Zlatko Crnković (Kastav, Kingdom of Yugoslavia, May 27, 1936 - Zagreb, Croatia, February 14, 2012)
Crnković was a television, theatre and film actor and professor of acting. After elementary school, he enrolled in high school in Delnice and acted ever since. In 1955, he enrolled in the Academy of Performing Arts (today Academy of Drama Arts) in Zagreb and in the same year began to work at Radio Zagreb. 1958, he became an employee of the Croatian National Theatre, where he acted for more than thirty years. He also worked in other theatres in Zagreb and Split. He acted in plays at the Split Summer Festival, and in 1961 Branko Gavelly took him to the Dubrovnik Summer Festival, where he continued to appear in plays for the next twelve years in a row. In 1968, he directed his own play Balade Petrice Kerempuha, starring his own students. He played in more than hundred and fifty roles in the theatre. The most important ones include Hamlet u Mrduši Donjoj by Ivo Brešan, Zagrljaj and Kiklop by Ranko Marinković, Dundo Maroje by Marin Držić, Pravednik by Mirko Božić, In Agony and Leda by Miroslav Krleža, Fiksna ideja by Paul Valéry, The Killer by Eugène Ionesco, Tartuffe by Molière, King Lear and Hamlet by William Shakespeare. Branko Gavella was his biggest role model, and he was a great acting pedagogue. In 1989, he left the theatre and became a regular professor at the Academy of Drama Arts in Zagreb where he taught scene speech. He taught the same class at the Department of Phonetics at the University of Philosophy in Zagreb and the Art Academy in Split. Thanks to his brilliant diction, he was an extraordinary interpreter of poetry and left us numerous radio recordings of his recitations. He also appeared in many TV films: (Ljubica, 1979, by Tomislav Radić) and series (Kuda idu divlje svinje, 1971, Putovanje u Vučjak, 1986). He appeared on film in Train Without a Timetable (Vlak bez voznog reda, 1959) by the director Veljko Bulajić, Martin in the Clouds (Martin u oblacima, 1961) by Branko Bauer, Timon (1973) by Tomislav Radić, Vila Orhideja (1988) by Krešo Golik, Kamenita vrata (1992) by Ante Babaja, and for his leading role in Zrinko Ogresta’s drama Here (Tu, 2003) he won the Golden Arena for Best Actor in Pula. He won the Vladimir Nazor Life-time Theater Achievement Award in 2008 and the Croatian Actors’ Guild Life-time Achievement Award in 2011.
Filmography:
The Dark (Mrak, 2011)
Bitange i princeze (2005) (TV series, 1 part)
Here (Tu, 2003)
Duga ponoć (2003) (TV)
Stahlkammer Zürich (2001) (TV series, 1 part)
Kuća duhova (1998) (TV)
Lapitch the Little Shoemaker (Čudnovate zgode šegrta Hlapića, 1997) (voice)
Olujne tišine 1895-1995 (1997) (mini TV series)
Gospa (1995)
Proljece Ivana B. (1995) (V)
Luka (1992)
Kamenita vrata (1992)
Vila Orhideja (1988)
Kanarinčeva ljubovca (1988) (TV)
Olujna noć (1987) (TV)
Putovanje u Vučjak (1986) (TV series, 3 parts)
Posjet (1986) (TV)
Kako preživjeti do prvog (1986) (TV)
Nitko se neće smijati (1985) (TV)
Horvatov izbor (1985)
Heda Gabler (1985) (TV)
Pod starim krovovima (1984) (TV)
Ifigenija u Aulidi (1983) (TV)
Ustrijelite Kastora (1982) (TV)
Obiteljski album (1981) (TV)
Poglavlje iz života Augusta Šenoe (1981) (TV)
Turopoljski top (1981) (TV)
Puška u cik zore (1981) (TV)
Obustava u strojnoj (1980) (TV)
Dekreti (1980) (TV)
Ljubica (1979) (TV)
Istarska rapsodija (1978) (TV)
Nikola Tesla (1977) (TV series, 4 parts)
Car se zabavlja (1975) (TV)
U registraturi (1974) (TV series, 2 parts)
Timon (1973)
Okreni leđa vjetru (1972) (TV)
Kuda idu divlje svinje (1971) (TV series, 5 parts)
Kainov znak (1970) (TV)
Ožiljak (1969) (TV)
Mokra koža (1966) (TV)
Mirotvorci (1966) (TV)
Thundering Mountains (Nevesinjska puška, 1963)
Opasni put (1963)
Martin in the Clouds (Martin u oblacima, 1961)
Siva bilježnica (1961) (TV)
Pustolov pred vratima (1961) (TV)
Signal Over the City (Signali nad gradom, 1960)
Point 905 (Kota 905, 1960)
Train Without a Timetable (Vlak bez voznog reda, 1959)
We're Going Separate Ways (Naši se putovi razilaze, 1957)