Edi Luarasi, a well-known Albanian actress, TV screen and theatre icon, passed away this Friday afternoon. The heart of the Albanian art icon stopped beating at the age of 81. The news is confirmed by Luarasi's friends and colleagues. 

Edi Luarasi was born in Tirana in 1940. She debuted on stage at a young age. Initially in 1956, when she was 16 years old, she and her sister sang on the stage of the Variety Theatre. She graduated as an actress in 1963 and was appointed an actress at the People's Theatre. Her first role was Vera in the drama "House on the Boulevard" in 1963, directed by Kujtim Spahivogli. 

Then, in ten years, come a series of accomplished roles, where we single out Lena in "Doctor Alexi", Kordelja in "King Lir", Cuca in "Cuca of the mountains", Kristina in "The second face", etc. She marries the well-known director Mihal Luarasi. Excluded from the National Theatre on January 22, 1974, for political reasons, she returned to the stage in March 1991, with a dignified interpretation of the role of the old lady in the drama "The visit of the old lady". 

She also acted in 1995 in the drama "Bars", later, successfully in the dramas "Cylinder", "Shelter of the Forgotten", etc. She has played a few roles in films as well. She is a "Merited Artist". In these roles as well as in the three films where she played, "The First Years", "Traces", and "Victory over Death", Edi always appeared with artistic dignity, distinguished for her strong temperament and a little rebellious, for her intuition and artistic imagination. 

"Brown spots" and its staging could grasp with maturity and foresight the delicate problem of the time, the birth of new parasites, which ate at the expense of the able ones. The author managed to predict that the phenomenon was spreading rapidly in the administrative and state apparatuses that had begun and would later turn into a gangrene of the system itself. The trauma and censorship of this drama, as well as the recent misfortune of the 11th Television Song Festival, is related to the trauma of the Luarasi family. 

Edith's husband, the talented director Mihallaq Luarasi, is imprisoned and sentenced to 8 years for agitation and propaganda. Meanwhile, Edi, expelled from the theatre, is forced to get involved in tailoring, to face financial difficulties. At the age of 51, after the advent of democracy, Edi Luarasi returns to the stage. Slightly difficult for her, after 20 years of separation, however with inexhaustible courage and passion, she manages to win and deserve the applause of the public in the drama "The Visit of the Old Lady", thus triumphantly returning to the stage which she had so much lovers.