Dragoljub Aleksić
09.08.1910, Vina, Kingdom of Serbia - 04.11.1985, Belgrade, Serbia, Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia
Acrobat, director, screenwriter and actor. Even though he studied to be a locksmith, between the two wars, Aleksić was a famous acrobat in all of Yugoslavia and the world. He was most known for bending iron, tearing iron shackles with his bare teeth, walking and driving a bike on a tight rope, flying above town holding a rope with his teeth and similar stunts. He always pushed the boundaries and since he adored films with acrobatics, he decided to direct one himself. In 1942, German occupation and the beginning of war did not stop him and he directed the first Serbian sound feature film Innocence Unprotected. Besides showing Aleksić’s acrobatics, the film is in essence a love story. It was shown only a few times before the Germans seized its copy and the director barely managed to avoid a concentration camp. Later Communist government banned the film under suspicion that the director collaborated with the German occupators in order to finish his film. A few decades later, director Dušan Makavejev saved this film from complete oblivion when he used some of its scenes for his own film Innocence Unprotected (1968) starring Aleksić himself who spoke about his life, creating the film and problems he faced because of it. Aleksić appeared on film only one more time – in Fadil Hadžić’s Desant na Drvar (1963).
Filmography