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- Actress
- Director
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Irene Papas was born on 3 September 1929 in Chilimodion, Corinth, Greece. She was an actress and director, known for The Guns of Navarone (1961), The Message (1976) and Electra (1962). She was married to José Kohn and Alkis Papas. She died on 14 September 2022 in Chiliomodion, Corinthia, Greece.- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Born in Milan in 1933, Gian Maria Volontè studied in Rome at the National Dramatic Arts Academy, where he obtained his degree in 1957. He began working in theatre and television, where he was soon noticed as one of the most promising actors of his generation. After several supporting appearances in film, he reached notoriety with the character of Ramón Rojo in Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars (1964). This success was doubled in Leone's next film, For a Few Dollars More (1965). The following ten years would be the most intense of Volontè career. L'armata Brancaleone (1966) (directed by Mario Monicelli) was the most successful Italian movie of the year, We Still Kill the Old Way (1967) (directed by Elio Petri) won the Grand Prix du Scenario at the Cannes Film Festival, and Volontè won his first Nastro d'Argento (Silver Ribbon - the most prestigious acting award in Italy) in 1970 for Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (1970) (also directed by Petri), making him an international star. The film won the Academy Award for Best Foreign-Language Film, the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival and two Italian Golden Globes, including one for his performance. In 1972, he starred in two Italian movies as the protagonist: Petri's The Working Class Goes to Heaven (1971) and Francesco Rosi's The Mattei Affair (1972), both of which won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival, where he also won a Special Mention. In his life, Volontè won a huge number of other prizes and honours, becoming one of the most celebrated Italian actors of the seventies, and challenging Vittorio Gassman and Marcello Mastroianni as the most popular Italian actor. He died in Greece in 1994.- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Distinctive American actor, screenwriter, and producer of Lebanese ancestry, born Richard Joseph Romanos to Dr. Raymond Daniel Romanos and his wife Eileen Dorothy ((née Maloof). His younger brother, Robert, is also an actor. Richard attended Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio, graduating with a degree in philosophy in 1964. He initially set out to pursue a career in law. After studying for a year at the University of Connecticut Law School, he dropped out, moved to New York and enrolled in drama classes with Lee Strasberg at the renowned Actor's Studio. He made his screen debut in 1968 and quickly established himself as a versatile character player in high profile TV shows, commencing with Mission: Impossible (1966). Often cast as Latinos or Italians, he was reputedly considered for the role of Michael Corleone in The Godfather (1972). In fact, he did play a gangster named Michael (Longo) in Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets (1973).
In episodic television, Richard came to be equally adept at portraying good guys (Detective Sam Carlucci in Kojak (1973)) and black Hats (Johnny Noah in Hawaii Five-O (1968)). He had recurring roles in the short-lived, underrated detective series Tenspeed and Brown Shoe (1980) as the aptly named Crazy Tommy Tedesco, and, conversely, as tough police captains in Foul Play (1981). He was also a regular in the cast of Strike Force (1981) as the wry ladies' man Charlie Gunzer. In The Sopranos (1999), Richard played the ex-husband of psychiatrist Jennifer Melfi (Lorraine Bracco) who strongly disapproved of her treating Mafia don Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini).
Richard's first wife was the actress Tina Romanus (aka Bohlman, aka Bowman). Their marriage produced a son but ended in divorce in 1980. In 1985, he married the Oscar-nominated costume designer Anthea Sylbert. Together, they wrote the TV comedy Giving Up the Ghost (1998) and the Christmas fantasy If You Believe (1999), the latter receiving a nomination for a Best Original Screenplay Award from the Writers Guild of America in 1999. In 2004, the couple sold their home in Los Angeles and resettled on the Greek island of Skiathos. Henceforth, Richard concentrated on writing novels on Greek historical themes, an interest he had developed during his college years. He published 'Chrysalis' in 2011 and 'Matoula's Echo' in 2014, as well as a memoir, 'Act III', in 2012. A 2013 book, 'Sketches of Skiathos', was a homage to his new home and its inhabitants.
A member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Writers Guild of America, and a fellow of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, Richard Romanus died on December 26 2023 on Skiathos at the age of 80.- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Jules Dassin was an Academy Award-nominated director, screenwriter and actor best known for his films Rififi (1955), Never on Sunday (1960), and Topkapi (1964).
He was born Julius Samuel Dassin on 18 December 1911, in Middletown, Connecticut, USA. He was one of eight children of Russian-Jewish immigrants, Samuel Dassin and Berthe Vogel. Young Dassin grew up in Harlem, and he attended Morris High School in the Bronx, graduating in 1929. After taking acting classes in Europe, he returned to New York. In 1934, he became and actor with the ARTEF Players (Arbeter Teater Farband), and was a member of the troupe until 1939. Dassin played character roles in Yiddish, mainly in the plays by Sholom Aleichem. But upon discovering "that an actor I was not," he switched to directing and writing. At that time, he joined the Communist Party of the United States, but left the party in 1939, he said, disillusioned after the Soviet Union signed a pact with Adolf Hitler.
