Who Is Danilo Bata Stojković

Danilo Bata Stojković (Belgrade, 11 August 1934 – Belgrade, 16 March 2002) was a Serbian and Yugoslav stage, film and television actor. Many regard him as one of the greatest actors of the second half of the 20th century in the former Yugoslavia.

Audiences remember him as an actor who played the ordinary man, the small-time clerk and the manipulated victim of the system, as both funny and painful at once. That is why lines from his roles have become deeply rooted in the everyday speech of several generations.

His most frequently cited characters are Ilija Čvorović in the film “Balkan Spy”, Laki Topalović in “The Marathon Family”, Dušan Bubuleja in the series “Diplomci”, and Luka Laban in the stage play “The Professional”. According to various sources, he played more than eighty stage roles, and appeared in anywhere from about forty to sixty-eight films, more than fifty television dramas and around twenty series.

Early Life and Childhood

Bata was born in Belgrade on 11 August 1934 into the family of Aleksa Stojković, a respected prewar wholesale merchant of timber and coal. He grew up in the Čubura district, together with his brother Žika.

Although he came from a well-off family, he remained attached to the modest Čubura neighborhood all his life. Later he lived in a studio flat there and spent much of his time in Belgrade’s taverns.

According to family accounts passed on by his wife, traditional values mattered to him. He celebrated his family’s patron saint’s day and Christmas, and he took particular care of his brothers and sisters.

He showed his love for the stage while still a young man. According to several sources, the decisive moment was a 1953 production in which he appeared at Pašino Brdo in Chekhov’s “Inn on the Main Road”. Anton Chekhov was one of the authors who drew him to the theatre early on.

In the audience that evening sat Dobrica Milutinović, a great actor and theatre authority. After the performance he approached the young actor and told him he had become an actor while still in his mother’s womb. That sentence remains one of the best-known anecdotes about Bata’s beginnings.

Education

School was not his great love. According to the daily “Danas”, he failed the eighth grade, but he remained firmly determined to become an actor.

He enrolled at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade, where Professor Tomislav Tanhofer admitted him. The theatre biography kept by Zvezdara Theatre states that he studied acting in this professor’s class.

He graduated in 1959 in the class of Josip Kulundžić. For his graduation exam he played Đorđe Crnojević in Jakšić’s “Jelisaveta” and the Fire Captain in “The Bald Soprano” by Eugène Ionesco.

Early Career

After graduating, in 1959, he got his first engagement at the Yugoslav Drama Theatre. This start was not easy, since his early roles there were noticed but not prominent.

After only a few years he was dismissed, and the reason given was reportedly that he was not talented enough. Stojković was not shaken by the decision.

In 1962 he became a permanent member of Atelje 212, where he matured as an actor. Some sources say he played in that house from 1961, but most mention 1962 as the year of his permanent engagement.

Atelje 212 became his true artistic home. It was there that he built an approach in which he played not just a character, but the character’s fate, with many small details that he patiently worked out.

Rise to Popularity

He made his film debut in 1964 in “Izdajnik” (“The Traitor”), directed by Vojislav Kokan Rakonjac. Some film databases list “The Man from the Oak Forest” from the same year as his first film, so sources differ on this point.

By the mid-1960s he had become a noted stage actor and an increasingly sought-after film and television presence. Smaller and larger film parts followed, among them “Boxers Go to Heaven”, “Man Is Not a Bird” and “Zazidani”.

In “Zazidani” (1969), Rakonjac cast him in a significant supporting role. He received an award at the Film Festival in Niš for it, as well as the Silver Arena at the Pula festival. One source says the Pula award was a Golden Arena, but most sources speak of a Silver Arena.

Genuine popularity with the widest audience arrived in 1971, when he played Dušan Bubuleja in Siniša Pavić’s television series “Diplomci”. Critics and viewers generally consider this his most popular television role. The beret he wore as Bubuleja is still preserved among his personal belongings.

The film “The Master and Margarita” (1972) followed, and in 1976 he appeared in Srđan Karanović’s beloved series “Grlom u jagode” (“The Unpicked Strawberries”). In it he played Sreten, the father of the main character Bane Bumbar. Branko Cvejić, Olivera Marković and Rahela Ferari were his on-screen partners.

