Actor and director Vladimir Skrbinšek was born in Ljubljana. He studied at the Faculty of Engineering in Ljubljana, after which he started working for the railway company. As a member of the travelling actors’ group he performed all over Yugoslavia, and settled down in Split in 1925. In 1927, he and Pregarc came to the Maribor theatre and performed there (except in the period between 1935 and 1938, when he was in Skopje) until the World War II. After the German occupation of Maribor, he transferred to the Ljubljana Drama, where he gave many outstanding performances, then returned to Maribor for three years as an actor and director, and after the year 1960 he also performed and directed in MGL.
He was considered a master of his trade, controlling his roles with reason and creating versatile, in-depth, solid stage images by analysing in detail the works the plays were based on, whereby he drew closer to the critical realism and modern acting. He also performed in and directed operettas and operas. He often directed Shaw’s works and took on numerous roles in them, but he also directed plays of Slovenian playwrights. Before the World War II, he also ran a drama school in Maribor, and later also managed an acting ensemble at Radio Ljubljana and portrayed persuasive characters on radio and TV plays, and also worked in film. In 1971, he received the Borštnik ring award for his achievements.