Dassin came to Hollywood in 1940, and was an apprentice to directors Alfred Hitchcock and Garson Kanin. In 1941, he made his directorial debut at MGM with adaptation of a story by Edgar Allan Poe. Dassin's best directorial works for Hollywood include such criminal dramas as Brute Force (1947) starring Burt Lancaster; The Naked City (1948), one of the first police dramas shot on the streets of New York; and Night and the City (1950) starring Richard Widmark as a hustler in London who is caught up in his own schemes. While he was assigned by producer Darryl F. Zanuck to make the film, Dassin was accused of affiliation with the Communist Party in his past. Zanuck advised Dassin to "shoot the expensive scenes first, to hook the studio" so the film was finished and released in 1951. Dassin was reported to HUAC in a 1951 testimony by directors Edward Dmytryk and Frank Tuttle. That was enough to sink his career in Hollywood. Dassin was subpoenaed by HUAC in 1952 and eventually became blacklisted after refusing to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee.
He left the United States for France in 1953 and struggled during his first years in Paris. He was not fluent in French, and his connections were limited. However, Dassin's low-budget film, Rififi (1955), famous for its long heist sequence that was free of dialog, won him the Best Director Award at the 1955 Cannes Film Festival. There, he met the Greek actress Melina Mercouri. Later, Dassin co-starred opposite Mercouri in his film Never on Sunday (1960), which won the Best Film Award at Cannes in 1960. At that time, the anti-Communist witch hunt in America was fading, and Dassin was accepted again. He received two Academy Award-nominations for directing and screen-writing for Topkapi (1964), starring Mercouri, Maximilian Schell, and Peter Ustinov. Dassin also served as member of jury at the Cannes and several other international film festivals.
Jules Dassin was married twice. He had three children with his first wife, violinist Beatrice Launer. His son, Joe Dassin, was a popular French singer in the 1960s and '70s, with such hits as "Bip Bip," "L'Eté Indien" and "Aux Champs-Èlysées." In 1966, Jules Dassin married Mercouri, an ardent anti-fascist who lost her Greek citizenship for opposing the junta, and the couple was living in Manhattan, remaining very active in their efforts to restore democracy in Greece during the dictatorship of the Colonels. After 1974, the couple returned to Greece, Mercouri became a member of the Greek Parliament, and Culture Minister of Greece. While living in Athens, Dassin was active in the effort to bring the 2500-year-old Elgin marbles of the Parthenon back to Athens from their current location at the British Museum in London. In this and other humanitarian causes, Dassin followed the last will of his late wife.
Jules Dassin died of complications caused by a flu, on April 1, 2008, at age 96, at Hygeia Hospital in Athens, Greece. He is survived by two daughters and grandchildren.- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Theo Angelopoulos began to study law in Athens but broke up his studies to go to the Sorbonne in Paris in order to study literature. When he had finished his studies, he wanted to attend the School of Cinema at Paris but decided instead to go back to Greece. There he worked as a journalist and critic for the newspaper "Demokratiki Allaghi" until it was banned by the military after a coup d'état. Now unemployed, he decided to make his first movie, Anaparastasi (1970). Internationally successful was his trilogy about the history of Greece from 1930 to 1970 consisting of Days of '36 (1972), The Travelling Players (1975), and Oi kynigoi (1977). After the end of the dictatorship in Greece, Angelopoulos went to Italy, where he worked with RAI (and more money). His movies then became less political.- Actress
- Make-Up Department
- Costume Designer
Mary Tsoni (25 June 1987 - 8 May 2017) was a Greek actress and singer. She was best known for her roles in the films Evil (2005), Dogtooth and Evil: In the Time of Heroes (both 2009). For her role in Dogtooth, she won the award for Best Actress at the Sarajevo Film Festival, and the motion picture itself was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
Born in Athens, Tsoni was also the lead singer of a punk band called Mary and The Boy and, prior to her acting career, a make-up artist. Tsoni was found dead in her apartment in Exarcheia, Athens on 8 May 2017, a month before her 30th birthday.- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Art Department
Spiros Focas is one of Greece's most respected and well-known actors. He was discovered by legendary Italian director Luchino Visconti and cast in a lead role in the classic Rocco and His Brothers (1960). He went on to star in many Greek and Italian films throughout the 1960s and '70s, working with such famous directors as Vincente Minnelli and Ferdinando Baldi. His work in Hollywood includes the hit films The Jewel of the Nile (1985) and Rambo III (1988). His most recent work includes the role of Uncle Telly in 3 Nights in Nisyros (2009).- Titos Vandis was born on 7 November 1917 in Thessaloniki, Greece. He was an actor and writer, known for Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex * But Were Afraid to Ask (1972), Prosohi, kindynos! (1983) and Dawn on the Third Day (1962). He was married to Nancy Hall, Eleanore Mahlein, Ketty Asprea, Aleka Paizi, Maria Alkaiou and Betty Valassi. He died on 23 February 2003 in Athens, Greece.
