Milosav "Mija" Aleksić ( sr-cyr, Милосав "Мија" Алексић; 26 September 1923 – 12 March 1995) was a Serbian

actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

Early life

Aleksić was born in the Gornja Crnuća village within the municipality of

Gornji Milanovac Gornji Milanovac ( sr-Cyrl, Гoрњи Милановац, ) is a town and municipality located in the Moravica District of central Serbia. The population of the town is 23,109, while the population of the municipality is 38,985 (2022 census data). ...

Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a country in Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1941. From 1918 to 1929, it was officially called the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, but the term "Yugoslavia" () has been its colloq ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, when

Axis powers The Axis powers, originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis and also Rome–Berlin–Tokyo Axis, was the military coalition which initiated World War II and fought against the Allies of World War II, Allies. Its principal members were Nazi Ge ...

occupied the

Kingdom of Yugoslavia The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a country in Southeast Europe, Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1941. From 1918 to 1929, it was officially called the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, but the term "Yugoslavia" () h ...

, 17-year-old Mija Aleksić attended high school in Kragujevac. On 21 October 1941, as a retaliation to sporadic

Partisan Partisan(s) or The Partisan(s) may refer to: Military * Partisan (military), paramilitary forces engaged behind the front line ** Francs-tireurs et partisans, communist-led French anti-fascist resistance against Nazi Germany during WWII ** Ital ...

guerrilla attacks in the area, German occupational authorities committed one of the worst massacres in regional history (

Kragujevac massacre The Kragujevac massacre was the mass murder of between 2,778 and 2,794 mostly Serb men and boys in Kragujevac, by German soldiers on 21 October 1941. It occurred in the German-occupied territory of Serbia during World War II, and came as a ...

) – shooting several thousand men and boys of Kragujevac, including entire high school classes. Mija Aleksić managed to escape and was one of the few surviving men of his generation in his native town.

Career

Aleksić initially enrolled in law school. But he gradually discovered a talent for acting. From the end of the war till 1948 he worked in Kragujevac theatre. In 1951 he joined the Yugoslav Drama Theatre in

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

, where he would stay until 1965. He then joined the

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

, where he stayed until retirement. Although notable for his drama talent, Aleksić is best known as a comedian. Additionally, he was one of the first actors in the

Balkans The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...

whose career benefited from the new medium of television. In the 1950s and 1960s, following the series of extremely popular

sitcom A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...

s, he became one of the most popular entertainers of

former Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country ...

. ''Studio'', the very first TV guide in history of the region, had his face on the cover its first issue in 1964. The popular TV sitcoms include ''Servisna Stanica'' (''Car repair station''), ''Ogledalo gradjanina Pokornog'' (''The mirror of the citizen Pokorny'') and others. Aleksić had his own television show, ''Mija Show'', and several episodes of this program have been preserved. He appeared in ''"Vaga za tačno merenje"'', an educational TV series for children. His popularity gradually declined, but he continued to work in the 1970s and 1980s. One of his last great roles was in the 1982 cult comedy ''

The Marathon Family ''The Marathon Family'' (, lit. ''Marathon Runners Do a Lap of Honour'', or often simply ''Maratonci'', lit. ''The Marathon Runners'') is a 1982 Yugoslav black comedy film written by Dušan Kovačević and directed by Serbian director Slobodan Š ...

''. His last film was ''Tango Argentino''. Aleksić died in

in 1995, aged 71.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Aleksic, Mija 1923 births 1995 deaths Serbian male stage actors Serbian male television actors People from Gornji Milanovac Golden Arena winners Laureates of the Ring of Dobrica 20th-century Serbian male actors Burials at Belgrade New Cemetery

Early life

Career

See also

References

External links