Skender Sallaku

Skënder Sallaku was an Albanian actor, who was born in Tirana in 1935. He started his artistic life as a singer for Radio Tirana in 1945 where he sang solo. He sang folk songs of Shkodër and Middle Albania in live radio broadcast. He also attended a one-year study of canto at Tirana artistic lyceum under the guidance of soprano Jorgjia Filçe-Truja (People's Artist of Albania). He made his appearance in various concerts in Albania and Bulgaria. He sang around 100 different songs in Radio Tirana during the 1945–1947 years. In 1947 he started to work as a full-time actor in the National Theatre of Albania after his debut in the Army Theatre. His first role was in Molière's Tartuffe. He acted in around 180 roles during his career and he was active for around 52 years, acting even when he was almost completely blind. Some of his most acclaimed roles were those of Kharitonov, Shpend Gjeta, The Old Man, MacDonald, Miller, Zabeliku, Klaudi, King Lear, Gjini and Ali Pasha of Gucia. He also wrote several plays, such as "The Fisherman's Family", "The Seven Shaljans", and "The Brave Boy with Many Friends". He was awarded the People's Artist of Albania. He died in Tirana on February 11, 2014 of a heart attack. ¹²³