- Actress
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Aliki Vougiouklaki was born in 1934 (or 1933, according to some sources), in Maroussi Attikis, Greece. She studied at the Drama School of the Greek National Theater and made her stage debut in a 1953 Athens production of Molière's "Le malade imaginaire". Around the same time she made her movie debut in To pontikaki (1954). The late 1950's was her breakthrough period: she starred in a successful revival of George Bernard Shaw's "Pygmalion" (as Eliza Doolittle) and took the leading part in a very popular movie, Maiden's Cheek (1959). She instantly became Greece's most popular star, created her personal stage group (with a repertory including Aristophanes' "Lysistrata", Tennessee Williams' "Sweet Bird of Youth" and Sophocles' "Antigone") and starred in many films, light comedies and melodramas (in many of them she co-starred with Dimitris Papamichael, who was her husband and theater partner during 1965-1974). Her film Ypolohagos Natassa (1970) has been the biggest moneymaker in the history of Greek cinema.- Katina Paxinou was born in 1900, in Piraeus, Greece. She first appeared on stage in 1928, in an Athens production of Henry Bataille's "La femme nue". In the early 1930's she was one of the founding members of the National Theatre of Greece (previously named Royal Theatre) and performed several major roles in Sophocles' "Electra", Henrik Ibsen's "Ghosts" etc, often co-starring with her husband, Alexis Minotis. The outbreak of the Second World War found her in UK; she later managed to arrive at the US, where she was offered her first film role in 1943 in For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943). For her superb portrayal of the Spanish revolutionary Pilar in this classic film adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's novel, she won a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award and a Golden Globe in 1944. She made a few more Hollywood movies, before returning to Greece in the early 1950's. During 1950 - 1971, some of her great performances were as Jocasta in Sophocles's "Oedipus Rex" (1951, 1952, 1955 and 1958, also staged at that time on Broadway with enormous success), as Countess Rosmarin Ostenburg in Christopher Fry's "The Dark Is Light Enough" (1957), as Clara Zachanassian in Friedrich Dürrenmatt's "The Visit" (1961), as Mary Tyrone in Eugene O'Neill's "Long Day's Journey Into Night" (1965) and in the title roles of Euripides' "Hecuba" (1955) and Bertolt Brecht's "Mother Courage" (1971). She also starred in some other movies; she was particularly touching as the Italian matriarch in the Luchino Visconti masterpiece Rocco and His Brothers (1960). She died of cancer in 1973 and is justly considered as the greatest Greek actress of the 20th century.
- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Michael Cacoyannis was born on 11 June 1922 in Limassol, Cyprus. He was a director and writer, known for Zorba the Greek (1964), Electra (1962) and Eroika (1960). He died on 25 July 2011 in Athens, Greece.- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Director
Andréas Voutsinas was born on 22 August 1930 in Khartoum, Sudan. He was an actor and director, known for The Producers (1967), History of the World: Part I (1981) and The Big Blue (1988). He died on 8 June 2010 in Athens, Greece.- Writer
- Additional Crew
Homer is the name traditionally ascribed to the brilliant Greek bard that authored, most notably, the Iliad and the Odyssey (Western civilization's first complete stories). Nothing concrete is known of his life, but he is traditionally thought to be blind and was probably born in either Chios or Smyrna. His epic poems were most likely memorized and recited in bardic lays and only later written down. While the details and dates of Homer's life have been lost in the mists of time, the Iliad and Odyssey were probably composed in the late eighth century B.C.- Zoe Laskari was born in Thessaloniki, Greece. In 1959 she won the title of "Miss Greece" and two years later she played the female lead in Giannis Dalianidis's youth melodrama _Katiforos, O (1961)_. The success of that film made Laskari a star; she signed an exclusive contract with Finos Film, the most powerful Greek studio of the period, and appeared in many films, musicals, comedies and melodramas (most of them were directed by the prolific Dalianidis, who became her mentor). She made her stage debut in the late 1960s, but really concentrated on theater after the decline of the Greek commercial cinema in the mid-1970s; her stage work includes Edward Albee's "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" (as Martha), Euripides' "The Trojan Women" (as Eleni), Neil Simon's "Barefoot in the Park" etc.
