Little Known Spaghetti Western Actors ~ Dragutin Dobricanin

[These daily posts will cover little known actors or people that have appeared in more recent films and TV series. Various degrees of information that I was able to find will be given and anything that you can add would be appreciated.]

Dragutin Dobricanin was a Serbian actor, writer, screenwriter born in Prokuplje, Serbia, Yugoslavia on July 9, 1922. He made his first acting appearance on stage, as a member of the Cultural Society "Ivo Lola Ribar", in the one-act play Bojarka, based on the novel by N. Ostrovsky How Steel Was Tempered (directed by R. L. Đukić). He was a member of the Drama Group of Radio Belgrade and the Children's Theatre "Boško Buha" (1946–1950), the Comedy Theatre (1950–1954), the Belgrade Comedy (1954–1959), the Contemporary Theatre (1959–1964), and occasionally he was a guest on the stage of Atelje 212. In the early 1950s, he began his career as a playwright. He quickly gained recognition in theater, radio and television. A crucial role was played by the radio show ‘Merry Evening’ (launched in 1949), in which he collaborated with numerous humorists and successfully performed as a writer and interpreter of sketches, especially the role of Uncle Proka. A personality of curious and renaissance spirit, he selflessly gave himself to the theater. As a character comedian, he was characterized by flexibility, ingenuity, restraint, great power of transformation and the ability to achieve a comic effect on stage with minimal means. He also played for children, and wrote theatrical fairy tales

(Everything, Everything But Craft, The Quacking Fairy Tale, The Golden Apple and the Nine Peacocks, The Tale of a Calendar, etc.). He is the author of the plays “The Man from Mars”, “The Creation of the World”, “The Cheerful and Sad Ginjol”, and “The Repaid Society”. His greatest success and fame was brought by the legendary comedy “Shared Apartment”, one of the first works of our contemporary dramaturgy, which was performed in European countries and translated into over thirty languages. It was directed by Marko Fotez on the stage of the Humor Theatre in Belgrade, it was performed on the stages of Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Russia, the Czech Republic, Poland, Sweden, France, Belgium, etc. A film was made based on the Belgrade play (directed by M. Vajda, 1960). He played in R. L. Đukić's films “The Lake” (1951), “To the Place, Citizen Submissive” (1964), “The Man with Four Legs” (1983), “The Golden Slingshot” (1967); M. Vajde, “The Shared Apartment” (1960); Soje Jovanović's “Eagles Fly Early” (1966); F. Hadžić's “Protest” (1967), “Idu dani” (1970); O. Gluščević's “The Naked Man” (1968) and others. He has also enriched a number of diverse characters in popular, popular TV series:’ Ćutolog’, ‘Gile’, ‘Braca Raca’ (R. L. Đukić, N. Novak, ‘Face to Face’, ‘People and Parrots’, ‘Sačulatac’), Sredoje (R. L. Đukić, Black Snow), ‘Gnjavator’, Vasa S. Tajčić (N. Novak, ‘Duty Street’, ‘Theater in the House’), Moca (Lj. Kozomara, Levaci) and others. In 1967, TV Belgrade made a series based on his script, directed by Soja Jovanović. In the theater he is remembered for his roles: “Man with a Leg”, “Svetislav”, “Arsa” (B. Nušić, “Around the World, Protection, Power”), Predrag, Špira (A. Popović, “The Development Path of Bora Šnajder”, Ljubinko and Desanka), “Grandfather of God” (D. Dobričanin, “Shared Apartment”) and many others. He is the author of the book of humorous writings Memoirs of Joko Kokot (Bg – Nk 1988).

Dobricanin died in Belgrade, Serbia, Yugoslavia on November 28, 1988, at the age of 66.

Dragutin Dobricanin appeared in one Euro-western, “Zlatna pracka” (The Golden Sling) as Blacky in 1967.

DOBRICANIN, Dragutin (aka D. Dobricanin, Dragoljub Dobricanin, Dragutin Guta Dobricanin, Dragutin Dobricanin-Guta) [7/9/1922, Prokuplje, Serbia, Yugoslavia – 11/28/1988, Belgrade, Serbia, Yugoslavia] – writer, film, TV actor.

The Golden Sling – 1967 (Blacky)