Josip Elic (March 10, 1921 â€" October 21, 2019) was an American
character actor. He was best known for his role as Bancini in One Flew
Over the Cuckoo's Nest.Elic was born in Butte, Montana, the son of
Croatian immigrants, Martha and Joseph Elich. One of several children,
including siblings John and Helen, he grew up in the East Side
neighborhood known as "Cabbage Patch". At age 16, he began work in a
Montana copper mine, before later joining the U.S. Navy. In 1945,
following his service, and a brief stint on Wall Street, Elic
relocated to New York City to pursue an acting career, using the G.I.
Bill to enroll in acting school. At the age of 30, he officially
changed his name. Initially entering show business by building sets
for an Upstate Connecticut summer stock company, he eventually began
appearing in off-Broadway productions, including Threepenny Opera in
1954, alongside Bea Arthur and John Astin.While off-Broadway shows and
burlesque were amongst Elic's first forays into acting, in 1956, the
6-foot-3-inch Montanan landed his first television role on the NBC
anthology series Kraft Television Theatre, opposite Rance Howard and
Joe Mantell, in an episode directed by William A. Graham. While
numerous minor television and film roles soon followed, Elic was also
notable for his commercial appearances, becoming one of the first
character actors to headline television ads, a role traditionally
reserved for Hollywood's leading men. He later became more nationally
recognized after two appearances on The Twilight Zone, including in
"The Obsolete Man" with Burgess Meredith. His breakout role however
came when asked to appear as confused mental patient, Bancini, in
Miloš Forman's 1975 classic, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Despite
having few lines in the film, his major scene came in the form of an
improvisation by Jack Nicholson for the patient's basketball game. In
his words, Elic remembered the scene's development as:Although his
film and television career began to dwindle by the late seventies,
Elic's final on-screen performance was in 1989 for the Ridley Scott
action thriller, Black Rain. Regardless of his disappearance from
television and theater screens however, he continued to maintain a
strong presence in the acting community of New York, and would
regularly make appearances at conventions to meet fans.
character actor. He was best known for his role as Bancini in One Flew
Over the Cuckoo's Nest.Elic was born in Butte, Montana, the son of
Croatian immigrants, Martha and Joseph Elich. One of several children,
including siblings John and Helen, he grew up in the East Side
neighborhood known as "Cabbage Patch". At age 16, he began work in a
Montana copper mine, before later joining the U.S. Navy. In 1945,
following his service, and a brief stint on Wall Street, Elic
relocated to New York City to pursue an acting career, using the G.I.
Bill to enroll in acting school. At the age of 30, he officially
changed his name. Initially entering show business by building sets
for an Upstate Connecticut summer stock company, he eventually began
appearing in off-Broadway productions, including Threepenny Opera in
1954, alongside Bea Arthur and John Astin.While off-Broadway shows and
burlesque were amongst Elic's first forays into acting, in 1956, the
6-foot-3-inch Montanan landed his first television role on the NBC
anthology series Kraft Television Theatre, opposite Rance Howard and
Joe Mantell, in an episode directed by William A. Graham. While
numerous minor television and film roles soon followed, Elic was also
notable for his commercial appearances, becoming one of the first
character actors to headline television ads, a role traditionally
reserved for Hollywood's leading men. He later became more nationally
recognized after two appearances on The Twilight Zone, including in
"The Obsolete Man" with Burgess Meredith. His breakout role however
came when asked to appear as confused mental patient, Bancini, in
Miloš Forman's 1975 classic, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Despite
having few lines in the film, his major scene came in the form of an
improvisation by Jack Nicholson for the patient's basketball game. In
his words, Elic remembered the scene's development as:Although his
film and television career began to dwindle by the late seventies,
Elic's final on-screen performance was in 1989 for the Ridley Scott
action thriller, Black Rain. Regardless of his disappearance from
television and theater screens however, he continued to maintain a
strong presence in the acting community of New York, and would
regularly make appearances at conventions to meet fans.
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