Today is the 78 birth anniversary of the Albanian well-known actor Llazi Sërbo.

Sërbo was born on the 9th of March 1945 in the city of Korça, where he finished the elementary and high school. After high school he worked as a painting teacher in the town of Pogradec. After two years of teaching he attended the Academy of Arts in Tirana, where he profitably studied acting in the following four years.

Sërbo was for the following forty years an actor and director in the Andon Z. Çajupi theatre of Korçë. He also had prominent roles in many movies produced by the Albanian Kinostudio Shqipëria e Re. His first role in theatre was in the “The Black Spots”. He also acted in many Albanian films. His first role in a movie was in “Stars of Long Nights” (1972), in the role of Dajlan. His first starring role came in the “Operation Fire” (1973), where Sërbo had the role of Kreshnik Martini, a Sigurimi agent, infiltrated into an anti-communist band operating in northern Albania in 1953, a scenario taken from a real story. After that movie, Sërbo was one of the victims of the 1973 purges of the 11th Plenum of the Communist Party of Albania, which caused him to disappear from any movies for a full four-year period: during this time he played only on theatre roles. Upon his return to cinematography, he continued to excel in all the roles he played. Memorable is the role of the German Wehrmacht official in the “The Bride and the Curfew” (1978).

Sërbo was considered to be a handsome actor and he was often considered by movie directors as a perfectionist in his approach to acting. He starred also in the movie” Who dies on his feet” (1984), dedicated to the figure of 19th century patriot and Albanian language teacher, Petro Nini Luarasi. 

In 1986, one year after Enver Hoxha’s death, Sërbo moved to Tirana, where he started to work as an assistant director and had the chance to co-direct a number of movies. He also worked as a director in the theater. Sërbo was critical in the last years with the fact that, according to him, there are more actors than premieres. Sërbo was the author of the mise-en-scène of Kostandine and Doruntine and co-scenarist of the theatrical piece with the Albanian well-known writer Ismail Kadare.

Besides acting, Sërbo cherished photography as a hobby. He was a participant in the Albanian photography competition Marubi 2003. Sërbo had been awarded the Merited Artist of Albania award in 1991 and the Honor of Korca Countyin 2009. He passed away on the 12th of September 2010.

/k.s/