Antun Nalis

Who was Antun Nalis?

Antun Nalis, aka Tonči Nalis, was a Croatian actor.

Antun Nalis was born in Zadar, which was part of Austria-Hungary at the time. After World War I Zadar became part of Italy, which later helped Nalis to play in Italian movies and portray Italian characters.

Nalis began to build his film career after World War Two. His first screen appearance in 1949 film Zastava almost became his last. In the film he played an Ustasha colonel and in the break between shooting he went to the store to buy groceries, forgetting to change his clothes. He was arrested by UDBA and it took some time to convince authorities that he was an actor playing Ustasha rather than actual Ustasha hiding in the woods after the war.

Not discouraged by the incident, Nalis continued with his career, appearing in many classics of 1950s and 1960s Croatian and Yugoslav cinema. Gradually he built a reputation as one of the most recognisable and dependable character actors.