Other notable works from this period include Goran Paskaljević’s film “The Beach Guard in Winter” (sources give both 1976 and 1977) and the television series “Nikola Tesla“, in which he played the industrialist George Westinghouse.

Collaboration with Dušan Kovačević and Slobodan Šijan

The most fruitful period of his career is tied to his collaboration with director Slobodan Šijan and writer Dušan Kovačević. These three artists created films that still rank among the anthology of Yugoslav and Serbian cinema.

In “Who’s Singing Over There?” (1980) Bata played one of the passengers on the bus, a conceited Germanophile. The film was a major critical and commercial success and won two awards at the film festival in Montreal.

In “The Marathon Family” (1982) he played Laki Topalović, and in “How I Was Systematically Destroyed by an Idiot” (1983) the character Babi Papuška. These three characters share a common mechanism: a petty human weakness that triggers enormous consequences.

In 1984 he made “Balkan Spy”, directed by Božidar Nikolić and Dušan Kovačević. In it he played Ilija Čvorović, a former political prisoner who sees a spy in every tenant of his building. Many critics consider this his finest role.

According to critics, the role of Ilija Čvorović became a symbol of paranoia and impoverished honor. Contemporaries say Bata was so immersed in the character that he spoke to Kovačević on the phone for hours about every detail.

In the same year he also appeared in Goran Paskaljević’s film “The Deceitful Summer of ’68”, as the father Veselin Cvetković. Two different roles in a single year showed the breadth of his expression: in one he was comic and tragic, in the other quiet and almost mute.

Later came more mature and darker works, such as Goran Marković’s “Sabirni centar” (1989) and Emir Kusturica’s “Underground” (1995). In the last decade of his life he also appeared in “Balkan Rules” (1997), “Bure baruta” (1998) and “The White Suit” (1999).

Zvezdara Theatre and “The Professional”

For the last fifteen years of his life, his stage work was tied to Zvezdara Theatre, where he played from 1987 to 2002. In that house he appeared in seven productions and took the stage a total of 1,102 times.

Among his most important roles were Sava Odžačar in “Claustrophobic Comedy”, Vasilije in “Urnebesna tragedija” and Dragan Nos in “Larry Thompson, the Tragedy of a Youth”. All were written by Dušan Kovačević, who in time became his “personal writer”.

The peak of that stage period is “The Professional”, which premiered on 10 January 1990. Bata played Luka Laban, a former State Security officer who awaits retribution. Alongside him, Bogdan Diklić played Teja Kraj and Neda Arnerić played Marta.

According to the theatre’s figures, the production was performed 416 times, 138 of them on tour, and was seen by about 140,000 spectators. For this role, according to the daily “Danas”, Stojković received eight awards.

Zvezdara Theatre later returned Kovačević’s “The Professional” to its repertoire in a new staging. In it, Luka Laban is played by Nenad Jezdić.

Greatest Achievements

Most Notable Film Roles

According to most critics, Stojković reached his film peak in the 1980s. The following works are most often singled out:

• Zazidani (1969) – a supporting role for which he was honored in Niš and Pula;
• The Beach Guard in Winter – directed by Goran Paskaljević;
• Who’s Singing Over There? (1980) – directed by Slobodan Šijan;
• Special Treatment (1980) – directed by Goran Paskaljević;
• The Marathon Family (1982) – Laki Topalović;
• How I Was Systematically Destroyed by an Idiot (1983) – Babi Papuška;
• Balkan Spy (1984) – Ilija Čvorović;
• The Deceitful Summer of ’68 (1984) – Veselin Cvetković;
• Sabirni centar (1989) and Underground (1995).

Most Notable Stage Roles

At Atelje 212 he played Simeon Njegovan Lupus in “Cincari ili korešpodencija”, based on a text by Borislav Pekić, in a dramatization by Borislav Mihajlović Mihiz, directed by Arsenije Jovanović. He performed that role three hundred times.

For the stage version of “Balkan Spy” he received the Sterija Award and the Turkey statuette at the Comedy Days festival in Jagodina. He also appeared in Dušan Kovačević’s play “General Milan Nedić”, and at Zvezdara Theatre his most important roles were Luka Laban, Sava Odžačar and Vasilije.

