Bekim Fehmiu (Serbo-Croatian: Bekim Fehmiju, Беким Фехмију; 1 June 1936 – 15 June 2010) was a Serbian and Yugoslav theater and film actor of Albanian ethnicity. He was the first Eastern European actor to star in Hollywood during the Cold War.
Fehmiu was born in Sarajevo, Kingdom of Yugoslavia to Albanian parents. He spent his childhood in the city of Prizren. His family permanently moved to Kosovo, where, as a high school student, he was part of the acting club at his school. He graduated from the Faculty of Drama Arts (FDU) in Belgrade.
Fehmiu's big break was the 1967 film I Even Met Happy Gypsies, a subtle portrayal of Roma life which won two awards in Cannes and was nominated for an Oscar. Known for his macho appearance and mild manner, Fehmiu was then wooed by Western filmmakers and signed a contract with the Academy Award winning producer Dino De Laurentiis For the 1970 Hollywood epic The Adventurers, co-starring Charles Aznavour and Candice Bergen, he learnt English in three months. He played the role of the busy father in Raimondo Del Balzo's heartbreaking film L'Ultima Neve Di Primavera in 1973. Noteworthy is the film's music score by Franco Micalizzi. By the end of his
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