Olivera Katarina

Olivera Katarina
Оливера Катарина
Birth name Olivera Petrović
Also known as Olivera Vučo, Olivera Šakić
Born (1940-03-05) 5 March 1940
Belgrade, Kingdom of Yugoslavia
Genres Serbian traditional, folk, chanson, Gypsy, pop
Occupation(s) Actress, singer, writer
Years active 1964–present
Labels PGP-RTB, PGP-RTS, Jugoton, Supraphon
Website http://oliverakatarina.weebly.com/

Olivera Katarina (Serbian: Оливера Катарина; née Petrović (Петровић); born 5 March 1940), also previously known as Olivera Vučo (Оливера Вучо) and Olivera Šakić (Оливера Шакић), is a Serbian actress, singer and writer. She was one of the leading stars of Yugoslav cinema in the 1960s and the 1970s, and is probably the best known for her performance in Aleksandar Petrović's film I Even Met Happy Gypsies (1967), which won the Grand Prix at the 1967 Cannes Film Festival.

As a singer, Olivera Katarina has performed music of various genres, varying from Serbian traditional to pop music, and in numerous languages. Her version of "Đelem, đelem", which she performed in I Even Met Happy Gypsies, has been considered as one of the best rendition of that song ever recorded.[1]

Early life

Olivera Katarina was born Olivera Petrović to father Budimir, a naval captain, and mother Katarina (née Jovančić) on 5 March 1940 in Belgrade, Kingdom of Yugoslavia. She adopted Olivera Katarina in 1969 to honour her mother, who had died on 4 January 1969.[2] She spent her childhood in Belgrade, Dobanovci and Valjevo.[3]

As a child, Olivera Katarina attended piano and ballet lessons. In 1959, she went to Paris and enrolled the Alliance Française school in order to improve her French language skills.[4] Olivera Katarina initially enrolled the University of Belgrade Faculty of Law before switching to the Faculty of Dramatic Arts.[3] Among her mates at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts were Milena Dravić and Petar Kralj.[2]

Career

She studied at the academy for theatre, film, radio and television in Belgrade. Started her career as a student with a major role as Koštana in a same name play in a National Theatre in Belgrade. There she met Vuk Vučo, a theatre critic whom she later married.

For a role in Goya or the Hard Way to Enlightenment in 1971 (as Olivera Katarina), she was awarded at festivals in Moscow and Venice. Her major success was in Aleksandar Petrović's I Even Met Happy Gypsies, where she played a gipsy singer named Lenče. Film was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 40th Academy Awards, for a Palme d'Or at the 1967 Cannes Film Festival, and for Best Foreign-Language film at the 26th Golden Globe Awards. It won the FIPRESCI Grand Prize of the Jury at the 1967 Cannes Film Festival. Olivera closed this festival with a concert together with Nana Mouskouri and Dionne Warwick.

She also had a very prominent singing career. She recorded in Serbian language, as well as in Russian, Japanese, Romanian, Greek, Romani, and Indonesian. She sang traditional Serbian folk songs and Gypsy/Romani songs. In famous Paris Olympia she held 72 consecutive concerts.

In 1969, she participated in the national choice to represent Yugoslavia in the Eurovision Song Contest 1969 with the song "Poigraj, poigraj, devojče".

Olivera Katarina is also known as "the only woman Salvador Dalí knelt in front of", being amazed by her beauty and voice, after her concert in Paris.

In 2007, Katarina contributed songs for Marina Abramović's Balkan Erotic Epic, and portrays a goddess in Uroš Stojanović's film Čarlston za Ognjenku.

Personal life

In her early youth Olivera Katarina dated water polo goalkeeper Milan Muškatirović for several years during the late 1950s.

During her time at the film academy she met journalist Vuk Vučo and quickly married him. The marriage lasted only a year and a half.

She then for seven years lived in a common-law relationship with the powerful Yugoslav Security Service (UDBA) operative and Avala Film chairman Ratko Dražević.

In 1970, Olivera Katarina married Miladin Šakić, an administrator who later became the president of the Red Star Belgrade football club, with then Mayor of Belgrade Branko Pešić as Šakić's best man. The couple's only son Mane,[5] a painter based in Madrid, was born on 1 February 1971. Later in 1971, Šakić died in a car accident near Mladenovac.[4] In an interview for the Blic daily in 2011, Olivera Katarina claimed she had not been in a relationship with a man after Šakić.[6]

Filmography

Title Year Role Notes
Dobra kob 1964 Keti
Belo u belom 1964 Unknown Television film
One i on 1964 Unknown Television film
Put oko sveta 1964 Rebeka
Akcija inspektora Rukavine 1965 Unknown Television film
Sigurno je sigurno 1965 Unknown Television film
Ponoćni gost 1965 Unknown Television film
Roj 1966 Ljubica
Monday or Tuesday
Ponedeljak ili utorak		 1966 Marko's lover
Kiss Kiss, Kill Kill
Kommissar X – Jagd auf Unbekannt		 1966 Bobo
The Dream
San		 1966 Girl
I Even Met Happy Gypsies
Sakupljači perja		 1967 Lenče
Mountain of Wrath
Planina gneva		 1968 Olivera
Ima ljubavi, nema ljubavi 1968 Unknown
Comandamenti per un gangster 1968 Unknown
Do Not Mention the Cause of Death
Uzrok smrti ne pominjati		 1968 Marija
Fräulein Doktor 1968 Marchioness de Haro
Wien nach Noten 1969 Unknown Television film
The Soldier
Vojnik		 1970 Milanka Filmed in 1966
Mark of the Devil
Hexen bis aufs Blut gequält		 1970 Vanessa Benedikt
Ann and Eve
Ann och Eve – de erotiska		 1970 Singer
A Big Grey-Blue Bird
Ein großer graublauer Vogel		 1971 Diana
Goya or the Hard Way to Enlightenment
Goya – oder Der arge Weg der Erkenntnis		 1971 The Duchess of Alba
Devičanska svirka 1973 Sibila Television film
Polen Dust
Polenov prah		 1974 Unknown
The Dervish and Death
Derviš i smrt		 1974 Kadinica
Hell River
Partizani		 1974 Mila Also known as Tactical Guerrilla
Hell River
Partizani		 1974 Mila TV miniseries adapted from the film
Crveni udar 1974 Ana
Zarudela zora na Moravi 1978 Woman Television short film
Sedam plus sedam 1979 Olivera Television series
Jelena Gavanski 1982 Lina Television film
Vuk Karadžić 1987 Eustahija Radovanović TV series
Tears for Sale
Čarlston za Ognjenku		 2008 Velika Boginja

Discography

Studio albums

Compilation albums

Singles

Bibliography

References

  1. ↑ Pašćan, Mirjana. "Lična karta – Olivera Katarina". Puls (in Serbian). Retrieved 19 September 2013.
  2. 1 2 "Olivera Katarina". Sećanja.com (in Serbian). 2012. Retrieved 19 September 2013.
  3. 1 2 "Olivera Katarina: Biografija". Prva Olivera Katarina (in Serbian). Retrieved 19 September 2013.
  4. 1 2 Mašojević, Danilo (3 January 2010). "Olivera Katarina: Izabrala sam večnu samoću". Story (in Serbian). Retrieved 19 September 2013.
  5. ↑ Džodan, Neven (13 December 2009). "Konačno sam se izvukla sa dna". Blic (in Serbian). Retrieved 19 September 2013.
  6. ↑ Milojković, Simonida (19 May 2011). "Olivera Katarina: Izabrala sam život u samoći" (in Serbian). Retrieved 19 September 2013.
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