Television Roles

On television he is remembered for Bubuleja in “Diplomci”, the father Sreten in “Grlom u jagode”, and George Westinghouse in the series about Nikola Tesla. He also appeared in the series “Kraj dinastije Obrenović” (1995).

Final Years and Death

In the last years of his life Stojković was seriously ill, but he did not give up the stage. According to sources, he suffered from lung cancer, and for his final performances he had to be brought from the hospital.

He played Lupus for the three-hundredth time on 5 February 2002. According to most sources this happened at Atelje 212, while one source names Zvezdara Theatre, so sources differ on this detail.

He gave his last performance on 13 February 2002, when he played Luka Laban in “The Professional” for the 416th time. Two days later he went into the hospital, from which he never returned.

He died on 16 March 2002 in Belgrade, in his 68th year. His wish was not to be buried in the Alley of Distinguished Citizens. After cremation, his urn was placed in the rosarium of Belgrade’s New Cemetery.

Dušan Kovačević, his “personal writer”, addressed him at the farewell. The words of parting were remembered because he wrote them as a letter to a friend who would neither frown nor smile.

Personal Life

Bata was considered one of the last Belgrade bohemians. In life he cherished several loves: the theatre, the tavern, cigarettes and his wife Olga.

He met Olga in the theatre. According to her, they were together for more than two decades before they married. They married in December 1991, when the actor fell ill, and later also married in the Vavedenje monastery, without great ceremony.

The marriage lasted until the actor’s death. According to available sources, the couple had no children.

He supported Red Star Belgrade. In an interview with the club’s magazine he explained that Red Star had always been the people’s club, and he kept that love all his life.

Trivia

• His face became the motif of a cycle by the painter Mića Popović, and Bata posed for the painter as a model.
• According to sources, Dušan Kovačević predicted in dark humor that he would die on stage, and Stojković replied that this would be a great honor.
• He said a role never bored him: “Meni se tek igra kad igram dvestotu” (it only starts to be fun at the two-hundredth performance). He compared acting to keeping up an apartment, which always needs a new detail.
• When he played a show well, he could not sleep all night. When he played badly, he fell asleep at once to forget it.
• In 2007 Serbia commemorated him on a postage stamp.
• Theatre records note that for the role of Luka Laban he won eight awards, and Dušan Kovačević five.

Awards and Honors

He received almost every significant honor an actor can receive in Serbia. Sources differ in particulars, but the following honors are cited:

• Dobričin prsten (1990) – lifetime achievement award in theatre;
• “Pavle Vuisić” Award (1998) – lifetime achievement in film, at the Film Encounters in Niš;
• Joakim Vujić Statuette for outstanding contribution to theatre art;
• Sterija Award – several times, among others for “Cincari ili korešpodencija”, “Balkan Spy”, “The Professional” and “General Milan Nedić” (sources give three or four awards);
• Golden Arena in Pula (1984) for his role in the film “Balkan Spy”;
• Silver Arena (1969) for the film “Zazidani”;
• “Car Konstantin” Award at the Film Encounters in Niš (1984);
• October Award of the City of Belgrade;
• Popularity Oscar and the Turkey statuette at the Comedy Days in Jagodina;
• Award at the theatre festival in Quebec.

He received the Golden Turkey award of the Comedy Days in Jagodina posthumously.

Legacy and Influence

Danilo Bata Stojković left a mark that is still felt in the theatre, in film and in everyday speech. Modern Serbian slang is saturated with lines from his best-known roles.

Since 2011 the Main Stage of Zvezdara Theatre has carried the name “Danilo Bata Stojković Stage”. Photographs of him are kept in the theatre’s lobby.

At the first International Film Festival in Niš, the lifetime achievement award bearing his name was presented to Branislav Lečić. The Yugoslav Film Archive marked ninety years since his birth with an exhibition of his bequest, which includes awards and personal items, among them Bubuleja’s beret.

Dušan Kovačević stressed that the theatre was Bata’s most beautiful home and most important faith. Zvezdara Theatre remembers him as the interpreter of the tragedy of the everyday man.