Žanka Stokić
| Žanka Stokić | |
|---|---|
Stokić on a 2003 issue Serbian postage stamp.
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| Born |
Živana Stokić 24 January 1887 Veliko Gradište, Kingdom of Serbia |
| Died | 21 July 1947 (aged 60) Belgrade, PR Serbia, FPR Yugoslavia |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1902-1944 |
Živana "Žanka" Stokić (Serbian Cyrillic: Жанка Стокић; January 24, 1887 – July 21, 1947) was a Serbian actress.
Though most popular for her work in comedy, she also excelled in dramatic roles. Often referred to as the "Serbian Sarah Bernhardt" and "Great Žanka", she is considered by critics and many of her peers as the greatest Serbian actress of all time.
Born Živana Stokić in Veliko Gradište, in eastern Serbia on 24 January 1887, her baker father Bogosav, who later became a police clerk, died when Živana was still an infant. Her mother Julka then remarried to a widowed priest Aleksandar "Sanda" Nikolajević and moved to the village of Rabrovo (modern municipality of Kučevo). As a result of this, for decades Rabrovo has been reported as her birthplace until recently discovered data showed otherwise. She didn’t get along with her stepfather and, being early matured, at the age of 14 she ran away from home to Zaječar and married a local tailor. Union was not a happy one, and already in 1902, Žanka ran away from her husband, too. This time with an acting troop.
Her first mentor was , head of the playing company that Žanka ran away with. Originally, she did errands as a washerwoman for the troop. In her first role, Tereza in Bračne noći in 1902, she became a local sensation. Čvrga’s troop soong split, and Žanka went on with several former colleagues on tour in Vojvodina, Bosnia and Croatia. She acted in the companies of Mika Bakić, Dimitrije Nešić and Mihailo Era Ratković. In 1907 in Varaždin she got her first dramatic role, a widow in Nada. That same year she became a member of Osijek Theatre, where she was noticed by the theatrologist Branko Gavella. On the guest tour to Belgrade in 1911, she left an impression on Milan Grol, literary critic and chief of the National Theatre in Belgrade who offered her a job.
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