Slobodan Aligrudić

Known for ActingBorn 1934-10-15 — died 1985-08-13Bitola, Vardar Banovina, Kingdom of Yugoslavia

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

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?.

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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 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".