- Writer
- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
Lord Byron seemed destined from birth to tragedy. His father was the handsome but feckless Captain John "Mad Jack" Byron and his mother the Scottish heiress Catherine Gordon, the only child of the Laird of Gight.
Captain Byron abandoned his wife and child leaving Catherine to bring up young Byron on her own. A harsh and dependent parent, Catherine was just the wrong sort of person to raise a sensitive child, clinging to him one moment, and the next denouncing Byron as a "lame brat." Born with a club foot, Byron (no-one ever called him George) was kept separated from peers and his elder half-sister, Augusta, by his over-protective mother. At fourteen he fell in love with a neighbor, Mary Chaworth, and wrote love poetry to her. Byron was heartbroken, however, when he overheard Mary callously call him "that little lame boy" while talking to a friend.
Always deeply sensitive about his deformity, he finally received adequate medical care in his teens which corrected the problem. A hedonist in school, Byron was popular and outgoing, though by his own admission he did very little schoolwork. The publication of his poem, "Childe Harold", prompted Byron to remark famously, "I awoke one day to find myself famous." When a distant cousin died, Byron unexpectedly found himself heir to the baronetcy, at which point he became the 6th Baron Byron. The most popular person in Regency London, he wrote more poetry and carried on illicit affairs, most notably with Lady Caroline Lamb, who inspired one of his best and shortest poems: "Caro Lamb, Goddamn."
After the spectacular flaming disintegration of his relationship with Caroline, a woman stepped into his life who would become his greatest love and the cause of his eventual downfall -- his half-sister, Augusta. Augusta occupied the central place in his heart, and he wrote many passionate poems in her honor.
On April 15th, 1814, Augusta gave birth to Elizabeth Medora Leigh. Byron was ecstatic over the birth of the girl, who was nicknamed "Libby". The child bore the name Leigh, and Augusta's husband, her cousin Colonel George Leigh, apparently had no suspicions regarding her paternity. Libby herself claimed in her autobiography she was always a favorite of the Colonel's.
Augusta herself pressured her brother Byron to wed, in order to avert a scandal. He reluctantly chose the intelligent and confident Annabella Milbanke, a cousin of his old flame Caroline Lamb. Enamoured with her handsome husband, Annabella even became friendly with Augusta, but it was not long before her marriage began to fall apart. Byron treated her coldly, and was very disappointed when their only child, Ada Byron, was not a boy.
Byron went into self-imposed exile in Italy, though he remained in contact with Augusta. Byron befriended fellow rogue poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, who had shocked the world by running away and living in sin with Mary Wollenstonecraft Godwin (better known as Mary Shelley, author of "Frankenstein"). Percy and Mary joined Byron for the summer at Geneva, accompanied by Mary's stepsister, Claire Clairmont. Byron and Claire had a brief romance, which resulted in daughter Allegra, who Byron raised himself. Allegra saw little of her mother, and referred to Byron's Italian mistress as "mamma". When Allegra died at the age of six in 1822, Claire was enraged and refused to have anything to do with Byron ever again. Depressed by both his daughter's death and the drowning of Percy Bysshe Shelley, Byron took up a new cause - that of Greek independence from the Ottoman Empire. Summoning support, he arrived in Greece with weapons and supplies, but before he could join the fight, went down with a deadly fever. He died in 1824, and his last words were, "My daughter! My sister!"- Actress
- Writer
- Producer
At the beginning of her career she played several roles at the Greek National Theatre with Katina Paxinou and Alexis Minotis. At the same time she appeared at several movies and she became a star, a protagonist at once. she creates her own personal groups and plays mostly comedy with (1960) great successs.In 1968 she gets married to Kostas Kazakos and they create their own group on stage. They stage plays of Albee (Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf) Ibsen (Hedda Gabler), and the ancient Greek tragics Sophocles (Electra, Oedipus Rex), Euripides (Medea). Her last appearence on stage was at Loula Anagnostakis (a female Greek author) play "Diamonds and Blues".- Actor
- Director
- Soundtrack
Studied at Konstantinos Michailidis Drama School
He became really famous during the 80's with many films he participated with actress and very close friend, Kaiti Finou.
