Viewers adored her. They loved listening to her, but also watching her. Her words reached far, just like her beauty.
Danka Novović was born in Prokuplje in 1943. She worked at Television Belgrade from its founding in 1958. With her elegant posture, distinctive diction, and unique voice, she left a strong mark on television in Yugoslavia.
Even as an elementary school student, she loved reciting poetry, acting, dancing, and singing at school performances. She graduated from the Sixth Belgrade Gymnasium and continued to captivate audiences on stage.
She sang in the first Youth Club in Belgrade, where the repertoire she performed with Minja Subota included Italian canzonas, jazz, and rock and roll.
She studied at the Faculty of Law and the Faculty of Philosophy, but as she used to say, she did not have time to finish them.
As a twenty-year-old, after two and a half years of preparation with language editors, she began her television career in 1963 in a live broadcast—reading program announcements. She also worked as an editor of the Dnevnik news program, but she considered herself a television announcer—that was her true calling.
She never missed social dances. She was the gymnastics champion of her high school, and she spent time with the group from Crveni Krst, which was inseparable from Dragan Nikolić. She also did not miss the famous parties at Laza Šećer’s place. The famous Toma Zdravković wrote and performed the song “Danka” for her.
“When the song ‘Danka’ became a hit, I didn’t speak to Toma for a long time because I thought I would never be able to explain to the public that I was not romantically involved with him. When I forgave him, Toma celebrated all night in the entire tavern out of happiness,” she once said.
The legendary Television Belgrade presenter Danka Novović passed away in Belgrade on July 14, 2019, at the age of 76.
