Marija Baksa, a Yugoslav actress, rose to popularity during the 1970s, mostly portraying more liberated roles. She began her career with the film “Boxers Go to Heaven” directed by Branko Čelović, and later played the leading role in “Young and Healthy as a Rose” by Joca Jovanović, where she starred alongside Dragan Nikolić.
In her early twenties, Marija Baksa captivated Belgrade with her almost unreal beauty—men would always turn to look at her. However, at the same time, she was considered arrogant and mysterious, the very definition of a femme fatale. She was often compared to Ava Gardner and Catherine Deneuve. She posed for the Italian magazine Playmen, as well as for the American and Italian editions of Playboy. Journalists tried to create a sense of rivalry between Marija Baksa and Beba Lončar, another actress of that era remembered as one of the most beautiful Yugoslav women of the 1960s and 1970s. Unfortunately for them, they failed. Although frequently compared, Beba and Marija represented two very different archetypes—Marija embodied the fatal woman, while Beba had a more modest image. It is undeniable that both actresses were extremely beautiful, which was their only common trait.
Baksa never liked being presented as an actress, even after her role in the major Hollywood production “The Valachi Papers,” in which she played a passionate seductress alongside Charles Bronson. After that role, she was compared to Lana Turner and Ava Gardner.
Domestic audiences watched her in the TV series “Cyclops,” where she seduced Frano Lasić and Rade Šerbedžija, as well as in the film “Strangler vs. Strangler.”
Her later career took her to Rome, where she completely captivated Italians and quickly entered elite circles. Thanks to Baksa, the famous photographer Angelo Frontoni once visited Belgrade, and she was hopelessly adored by the renowned Greek-born producer Ovidio G. Assonitis, who proposed to her several times, but she persistently refused.