Since March 14, 2017 he was hospitalized in "Aghios Savvas" hospital diagnosed with cancer, and since Easter Sunday he had been intubated in the intensive care unit of that hospital, having deteriorated. He passed away at the age of 66, on April 21, 2017 at 14:25. Close to him remained his second wife Christina Psalti and his daughter from the first marriage.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Yannis Fertis was born in Athens, in 1938. He studied at the Drama School of "Theatro Technis" under the supervision of Carolos Koun and made his stage debut in 1959. His breakthrough stage role was Chance Wayne in an Athens 1960 production of Tennessee Williams "Sweet Bird of Youth" opposite Melina Mercouri; he became a major theater actor and created personal groups, collaborating with Xenia Kalogeropoulou, who was his wife during 1965 - 1976, and other important actors and directors. His stage work includes Tchekhov's "The Seagull" (as Trepliev), Ibsen's "Ghosts" (as Oswald),Molière's "Don Juan" (title role) etc. He also starred in several TV series and films; his best screen role is the innocent young hero of _Zestos minas Avgoustos(1966)_.- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Kostis Zois was born in 1931 in Mesolongi, Greece. He was a director and writer, known for Silouettes (1967), Drapetis (1968) and To alogo (1965). He died on 26 April 2024 in Athens, Greece.- Writer
- Director
- Producer
Nikos Nikolaidis was born on 25 October 1939 in Athens, Greece. He was a writer and director, known for Morning Patrol (1987), Ta kourelia tragoudane akoma... (1979) and O hamenos ta pairnei ola (2002). He died on 5 September 2007 in Athens, Greece.- Sotiris Moustakas was born on 17 September 1940 in Lemessos, Cyprus. He was an actor, known for An itan to violi pouli... (1984), Athina, i klopi tis odou Stadiou (1968) and O Tsitsiolinos (1987). He was married to Maria Bonelou and Maria Bonellou. He died on 4 June 2007 in Athens, Greece.
- Composer
- Music Department
- Actor
Mikis Theodorakis was born in the Greek island of Chios, in 1925. It was the same year that the other great composer of Greece was born in Xanthi, Manos Hatzidakis. He fought during the 2nd World War, and was captured at the city of Tripoli. He was tortured, but when he was set free, he joined the partisan army of Greece named EAM, which means National Liberating Movement. He took part in the civil war in Greece which occurred during 1945-1949, always with the left parties of Greece. He was exiled for the first time in the island of Ikaria in 1947, he was transferred to the island of Makronisos in 1948.
He married Myrto Altinoglou, five years later in 1953, and one year later he moved in Paris in order to continue his studies in music. He composed continuously during the following years using some of the most wonderful poems in order to express the people of Greece. After Lamprakis, a Parliamentary representative was murdered, Theodorakis became a member of the Parliament and the number one enemy of the Right parties of Greece.
The great composer didn't not stop expressing his need and hope for democracy even when military dictator Georgios Papadopoulos took power in Greece in 1967. Some months later the military dictatorship decides that he is not 'welcome' in his own country, he was exiled for one more time. Great personalities express their support to this great composer, like Leonard Bernstein, Arthur Miller etc.
He became internationally famous when he composed the music for the film Zorba the Greek (1964), directed by Michael Cacoyannis and starring Anthony Quinn. But he was becoming very popular even before that film, when he was composing music for the Jules Dassin film Phaedra (1962) starring Melina Mercouri, Anthony Perkins, Raf Vallone, and Kakogiannis' Electra (1962) starring Irene Papas, Aleka Katselli. He even composed music for such acclaimed films like Z (1969) by Costa-Gavras starring Yves Montand and Papas, and Serpico (1973) by Sidney Lumet starring Al Pacino. He came back in 1974, but he stayed only for 6 years. Theodorakis was dissatisfied and went back in Paris and finished his third big work, Canto General, which together with the music from the film Zorba the Greek (1964) and "Axion Esti," a piece of work based on the poems of the Nobel winner poet Odysseas Elitis.
During the '80s, he became for one more time member of the Parliament and issue of controversy in the beginning of the 90s, when he collaborated with the right party's prime minister Konstantinos Mitsotakis. In 1992, he composed the Canto Olympico for the Olympic Games of Barcelona.
His opera Ilektra gained very good reviews, in Luxemburg, the Capital City Of Europe in 1995. He composed also another opera of Lysistrati for the Olympic Games of Athens in 2004. Although, he created controversies with his actions during the last decades, 1980-1990, Mikis Theodorakis was one of the greatest composers of Greece, and created the modern music of Greece together with Manos Hadjidakis.- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Thanasis Vengos was born in 1927 in Neo Faliro, Piraeus, Greece. He made his movie debut in 1952 and played many supporting parts in films of the 1950s, often working as a technician, too. His first really major part was in the anti-war comedy Psila ta heria Hitler (1962); he followed that with a long series of comedies, which made him extremely popular. He created the recognizable persona of the everyday man who keeps running to earn his daily bread. His best roles often have a tragic dimension, as the anti-heroes he played in the commercial and artistic hits Ti ekanes ston polemo Thanasi (1971) and Enas xenoiastos palaviaris (1971).But he was also fine in purely dramatical roles, as in It's a Long Road (1998). He also did some interesting stage work, starring in ancient (Aristophanes' "Peace" and "Acharneis") and modern Greek comedies (Giorgos Lazaridis' "O trellos tou Luna-park").- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Takis Emmanuel was born in 1933 in Greece. He was an actor and producer, known for Levkas Man (1981), Kostas (1979) and Caddie (1976). He died on 26 August 2017 in Athens, Greece.- Panos Natsis was born on 3 January 1991 in Athens, Greece. He was an actor, known for 3000 (2016), Role Play: The Movie (2017) and Serres (2022). He died on 29 January 2022 in Athens, Greece.
