individuality, responsibility, morality, and political commitment. The use of irony is a significant featur ...

's play ''Die Chinesische Mauer''). She also had a supporting role in ''La Corta delle bambole notte di vetro'' (1971, directed by

Aldo Lado Aldo Lado (born 5 December 1934) is an Italian film director, screenwriter and writer. Lado was born in Fiume, Italy (today Rijeka, Croatia). Lado wrote the screenplays for 21 films between 1968 and 2004 and directed 14 films between 1971 and 1 ...

), starring

Ingrid Thulin Ingrid Lilian Thulin (; 27 January 1926 – 7 January 2004) was a Swedish actress and director who collaborated with filmmaker Ingmar Bergman. She was often cast as harrowing and desperate characters, and earned acclaim from both Swedish ...

and

Mario Adorf Mario Adorf (; born 8 September 1930) is a German actor, considered to be one of the great veteran character actors of European cinema. Since 1954, he has played both leading and supporting roles in over 200 film and television productions, am ...

. In the TV movie ''Roko i Cicibela'' (1978, directed by

Stipe Delić Stipe Delić (23 June 1925 – 1 April 1999) was a Croatian film director. His 1973 film '' The Battle of Sutjeska'' was entered into the 8th Moscow International Film Festival The 8th Moscow International Film Festival was held from 10 t ...

), she played the female lead role. Sokolović-Bertok also starred as a teacher in the

satirical film Satire is a television and film genre in the fictional or pseudo-fictional category that employs satirical techniques, be it of a political, religious, or social variety. Works using satire are often seen as controversial or taboo in nature, with ...

''Majstori, majstori!'' (1980, directed by

Goran Marković Goran Marković ( sr-cyr, Горан Марковић, ) (born 24 August 1946) is a Serbian film and theatre director, screenwriter, writer, and playwright. He has directed approximately 50 documentaries, 13 feature films, and 3 theatre plays. ...

). Her last film was ''Traktor, ljubezen in Rock'n'Roll'' (2008, directed by

Branko Đurić Branko Đurić ( sh-Cyrl, Бранко Ђурић; born 28 May 1962), also known by his nickname Đuro (Cyrillic: Ђуро), is a Bosnian actor, comedian, film director and musician, who lives and works in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Born and raised i ...

). Her final film roles were in 2004's ''

Days and Hours ''Days and Hours'' ( Bosnian version title: ''Kod amidže Idriza'') is a 2004 Bosnian film directed by Pjer Žalica and written by Namik Kabil. It was Bosnia and Herzegovina's submission to the 77th Academy Awards for the Academy Award for Best F ...

'', directed by

Pjer Žalica Pjer Žalica (born 7 May 1964 in Sarajevo) is a Bosnian film director, screenwriter and a professor at the Academy of Performing Arts in Sarajevo. His father Miodrag (1926–1992) was a noted dramaturgist and poet who scripted several TV movi ...

, and the 2006 film '' Grbavica'', directed by

Jasmila Žbanić Jasmila Žbanić (; born 19 December 1974) is a Bosnian film director, screenwriter and producer, best known for having written and directed '' Quo Vadis, Aida?'' (2020), which earned her nominations for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Lan ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sokolovic-Bertok, Semka 1935 births 2008 deaths Bosniaks of Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosniaks of Croatia 20th-century Bosnia and Herzegovina actresses Bosnia and Herzegovina chess players Croatian chess players Yugoslav female chess players Actresses from Sarajevo 21st-century Bosnia and Herzegovina actresses 21st-century Croatian actresses Bosnia and Herzegovina film actresses Bosnia and Herzegovina stage actresses Croatian film actresses Croatian stage actresses 20th-century chess players Burials at Mirogoj Cemetery