From marginal to actor and mayor
As a famous actor and mayor, he was kicked out of school several times and in the end, nevertheless, made it to the Academy.
The famous actor and the first mayor of Zagreb after independence had many problems in his childhood and early youth because of his origin. His father was a gunman during the NDH era, which is why he was killed, and his mother was Jewish, which is why she also died. After escaping the death train, he had to fend for himself.
He was kicked out of school twice, but it wasn't his fault. He was expelled for the first time in the seventh grade. The partisan "boss" of the class, Peter, offered him to light Drina, then the most expensive cigar, during his vacation. Boris, not doubting his intentions, took the offered cigar and took a couple of smokes. This allowed Peter to sue him, and eventually Boris was taken to the then partisan "disciplinary reading of the indictment". They brought many children from the partisan home who were left without parents into the large hall. There they accused him of spitting on the floor, cursing God and being related by blood to an Ustashi butcher. The children shouted: – Out with him! Through the window with him! - and, after such humiliation, they kicked him out of school.
Others expelled him from high school, then the Physical Education School in Zagreb. The whole class went skiing in Kranjska Gora. One of his colleagues came to his room to, ostensibly, mend his pants. Although they were not alone in the room, an influential colleague was jealous, so he sent spies through the window. He "arranged" for the school to be sent his "characteristics" from Bjelovar, and they stated that, because of his father's profession, he was being followed by the UDBA and that he was an enemy of the state. They took him again to read the indictment and he was expelled from school again.
As he realized that he would not be able to finish high school, he decided to get a job. He first went to Rijeka where he started working in a shipping company. But realizing that his "characteristics" had been requested again and that papers were arriving from Bjelovar, he ran away. Since there was a shortage of teachers in early post-war Yugoslavia, he managed to get a job in a village near Vrbovac. He briefly worked as a teacher. The papers were on the way again, and he escaped in time, knowing what was coming next.
At that time, Branko Gavella founded the Academy of Dramatic Art in Zagreb. Since it was the only college that did not require a high school diploma, a friend advised Branko to try to enroll in it. He went to the amateur theater in Bjelovar to see a play. The repertoire included Kralj Betajnova. He didn't like the play, but he took a monologue from that text and went to Zagreb. He also knew that he should not play his favorite play - Hamlet, because he correctly assumed that all the young men who would come to the reception would prepare that very text. With a few dinars borrowed, he rented a small and cheap room at the top of Hotel Dubrovnik. He shared a room with a traveling salesman who snored heavily, and because of him he had to practice his lyrics in the bathroom. While preparing for the audition, he knew that he should not play the way the actor from the amateur troupe played. He managed to pass the audition and entered the ADU in Zagreb in its first class. But soon it was time to apply and review the papers. Branko, taught by experience about the state machinery's relationship to his father's past, knew what was coming next. He was lucky that, at that time, the Academy employed a party leader originally from Sinj, the same place his girlfriend at the time was from. The two of them were good friends, so his secretary "fixed" his papers. Branko got an index, and thus hope for a better tomorrow.
