They generously spread the smile and shared joy with the world, in difficult times. In difficult times, where cinema was the way out of everyday problems, misery and the absence of hope.
Most of them are comedians, with abundant talent and a unique ability to give the audience the carelessness they lacked, but also the identification with people next door. With characters taken from everyday life, familiar.
Some of them excelled in more dramatic roles. But even there in the tragedy of the roles they played on the big screen, the audience could discern similarities from their own lives.
However, with the actors of the old Greek cinema, which we will present to you below, the following happened: they themselves had lived in a tragic way the hard face of fate. Their lives were not always as bright and carefree as one might imagine. They themselves experienced the pain caused by death. They lived in orphanage, the loss of loved ones, deprivation, misery. Their fate was kneeling and they stood up. And it was these tragic personal stories that identified them even more with the audience, in those difficult times, which most of us now hear through narratives.
The orphanage of Aliki Vougiouklaki and her "necrosis"
She was "our national star", the "kitten" of Greek cinema, the Alice of all Greeks, who generously gave the girl carelessness and joy to the public, through her Nazis.
And yet, the Aliki Vougiouklaki from a very early age he met the harsh face of life. When she was 9 years old she was orphaned by her father. Ioannis Vougiouklakis, former Prefect of Arcadia and lawyer during the German Occupation, was assassinated on December 31, 1943 by ELAS.
She never managed to overcome the loss of her father. Although Amy's mother stood by all three of her children, she was a rock both as a mother and as a father, making ends meet very difficult financially.
However, the actress from a very early age had to fight for her life. A few months after her birth, she became seriously ill with bronchopneumonia and because they believed she would die, they baptized her in the air, which at that time was commonly called "necropsy". Shortly afterwards, Aliki Vougiouklaki recovered.
The double tragedy that haunted the life of Nikos Kourkoulos
Double was the blow of fate in Nikos Kourkoulos, who never wanted to share the pain he had carried in his soul for years, choosing to mourn silently for the mourning that covered their family home, after he lost his two brothers.
In the scene of the movie "Visibility Zero", where the protagonist burns his things outside his house, the actor brings out an incredible intensity, a passion that shocks. It is one of the most shocking scenes of Greek cinema, while many said that the passion of Nikos Kourkoulos was not accidental. It was like an outburst of his own tragic story.
It was in 1952 when a hurricane hit the gas station where the eldest son of the family, Spyros Kourkoulos, was traveling as a third captain. The ship was cut in two, off Venezuela. According to testimonies, residents found the lifeless body of the captain. The others were never found.
When they were informed of the unpleasantness, they all collapsed. The mother of the actor never accepted the death of her child. The fact that his body was not found left little hope burning in her soul. Somewhere inside her she believed or hoped that one day the door would open and she would see him standing in front of her. Nikos Kourkoulos was shocked by the loss of his brother, but he never spoke publicly about the family tragedy.
Death would knock on the door of the Kourkoulos family again, and another child would be "lost", the third son, Iakovos. He had studied civil engineering and one day, while inspecting a building, he tripped and was killed. The issue will not be made public, although Nikos was already one of the most famous actors.
The inconceivable tragedy lived by Pantelis Zervos
Loving father, village priest, prefect, friend, whatever role the Pantelis Zervos, gave to him, but also brought out a love, kindness, honesty, sincerity, sweetness, respect. Characteristics that made him one of the most beloved actors of the old Greek cinema, with the audience identifying with him, feeling like his own person. One with him. However, the inconceivable family tragedy that Pantelis Zervos lived, was the only time that the audience could not feel a little of the absolute pain that the actor was experiencing.
The story of Pantelis Zervos seems to be taken from an ancient tragedy. And what irony of fate? He was informed of the tragic news when he was on the stage of the theater of Epidaurus.
The actor was married and had three daughters. The family lived in Paleo Faliro in the winter and in the summers the mother and daughters went to Santorini, in her place of origin. There, it was the summer of 1956, when Egelados leveled the island on July 9, burying his little daughter, 12-year-old Eudoxia, under the rubble. His wife and two other daughters managed to get out of the house and were saved. The night before he went on stage to play, he learned the tragic news: "Eudoxula was killed" they told him.
However, the drama was to continue. Three years later, during the exhumation, it was found that the little girl had been buried alive (her body had changed position inside the coffin).
Pantelis Zervos kept this secret inside him forever, even from his wife. He confessed it shortly before its end.
But he also had a difficult childhood. When he was 4 years old he lost his mother and 8 his father, while his relatives sent him to an orphanage.