- Kostas Stefanakis was born and raised in the beautiful island of Crete. In the early 70s, he moved to Athens, the capital city of Greece, in order to study acting. Even before his graduation he got the leading role in the movie "I Koukla" which was written and directed by Alexandros Diamantis. This erotic crime film is so obscure that no database or book mentions it. Its own director claims that it was never released properly in the theaters. A few years later Diamantis re-worked the screenplay and shot the movie again under the title A Strange Couple (1976).
Kostas went on with his career working with Chris Liambos and Kostas Gousgounis in highly successful erotic thrillers such as Diestrammenoi apo tin genna tous (1974), Burning Passions (1975) and The Pervert (1975). He also had a small role in the movie _Kolasmeni tou sex, I (1974)_ and since then he preserves a friendly relationship with Anestis Vlahos who was the leading actor in that obscure movie.
Stefanakis is a suitable actor for dynamic roles and his 30 year career as an actor proves that. He has worked with giants of the Greek cinema such as Omiros Efstratiadis, Pavlos Filippou, Pantelis Voulgaris, Vasilis Georgiadis, Nikos Foskolos and Nikos Koundouros. His favorite leading role though, was for the video-movie O skylas (1986) which remains a "trash" classic until today due to the hilarious direction/editing and its low production values.
He also appeared in major TV series such as Tmima ithon (1992) and Tavros me toxoti (1994). Kostas Stefanakis is a low-profile person and very easy to work with. His hobbies are diving, swimming, Japanese wrestling and pottery. - Kostas Evripiotis was born in 1963 in Athens, Greece. He was an actor, known for The Dangerous (1983), Afstiros katallilo (2008) and Tis Ellados ta paidia (1993). He died on 30 May 2019 in Athens, Greece.
- Despo Diamantidou was born on 13 July 1916 in Piraeus, Greece. She was an actress, known for Love and Death (1975), Topkapi (1964) and Sapila kai aristokratia (1967). She was married to Andreas Filippides. She died on 18 February 2004 in Athens, Greece.
- Music Department
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Artemios "Demis" Ventouris-Roussos was a Greek Egyptian then his family migrated to Greece and he became a Greek vocalist and performer who had an internationally acclaimed career, as a single recording artist and bandleader. As a band member he is best remembered for his work in the progressive rock music act Aphrodite's Child, but as a vocal soloist, his repertoire included hit songs like ''Goodbye, My Love, Goodbye'', ''From Souvenirs to Souvenirs'' and ''Forever and Ever''.- Bob Behling was born on 16 June 1944 in Franklin, Washington. He was an actor, known for Island of Death (1976), Naked in the Snow (1974) and The Hook (1976). He died on 14 November 1977 in Athens, Greece.
- Actor
- Director
- Producer
Alexis Minotis was born on 8 August 1898 in Canea, Greece. He was an actor and director, known for The Chase (1946), Land of the Pharaohs (1955) and Notorious (1946). He was married to Katina Paxinou. He died on 11 November 1990 in Athens, Greece.- Actor
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Labros Konstadaras (13 March 1913 - 28 June 1985) was one of the greatest actors of Greek theatre and cinema, excellent both in comedy and drama, with ancestry from Istanbul. He was the brother of actress Mitsi Konstadaras and father of former New Democracy MP Dimitris Konstadaras who gave him two grandchildren, Pavlina in 1974 and Labros in 1979. He was born in Kolonaki Athens and died at "Asklepieion" hospital of Voula Athens. Earlier (1978 and 1983) he had suffered two strokes.
In 1930 he joined, after his family's insistence and without his own will, the non-commissioned Navy School in Corfu, from where he eventually escaped by swimming. He was spared the Court-martial after his family's actions. In 1934 he went to Paris to study goldsmith, in order to take on the family jewelry shop in downtown Athens. He abandoned his studies and did various jobs, until he was discovered by the French Director Louis Zoybe when he played a bit part in a theatrical performance. He studied actor at the theatre "Atene" and in the summer of 1938, he returned to Greece, starting his career.
