Curiosities

                                                                              HR/EN

Interesting things about Gjuric, like when she started to write poems, about her beginnings as an actress on film…

* Why Gjurić, not Đurić?

(Gjurići ̶ Cernik, 18th c.)
In the second list and in the books of the parish of Franciscan, in Cernik, Đurići are mentioned for the first time in 1760, as Gjurich. How did Slavonia in the early 18th c. settling with the Catholic population from Bosnia, the assumption is that Đurić / Jurić came in that wave, which the Friars, as well as other surnames, write in the Latin letter Gyurich. Gjurići came to Varaždin on the eve of World War II. Djurić’s transition to Čakovec also came from this lineage.
Otherwise, the origin of the (surname) name Gjurić (Đurić) comes from the male name Đuro + the deminitive extension of IĆ, which means Đura’s son.
The Gjurić’s allegedly originate in Old Herzegovina, from the Žabljak Mountain (present-day Montenegro), from the noble lineage of Radulović. In various migrations of Serbs, they came to the Military Krajina (present-day Croatia) and became Catholics in the protracted process of destruction. Another part of the family received Islam in the territory of Bosnia, and one part still remains Orthodox (of which the origin of Bishop Gregory of Zahumo – Herzegovina).

* Bishop in the family of Stanka Gjurić: Alojzije Mišić’s parents were Mate Mišić and Marija (maiden name Cigić). Alojzije had two sisters, Marija and Persa. Marija married Ivan Gjurić (and had four children with him: Andrija – Stanka’s grandfather, Ljudevit, Viktorija and Antun), so Alojzije Mišić was brother of Stanka’s great-grandmother.
Family tree

* First time in film: After famous Croatian film director Rajko Grlić saw Stanka’s interview and photographs in newspaper, he invited her to audition for his film ‘Đavolji raj’ (‘That summer of White Roses’) and she got the role of singer White Rose. She starred alongside excellent British actors such as Rod Steiger, Alun Armstrong, Tom Conti, Geoffrey Whitehead and many others.

* First poem: Gjuric began writing poetry as a nine-year.  

* First dog: Her first dog was called Hooper, after the American series ‘Hooperman’ from 1987. The name is choosen by Stanka’s dad, because he fell in love with the dog of the main character Harry Hooperman.

* Hooper as actor: Her dog Hooper starred in her first, award-winning film on the topic of landmines, ‘Ubojite misli’, 2006.

*Writing a diary: She started to write a public diary in her former website in early 1996, which (the web site) at the time was rarity in ex Yugoslavia, so we can say that with the public diary revelations Gjurić was the forerunner in publishing something that today we call blog.

* Becoming a model: Her activity as a model starts with photo shooting for catalogs, calendars and posters and with performances in advertising and music TV spots. She also works as a hostess, and one period she wore fashion shows for fashion agency in Varaždin.

* Meeting a half-brother: When she was only fourteen, on her own initiative she made contact with her half-brother from Belgrade (from her father’s extramarital affair) with which still cultivates a good relationship.

* The only child: Gjuric is the only child, but also has a two half-brother from her father’s first marriage, Tomislav, and the other from his extramarital relationship, whose name is Roman.

* Theatrical acting: As a teenager she was a leading part of the theater group from Čakovec, named ‘Pinklec’ in which she made her first acting steps.

* Goran award: In 1981, due to her own negligence, she did not receive the ‘Goran Award’ for young poets at ‘Goran’s Spring’, and only because she mistakenly stated in her biography that the manuscript of her poems was with one publisher, but her manuscript was actually only on checked. By the way, the prize is the publication of the first book. The result of her recklessness was that she won second prize.

* Name: She never liked her name, which in Croatian language means  ‘break’.

* Marriage: Even as a little girl she decided that she would never marry because it is to important for her free artistic creativity.

* Aguarius: Due to the date of her birth, which is January 20, those interested in horoscope think she was born in a Capricorn sign, but this is not true, since the reign of Aquarius begins on January 20 in the afternoon (Gjurić was born at 9 in the evening), so she is Aquarius. However, in horoscopes that we find in magazines, but also elsewhere, it is much simpler to present the days by which a particular sign begins or ends, on this way, for not to go to unnecessarily details. Also, this does not mean that someone born at the beginning of a particular sign has less of the characteristics of that sign, as is often thought, so in fact only astrologers can give you an answer to similar doubts if you ask them to make for you natal horoscope. 

Italian book: In 2018, Stanka found out quite by accident that she had a book published in Italy back in 1994, in Italian. It is about the book ‘The Locksmith’s Dream’ published in 1992 in Zagreb. She did not give the book to anyone for translation, and yet it happened that it was translated and even published. She will probably never find out how it happened, who decided to translate her book and paid for the printing without letting her know.