Slobodan Aligrudić

Who was Slobodan Aligrudić?

Slobodan Aligrudić was a Serbian actor known for some of the most memorable roles in the history of former Yugoslav cinema.

Aligrudić was born in Bitola. He earned prominence as a thespian in Belgrade's Atelje 212 Theatre, but to a wider audience he is best known for his memorable character portrayals on film. Some of those roles were achieved in classic films of former Yugoslav cinema, including Love Affair: Or the Case of Missing Switchboard Operator. Due to his distinctly coarse look, most of his roles were stern authority figures, but he always managed to give them a breath of humanity. One of the best examples is Maho, a father character in Emir Kusturica's 1981 coming-of-age drama Do You Remember Dolly Bell?.

Aligrudić worked with Kusturica again in his 1985 celebrated drama When Father Was Away on Business, in which he played an UDBA agent in charge of protagonist's "re-education". He died in Gradac shortly after that film won Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival and shortly after the death of his long-time colleague Zoran Radmilović. This event led many former Yugoslav film critics to say that "heaven had received a huge boost".