He served the Greek theatre for 40 years, acting in 191 plays and people still enjoy him through his films (more than 75, mostly comedies). He excelled in roles of the mature, rich and womanizer or "father" of several well-known stars of the era in movies such as "My Daughter, the Socialist", "Some Weary Lads", "A Matter of Earnestness", "Alice in the Navy".
He married in first wedlock actress Julie Georgopoulou in 1945 and in the second Filio Kekatou in 1971. He spent his last years in Varkiza Athens. He is buried in the first cemetery of Athens.- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Director
Walter Lassally was born on 18 December 1926 in Berlin, Germany. He was a cinematographer and director, known for Zorba the Greek (1964), Before Midnight (2013) and Heat and Dust (1983). He was married to Nadia Lassali. He died on 23 October 2017 in Crete, Greece.- Gustav Hasford was born in 1947, in Russellville, Alabama. He joined the Marines right out of school in 1967 and used his experiences as a Combat Correspondent in Vietnam to write his first novel, The Short-Timers, which Stanley Kubrick turned into Full Metal Jacket (1987). Hasford's second novel, published in 1990, was a sequel to The Short-Timers titled The Phantom Blooper. It detailed Private Joker's transformation after living in a Vietnamese village. Hasford's final novel, A Gypsy Good Time, was a dialogue-rich detective story. When he died of a heart attack in 1993 he was living on the island of Ithaca in Greece.
- Writer
- Director
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Nikos Panayotopoulos was born on November 6, 1941, in Mytilene, Greece. He studied film making in Athens and started his career as an assistant director in Greek and foreign productions.
In 1960-1973 he lived in Paris where he attended film courses at the filmology institute of Sorbonne.
In 1973 he returned to Athens. His first film The Color of Iris (1974) ("The Colours of Iris") was the most unexpected creation of the New Greek Cinema. Since then he lived and worked there, and his beloved wife Marianna Spanoudakis, always by his side, participated faithfully in all of his productions, mainly as a costume designer and also as producer and actress. Since 1974 he wrote and directed films, with a special narrative style in a thematic approach that deals with issues such as erotic delusion and deterioration of human relations.
His films have participated in national and international festivals and have received important distinctions and prizes.
His death came just a few weeks after the release of his film I kori tou Rembrandt (2015) ("Rembrandt's Daughter").- Actress
- Soundtrack
Vasiliadou was born in 1897, in Athens, Greece. Her real name was Georgia Athanasiou. She was obliged to leave school early and work as a shop girl, in order to help her family. She made her stage debut in 1918, but began her studies at the Gennadeios Phonetic School in 1923 and appeared in some operas. She then worked with the major theater companies of the period (Kyveli , Marika Kotopouli, Dimitris Myrat), playing a wide range of parts. In the mid-1930s she decided to retire, but Alekos Sakellarios offered her a small part in the 1939 musical comedy "Koritsia tis pantreias"; that was the genesis of a second career for the middle-aged actress, who went on to star in many comedies and revues and created personal stage groups until the late 1960s. She also made a tentative movie debut in 1930, but became one of the all-time greats of the Greek cinema during the 1950s, when she starred in extremely popular comedies like I oraia ton Athinon (1954), in which Nikos Tsiforos played with her unconventional external appearance, and The Auntie from Chicago (1957), in which director-writer Alekos Sakellarios cast her as a wealthy Greek-American who returns to Greece after thirty years and brings a fresh lifestyle to the family of her conservative brother. She died in 1980, but is always fondly remembered by Greek audiences.- Director
- Writer
- Editor
He studied painting and sculpture at the Athens School of Fine Arts from which he graduated in 1948.
Because of his left-wing political beliefs, he was exiled in Makronisos Island after the end of World War II
He started his career, as a director, at the age of 28, on 1954, with the film "Maghiki Polis" (Enchanted City) that was influenced by neorealism. With his second film "Dracos" (Dragon) in 1956 came his national and international recognition for his cinematography.
Lately he was hospitalized because of respiratory problems
He passed away around 16:00 on the afternoon of February 22, 2017 at his home in Athens, close to his family, at the age of 91.- Nikos Kourkoulos was born in 1934, in Athens, Greece. He studied acting at the Drama School of the Greek National Theater and made his stage debut in a 1958 Athens production of Alexandre Dumas fils's "La dame aux camélias", opposite Ellie Lambeti and Dimitris Horn. He was one of the founders of the prestigious stage group Proskinio and appeared in the 1967 Broadway musical "Ilya Darling", with Melina Mercouri. He created his personal group in the early 1970's, with a repertory which included, among others, Franz Kafka's "The Trial", Arthur Miller's "View from the Bridge" and Bertolt Brecht's "The Beggar's Opera". His last stage appearance to date was in the title role of Sophocles' "Philoktitis" (1991); he then became artistic director of the Greek National Theater. His film career has been equally successful: he starred in many films from the late 1950's until the early 1980's. His most commercial films have been melodramas with a social background, like Oratotis miden (1970).
