RIP Voyo Goric - 1940-2023

In 1972 I lived in Munich, Germany for a year studying music composition with a composer, Wolf Rosenberg. I rented a room in an apartment on Hohenzollern Strasse that had a piano I could use during the day to compose with. A few months after I moved in, a big, tough Yugoslavian guy who was an old friend of my landlord appeared one evening at the front door.  He soon came to occupy another room in the apartment. 

His name was Vojislav Govedaric, aka “Vojo Goric”. He was a handsome, thoroughly muscled, boisterous man a few years older than me.  He had been, I soon learned, a bad guy in quite a few Italian so-called “spaghetti” westerns…had had his chest shaved numerous times to appear as a Native American. Voyo and I became good friends.  He insisted I exercise vigorously and also appreciated my work as a young composer. He was like my Zorba the Greek.

Years later almost by accident I found myself in a movie theater watching a Rambo film.  I was taken unawares suddenly by Voyo’s appearance on screen!  He was the torturing adversary of Sylvester Stallone!  In his later films also he was usually a bad guy. See him torturing poor Sylvester Stallone - who did eventually succeed in throwing Voyo out of a helicopter! Voyo did other films with Jean Claude van Damme and some other grade C movie stars. He was a great bad guy.

Voyo insisted I exercise rigorously and kept me entertained with his intelligence, sharp wit, support for my art and his friendship. We lost touch after Munich. But I will never forget his mentoring me to live life fully with more joy, abandon and muscle!!

I just found out that Voyo passed away at the end of last year, Dec. 5, 2023. May this homage repay just a bit the legacy of his friendship, humor and fierceness. RIP Vojislav Govedaric!!