Mitić, Gojko
Photo © DEFA-Stiftung
Biography:
Gojko Mitic was one of the most famous actors in the GDR and other Eastern European countries during the Cold War. He was born in Leskovac, Yugoslavia (now Serbia) on June 13, 1940. Mitic studied sports in Belgrade and wanted to become a teacher. But by chance, when international film production companies came to Belgrade in the 1960s, he was chosen to be a stuntman and double.
After playing many small parts, Mitic was cast in a leading role in the DEFA Western Die Söhne der großen Bärin. Unexpectedly, the film was a huge success; seemingly overnight, Mitic became a film star and idol. Eleven Westerns followed, in all of which he played the lead. The plots of these films were mostly based on historical events and told from the point of view of the Native Americans. Mitic was often referred to as “the most famous Native American in Eastern Europe.” In 1996, he was honored in a traditional ceremony by the Ojibwa tribe and given the name Wolf.
The good-looking and athletic Mitic was soon in demand for roles in other genres as well. He starred as a astronaut in a science-fiction film, as a dashing lover in a historical drama, as a resistance fighter in an antifascist espionage thriller and as a sympathetic sports teacher in a contemporary story. For millions of cinemagoers, he was East Germany’s only mega-star.
When Pierre Brice left the annual open-air theater festival in Bad Segeberg in 1992, Mitic took over the main role of Winnetou, which he played through the 2006 season. From 2007 until 2009, he also acted on stage at the Staatstheater Schwerin. Gojko Mitic lives in Berlin-Köpenick.
Festivals & Awards:
1975 | Film Prize of the Youth Magazine Neues Leben for Acting for Blutsbrüder |
Filmography:
2008 | Entführt – Ich hol dich da raus (Kidnapped – I’ll Get You Out, TV) |
2006 | Esperanza |
2001 | Planet B: Der Ameisenmann (Planet B: The Ant Man) |
1995-96 | Verbotene Liebe (Forbidden Love, TV series) |
1994 | Burning Life |
1993 | Der Kinoerzähler (The Film Narrator) |
1988 | Das Herz des Piraten (Heart of the Pirate) |
1982 | Der Scout (The Scout) |
1981 | Der lange Ritt zur Schule (The Long Ride to School) |
1980 | Das Archiv des Todes (The Archive of Death, TV series) |
1978 | Severino |
1975 | Blutsbrüder (Blood Brothers) |
1973 | Apachen (Apaches) |
1973 | Ulzana |
1972 | Das Geheimnis der Anden (The Secret of the Andes, TV mini-series) |
1972 | Tecumseh |
1971 | Osceola |
1970 | Signale – Ein Weltraumabenteuer (Signals: A Space Adventure) |
1969 | Tödlicher Irrtum (Fatal Error) |
1968 | Weiße Wölfe (White Wolves) |
1968 | Spur des Falken (The Falcon’s Trail) |
1967 | Chingachgook, die große Schlange (Chingachgook, the Great Snake) |
1965 | Die Söhne der großen Bärin (The Sons of Great Bear) |
1964 | Old Shatterhand |