- Actor
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Giorgos Foundas was born in 1924 in Parnassida, Greece. He was an actor and producer, known for The Asphalt Fever (1967), Me ti lampsi sta matia (1966) and The Shepherdess' Lover (1955). He died on 28 November 2010 in Athens, Greece.- Mihalis Giannatos was born in 1941 in Istanbul, Turkey. He was an actor, known for Midnight Express (1978), Munich (2005) and Captain Corelli's Mandolin (2001). He was married to Chaido. He died on 17 September 2013 in Athens, Greece.
- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Rena Vlahopoulou was born in 1923 in Corfu, Greece. She was an actress and producer, known for The Girl from Corfu (1956), A Greek Woman in the Harem (1971) and I Rena einai 'off-side' (1972). She was married to Giorgos Lafazanis, Giannis Kostopoulos and Kostas Vasileiou. She died on 29 July 2004 in Athens, Greece.- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Kostas Hatzihristos was born in 1921 in Salonica, Greece. He was an actor and director, known for Thimios in the Land of Striptease (1963), Who Will Pay for the Marble? (1956) and World Gone Mad (1963). He was married to Ketty Diridaoua and Eleni Pantazi. He died on 3 October 2001 in Athens, Greece.- Production Designer
- Director
- Additional Crew
Ted Bafaloukos was born on 18 May 1946 in Athens, Greece. He was a production designer and director, known for The Natural (1984), Rockers (1978) and Aerosmith: Amazing (1993). He died on 10 September 2016 in Andros, Greece.- Natalya Bogunova was born on 8 April 1948 in Leningrad, RSFSR, USSR [now St. Petersburg, Russia]. She was an actress, known for Begushchaya po volnam (1967), Do svidaniya, malchiki! (1966) and Malchik i devochka (1966). She was married to Aleksandr Stefanovich. She died on 9 August 2013 in Crete, Greece.
- Actor
- Production Manager
- Writer
Zannino was born on 21 August 1923 in Istanbul, Turkey. He was an actor and production manager, known for Midnight Express (1978), Efialtis (1961) and Epiheirisis Apollon (1968). He was married to Zafeiria "Jenny" Sfountouri. He died on 27 May 1995 in Athens, Greece.- Linda Giga was born in 1964. She was an actress, known for The Jerks (1987), Adelfi mou... agapi mou (1986) and O protaris batsos kai i troteza (1989). She died on 10 July 2016 in Athens, Greece.
- Actor
- Writer
- Director
Yannis Voglis was born in 1937, in Athens, Greece. He studied acting at the Drama School of Pelos Katselis and made his stage debut in a 1961 Athens revival of Brecht's "The Rise of Arthuro Oui" (directed by Carolos Koun). He had a solid theatrical career; his highlihts include Ibsen's "Peer Guyyd" (title role), Shakespeare's "Coriolanus" (title role), Sophocles' "Philoktitis" (title role), Gorky's "The Enemies" (as Zahar Bartin) and many Greek plays. He also starred in many movies; his most powerful role was as the cruel landowner in the Academy Award nominated _Homa vaftike kokkino, To (1965)_, but he was also touching as the shepherd in Koritsia ston ilio (1968). He also appeared in international productions and TV series.- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Kostas Voutsas was born in Athens, in 1931. He studied at the Drama School of the Macedonian Conservatory of Thessaloniki and made his stage and screen debut in 1953. His breakthrough came in 1961, when Giannis Dalianidis gave him a key part in his phenomenally successful youth melodrama Spoiled Rotten (1961). He soon became one of the best and most popular comic actors of his generation and created personal groups, starring in many Greek comedies by top play-writers and classics like Aristophanes' "Sfikes" (as Philokleon), Molière's "Le bourgeois gentilhomme" (title role) etc. He also starred in about 60 movies, mostly comedies and musicals of the 'golden era' of Greek commercial cinema and received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Thessaloniki Film Festival in 1984.- Nikos Seryanopoulos was born in 1952 in Drama, Greece. He was an actor, known for Enohi agapi (1996), Epafi (2005) and Polythrona gia treis (2006). He died on 4 June 2008 in Athens, Greece.
- Kostas Gousgounis was born on 21 March 1931 in Larissa, Greece. He was an actor, known for Sex... 13 beaufort! (1971), Synomosia sti Mesogeio (1975) and I leoforos tou thanatou (1966). He died on 6 May 2022 in Athens, Greece.