Besim Levonja, actor and dramatist, Merited Artist, passed away in Tirana. He was born in Elbasan, in 1922. He participated in the Anti-Fascist National Liberation War. He began his career as an actor in the partisan theater, for which he also wrote the plays “Sabaudin Gabrani” and “Heroic Peza”, which presents the resistance of the people in the fight against fascism, as well as humorous sketches. After liberation, he worked as an actor and director at the People’s Theater and the State Theater (1953–1959). The first works were one-act sketches and comedies (“Ceni Hoxhë”, 1945) and the comedy “The Prefect” (1948), which had a long echo on the stage and which was also made as a television film; in it there are many elements of farce and the grotesque and humor arise naturally. Then the dramas “It’s the wounds that speak” (1951), “Dasma e madhe” (1955), etc., were staged, but remained unpublished. As an actor, he performed roles in the dramas “Halili e Hajrija” by Kolë Jakovo, “Votra e huej” by Ndrek Luca, etc., as well as in works of world dramaturgy. He also played in the movie “Debatiku”. (In the photo: Besim Levonja)
Text: Albanian encyclopedic dictionary – Vol. 2, Academy of Sciences of Albania, “Kristalina-KH”, Tirana, 2008, page 1483.
Photo: © https://aktoretshqiptare.info/besim-levonja-1922-1968/
Graphic processing: AHCF
