Besim Levonja, actor and playwright, “Merited Artist”, was born in Elbasan. 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 “Peza heroike” (“The Heroic Peza”), which present 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 “Prefekti” (1948), which had a long-lasting impact on the stage and which was was also adapted into a television film; in it there are many elements of farce and the grotesque and humor arise naturally. Then the dramas “Janë plagët që flasin” (“It’s the wounds that speak”) (1951), “Dasma e madhe” (“The big wedding”) (1955), etc., were staged, but remained unpublished. As an actor, he performed roles in the dramas “Halili e Hajrija” (“Halili and Hajrija”) by Kolë Jakova, “Votra e huej” (“The foreign hearth”) by Ndrek Luca, etc., as well as in works of world dramaturgy. He also played in the movie “Debatiku”. He passed away in Tirana, in 1968. (Photo: Besim Levonja)
Text: Albanian encyclopedic dictionary – Vol. 2 , Academy of Sciences of Albania, “Kristalina-KH”, Tirana, 2008, page 1483.
Photo: © https://observerkult.com/nderroi-jete-para-54-vjeteve-prefekti-besim-levonja-aktori-qe-sharrohet/
Graphic processing: AHCF
