Stevo Žigon
Стево Жигон
Stevo Žigon on a 2009 Serbian stamp
Born	(1926-12-08)8 December 1926 Ljubljana,Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (nowSlovenia)
Died	28 December 2005(2005-12-28) (aged 79) Belgrade,Serbia and Montenegro (nowSerbia)
Nationality	Slovenian, Serbian
Education	Faculty of Dramatic Arts
Alma mater	University of Arts in Belgrade
Occupation(s)	Actor, theatre director, writer

Štefan "Stevo" Žigon (Serbian Cyrillic:Стево Жигон; 8 December 1926 – 28 December 2005) was aYugoslav actor, theatre director, and writer.

His origins were primarily Italian. He was born in Ljubljana,Slovenia, then part of theKingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. His family were Slovene immigrants from theSlovenian Littoral, which was underItalian administration. His father was from the village ofVolčji Grad nearKomen in theKarst region, while his mother came from the Slovene community inTrieste (now in Italy). The family lived in Trieste until the Fascist takeover in 1922, when they fled to the neighboring Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.^[1]

He studied acting in Ljubljana andLeningrad. He graduated in 1952, from the Academy for Theatre Arts inBelgrade. On faculty for acting in Belgrade he was one of the first assistants. Because of his knowledge of the German language and manners, he often played cynical and cold German officers. He was best known for playing "Krieger", chief of Belgrade Gestapo, in the popular 1970s TV seriesOtpisani andPovratak otpisanih.

During his youth, Žigon was an assiduous reader; he was fascinated by poetry, with his favorite poets beingAlojz Gradnik,Igo Gruden, andOton Župančič.^[1]

In 1941, aged 15, as a member ofCommunist Youth League, he participated in many sabotage actions organized by theLiberation Front of the Slovenian People. In 1942, Žigon was captured by the Italian Army. As a minor, he was spared from execution and spent a year in an Italian military prison in theProvince of Ljubljana.^[1] After theItalian armistice in September 1943, he was captured by theWehrmacht and sent to theDachau (his prisoner number was 61185), where he learned German.

In 1968, at the time ofthe student demonstrations in Belgrade, Žigon emerged and performedDanton's Death; he playedRobespierre for the students. The speech he made while his character was on trial caused the assembled students to explode into enthusiastic applause.^[2]

He was married toSerbian actressJelena Jovanović - Žigon. The couple's daughterIvana is also an actress.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toStevo Žigon.

• 1926 births
• 2005 deaths
• Dachau concentration camp survivors
• Male actors from Ljubljana
• Male actors from Belgrade
• Serbian male stage actors
• Serbian male television actors
• Serbian male film actors
• Serbian male voice actors
• Serbian theatre directors
• Theatre people from Ljubljana
• Serbian television directors
• Serbian film directors
• Serbian people of Slovenian descent
• Golden Arena winners
• Slovenian male television actors
• Slovenian male stage actors
• Slovenian male film actors
• Slovenian voice actors
• 20th-century Serbian male actors
• 21st-century Serbian male actors
• 20th-century Serbian writers
• 21st-century Serbian writers
• 20th-century Slovenian male actors
• 21st-century Slovenian male actors
• 20th-century Slovenian writers
• 21st-century Slovenian writers
• Serbian dramatists and playwrights
• Slovenian dramatists and playwrights
• Croatian Theatre Award winners
• Burials at Belgrade New Cemetery
• Laureates of the Ring of Dobrica
• Theatre people from Belgrade

• Webarchive template wayback links
• Use dmy dates from October 2015
• Articles with hCards
• Articles containing Serbian-language text
• Pages using Lang-xx templates
• Commons category link from Wikidata