The famous actor Žarko Laušević died at the age of 64 after a short and serious illness, reports RTS. The date and place of the funeral will be announced later.
Laušević was born on January 19, 1960 in Cetinje. He graduated in acting at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade, and was a member of the Yugoslav Drama Theatre.
He made his film debut in 1982 with a role in the film "Persecution". In the same year, he played significant roles in the films "Savamala" and "Direct Broadcast". He experienced great fame playing one of the main roles in the TV series "Sivi dom" (1984).
He played roles in more than twenty films and television series, among them: "Smeker" (1985), "A Solemn Obligation" (TV) (1986), "It Happened Today" (1987), "Officer with a Rose" (1987), "Brothers by Mater" (1988), "Battle in Kosovo" (1989), "Original Forgery" (1991), "Better than Running" (1993), "Tell me why you left me" (1993), " Knife" (1999).
After a break of more than a decade, he returns to the big screen with the role of icon painter Sava in the film "The Secret of Impure Blood" (2012). After that, minor roles in the films "Smrdljiva bajka" (2015) and "Shadows over the Balkans" (2017) where he portrays Prince Đorđe Karađorđević.
He presented himself to the TV audience in 2018 with the role of Aći Katic and the series "Roots". He also played in "Civil servant" (2019-2020), "Name of the people" (2020), "Alexander of Yugoslavia" (2021), "Kalkanski krugovi" (2021), "Time of evil" (2021), "Summer when I learned to fly" and "Heroji" (2022) and "Heroji Haliard", where he portrayed Kosta Jović (2023).
He is the winner of numerous awards, starting with the Golden Arena in Pula for the best male role in the film "Officer with a Rose" in 1987, "Cara Konstantina" in Niš in the same year, as well as the Grad Teatar award and the "Zoran Radmilović" award for the role of Kanjoš Macedonović ( 1989), is the owner of the Grand Prix of Nais (2016) and Golden Antenna (2019).
Life like in a movie
In his book, Žarko Laušević marked the performance of the play "Saint Sava" in the Yugoslav Drama Theater on May 31, 1990 as the beginning of the tragic events that befell him. It was a guest appearance by the National Theater from Zenica with a play based on a text by Siniša Kovačević, directed by Vladimir Miličin.
Laušević was then at the height of his popularity and played the title role in the play, for which he received the Steria Award in 1990 in Novi Sad, as well as many others. The members of the Serbian Youth Block and the Serbian Svetosava Party, who interrupted the performance, began to persecute Laušević, interrupted his performances, waited for him in front of his apartment, and threatened him and his family with death, writes RTS.
The turning point in his life was July 31, 1993.
Žarko and his five years older brother Branimir, known as Mili, were attacked by a group of people near a bar in Podgorica. On that occasion, Žarko killed two people with his gun and seriously wounded one.
He was sentenced to 13 years in prison for double murder. After appeals, the verdict was upheld in 1994. He served his sentence in Spuz and Požarevac. After the verdict was overturned by the Federal Court, after a retrial in February 1998, he was sentenced to four years in prison for double murder in excess of self-defense. Since he had already served 4,5 years at that point, he was released. After his release from prison, he left the country and went to New York.
However, the Supreme Court of Montenegro, following the prosecutor's appeal on March 30, 2001, changed the decision on the sentence and imposed a sentence of 13 years in prison. On July 3, 2009, it was announced that Laušević was arrested in the United States of America for staying in the USA without a visa and that his extradition to Serbia was being considered based on an international warrant issued in 2002 at the request of the Third Municipal Court in Belgrade. The court in New York nevertheless made a decision to terminate Laušević's detention.
Laušević translated segments from his life into the book "A year passes, a day never ends" which was published in 2011. He dedicated the second book "Everything passes, even for life" to his life in prison, and in 2022 he published the third book "Padre idiote". .
Laušević was pardoned on December 29, 2011, and a Serbian passport was handed to him on February 1, 2012.
The film Lauš was made about his life based on the idea, script and direction of Branka Bešević Gajić, whose premiere was held in February 2014, and the television audience these days follows the series "The Fall", which is inspired by the life of Žarko Laušević.
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