Elli Lampeti's life was taken from an ancient tragedy
The life of the great actress had it all to a superlative degree: success, glory, fame, recognition, talent, beauty, prestige, love, adoration, love, passion, but also pain. A lot of pain on a personal level, that you dare that the scenario of her life it was written by an ancient tragedian.
From her birth, already, the Elli Lampeti she was called to give her first brave battle to stay alive. Her twin brother was born healthy, but she was barely breathing and her hopes of survival seemed slim. But little Eleni Loukou (that was her real name) denied them. And he won the first "battle" for life.
But death would return to her life over and over again, taking her loved ones away from her, leaving her behind dissolved and immersed in the pain of loss. Until, he returned to get her, very early, completing this ancient tragedy of the Lukos family.
In 1941, her twin brother, Takis, died of tuberculosis. The blow for Elli was strong. She lost her other half. He was, then, only 15 years old. He never overcame his death. He always felt the pain of his absence.
During December, her mother was killed by a stray bullet. The loss crushes her. Her big black eyes are sinking more and more into melancholy.
In March 1953 she lost her father and for two years lost her sister Kula to cancer. The blow was great. He can not manage this loss either. He has paralysis (Bell's palsy), which causes paralysis of one side of the face. As a result, Elli temporarily lost her light.
In 1958 she lost her other sister to cancer. A few years later, her other sister, Fotini, also died of cancer. Now, Lambeti is sure that she will have the same fate. And her worst fear took shape in 1968, when she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
A few years later and while she has gone through the court adventure for the adoption of little Eliza, which cost her mentally, the cancer returned more wild and aggressive. Elli Lampeti gradually lost her voice, while she passed away on September 3, 1983 at the age of 57.
The "traitor" of Greek cinema lived the brutality of the Germans
It passed into the consciousness of the Greek public as the "bad guy" of cinema. The traitor, the dossier of the Germans. The name of "Matsas" was identified due to its roles with Hafidism. And yet Artemis Matsas lived most of all the brutality of the Germans. And the script of his own life had nothing to do with the roles he played on the big screen.
When the Germans invaded Athens, his mother had already died. The actor, his older brother and his sister lived with their father, who was of Jewish descent.
Pinchas Matsas did not return home one night. He was captured by the Germans, who sent him to a concentration camp, from where he never returned. It is said that Father Matsa was given to the Germans by the brownies of the time. Yes, those who later uniquely played his son in the cinema. He did what he hated most, finally proving how great an actor he was.
The tragic story of Phaedon Georgitsis
A few days ago, he left life ο Faidon Georgitsis. And among the stories that came to light again about the life of the great actor, was the tragic story that his family lived.
The actor was born in Nea Smyrni in 1939 and had a sister, Katie. At the age of 6, she was killed while playing in a neighborhood building. The actor had spoken in an interview about the tragic incident, saying that the only thing he remembers are his mother's sobs.
The double orphanage of Zoe Laskari
Η Zoe laskari she never met her father, a colonel in the Greek Army, Dimitris Kourouklis, as she was killed in the Civil War. A few years later and while the unforgettable actress was 7, she also lost her mother.
The blow of fate for the little girl was huge. Her grandparents took care of her. Zoitsa of Greek cinema had talked about her difficult childhood years and the orphanage she experienced in her own skin from her tender age.
"I was eight months old when my father was killed, at the age of 24, in the Civil War. My mother died when I was 7 years old. The loss of parents is a void that is never filled. I did not live Christmas. At home we were constantly in mourning. We never decorated a tree. That's why I do not love Christmas, after all. I have not experienced them. We never turned on the radio. "I never uttered the word 'dad', I do not remember shouting the word 'mom'… I'm not angry about my father 's killers, but I did not have a normal childhood" of Cyprus.
Grandfather and grandmother adore their granddaughter. But the times are difficult and different. They are overprotective with her. They do not want to hurt her fragile childhood soul anymore, which is why they are hiding the truth about her mother's death. She is told that she left for Italy. She learns the truth at school and feels the world fall apart in front of her.
"I was lied to about my mother's death, while I saw her dead at home. That he allegedly left for Italy. For a year they sent me fake letters. At one point, at school, they said to me: “Which mother in Italy? "Your mother died." I ran and went and as if a hand took me and put me in front of her grave and I saw her photo. I went home and broke up. "Why did you do this to me?" They did not do it for evil. To protect me. But in the wrong way ", Zoe Laskari, among others, had confessed in an interview.