George Marinos died at the age of 87. The well-known showman lived in a nursing home in Glyfada, while in the last years of his life he had withdrawn from the spotlight.
In 2024, through the show "You Haven't Seen Anything Yet", it became known that he was living in a nursing home.
Following the news of his death, Anna Fonsou said goodbye to Giorgos Marinos on Wednesday, March 11. Speaking on "Proino", she spoke of a great artist and a wise man. At the same time, she emphasized that she admired him through his work until she met him during his stay at "The Actor's House".
As she said: "What can I say about George. I want to say that I met an amazing person and I think that the last great artist left today. I have nothing else to say. I am so moved. I lived through him in very difficult times and there I saw his disappointment, because no one was around him. I was with a friend of mine, who I had never met in my life. I met him when they called me to go up there, because he was falling down and no one was there to take him to the hospital. I didn't know George, I just admired him. During the time he sat with us, he told us many things, we climbed many steps higher with what this man told us, he was wise. He was sick at the time, I can't say what he had told me."
George Marinos was born in Athens on June 18, 1939 and was a singer, actor and entertainer, one of the pioneers of live show in Greece. His parents divorced when he was just one year old and he grew up with his mother, Vasiliki. His father, Alexandros, was absent from his childhood, as he was exiled in Makronissos. He saw him for the first time when he was 12 years old.
George Marinos' parents wanted him to pursue a career as a civil engineer or architect, like his father, who had a special talent for mathematics. However, while still a minor, he secretly took exams at the National Theater School. In 1962, while he was in his second year, he participated in the play Street of Dreams by Manos Hadjidakis, alongside renowned artists such as Dimitris Horn, Rena Vlachopoulou and Maro Kontou, performing the song "Every Garden". From that moment on, his professional career in the theater, but also in the nightclubs of the time, began.
At the same time, he also made appearances in cinema, such as in Ionas Daifas' film "The Third Road", starring Maro Kontou. Combining acting and singing, he introduced a new type of entertainment to Greece that included prose, satire, dance and music. He appeared for almost two decades (1973-1992) at Makrygiannis, on the stage of "Medusa". He collaborated for years with Dimitris Danikas, while lyrics for his songs were written by Lina Nikolakopoulou, Dimitris Iatropoulos, Stamatis Kraounakis and Nini Zaha.
He maintained a close friendship with Manos Hadjidakis and Nikos Gatsos. He was one of the first showmen in Greece, with his sketches, caustic lines and imitations causing laughter and satirizing the ills of Greek society. In his personal life he was particularly lonely, while a few years ago he retired from public life.
During his career, he worked in many musical and theatrical scenes, while participating in several television programs, most notably the show Ciao ANT1 in the mid-1990s. In addition, he had made a few appearances in cinema.
Giorgos Marinos was one of the first famous people in Greece to speak openly about their homosexuality, in the mid-1960s. In an interview, he said: "The difference was that I came into daily contact with the public. They could touch me. They could shout at me. I appeared in public every night. That was a problem. On the other hand, by declaring that I was homosexual, I was obliged to be very dignified."
At sixteen, he had revealed to his parents that he was gay. He was even the inspiration for the song "Achilleas from Cairo" by his collaborator Kostas Tournas. As he himself had stated, the great love of his life was the actress Katiana Balanika, with whom he was partners for four years in the late 1960s. As he had stated, he did not want to marry or have children. Despite all this, their paths did not part, neither professionally nor as friends: they collaborated for years in "Medusa" and were very close in the following years.
