Aliki Vougiouklaki
Encyclopedia
Aliki Vougiouklaki was a Greek
Greeks
The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....

 actress. She is considered as one of the most popular and successful actresses of Greek cinema.

Biography

Aliki Stamatina Vougiouklaki was born in Marousi
Marousi
Marousi , alternative forms: Maroussi, Amarousion, and Amaroussion, is a suburban city NE of Athens, Greece. The Athens Olympic Sports Complex, the largest sports complex in Greece, is also located here; its main street is Kifisias Avenue, and also contains four ISAP train stations and two of the...

, Athens Prefecture
Athens Prefecture
The Athens Prefecture was one of the prefectures of Greece. It was part of the Attica region and the Athens-Piraeus super-prefecture. The capital of the prefecture was the city of Athens. After Lefkada Prefecture it was the second-smallest in Greece, but was the most populous and most densely...

. She had two brothers, Takis
Takis Vougiouklakis
Takis Vougiouklakis is a Greek director and producer.- Biography :He was born in Athens and is the relative of the former prefectural leader of Arcadia, judge Ioannis Vougiouklakis and Aimilis Koumoundourou.Brother of Aliki Vougiouklaki....

 (film director) and Antonis (an architect). Her father was killed during the Greek Civil War
Greek Civil War
The Greek Civil War was fought from 1946 to 1949 between the Greek governmental army, backed by the United Kingdom and United States, and the Democratic Army of Greece , the military branch of the Greek Communist Party , backed by Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Albania...

.

As a student Aliki regularly took part in school plays which eventually led her to dream of an acting career. She attended classes in the National Theatre of Greece
National Theatre of Greece
The National Theatre of Greece is based in Athens, Greece.-History:The theatre was originally founded in 1880 with a grant from King George I and Efstratios Rallis to give theatre a permanent home in Athens...

 and started to act professional while still a student. News papers and magazines soon started to praise her acting ability, which lead swiftly to her first lead role in the 1953 movie The Little Mouse (To Pontikaki).

Career

She appeared in 42 movies, mostly musicals
Musical film
The musical film is a film genre in which songs sung by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, though in some cases they serve merely as breaks in the storyline, often as elaborate...

, and in a wide variety of television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 programs, theatre and stage productions. In the 1960s she collaborated with Dimitris Papamichail in a number of popular movies. The popular celebrity couple married in the 1960s, but divorced in 1975. She received the prize for lead woman's role at the inaugural Greek Cinema Festival in Thessaloniki in 1960 for her starring role in the movie "Mantalena". Her first film was Nikos Tsiforos' "The little Mouse", followed by scores of other popular dramatic and comic films.

Her film I Aliki sto Naftiko sold more than 590,000 tickets. In 1962 she wrote the script for Finos Films
Finos Films
Finos Film is a film production company that dominated the Greek film industry from 1943 to 1977. It was founded by Philopemen Finos in 1942 during World War II. It was the biggest film production company in Greece at the time and one of the biggest, in terms of productivity, in south east Europe...

, Aliki my love, which premiered in London and Athens in 1964, but was a total flop. This was the first and final attempt to become an international movie star.

She was popularly known in press as the "National star of Greece" - the term first used by journalist Eleni Vlahou. In 1970 came her biggest success with the film Ipolochagos Natassa
Ipolochagos Natassa
Ipolochagos Natassa is a 1970 Greek film. It starred Aliki Vougiouklaki as Natassa, Dimitris Papamichael as Orestis, and Costas Carras as Max. The story about the German occupation of Greece and the resistance by the Greeks...

, about a young Greek woman who lost her husband during the Second World War. The film sold more than 750,000 tickets.

Family

On June 4, 1969, Aliki gave birth to her only child, Yiannis Papamichail.

Eventually her relationship with her husband, Dimitris Papamichail, became troubled. She shot her next film S'Agapo (I love you) without Papamichail, her usual co-star; in 1974 the couple filed for divorce.

Later career

Aliki continued to play in films and in 1981 she appeared for the last time on the big screen. She would make only stage appearances thereafter.

Death

She died on July 23, 1996 in Athens from liver cancer
Liver cancer
Liver tumors or hepatic tumors are tumors or growths on or in the liver . Several distinct types of tumors can develop in the liver because the liver is made up of various cell types. These growths can be benign or malignant...

. Her funeral was attended by thousands of her fans. She was buried at First Cemetery of Athens
First Cemetery of Athens
The First Cemetery of Athens is the official cemetery of the City of Athens and the first to be built. It opened in 1837 and soon became a luxurious cemetery for famous Greek people and foreigners....

.

I Have A Secret

In 2008, her son published a biography of Vougiouklaki under the title Eho Ena Mistiko (I Have A Secret) which was also the title of a song the actress sang in one of her films called 'To Xilo Vgike apo to Paradiso'. The book was a best seller though it raised a lot of controversy in the media, as to whether it should have been published or not.

In the same year a television series based on the book, aired on Alpha TV
Alpha TV
Alpha TV is a Greek terrestrial channel . The station features a mix of Greek and foreign shows with an emphasis on entertainment programs. The studios are located near Athens...

 channel. Made on a relatively low budget, the series became rather controversial and was unsuccessful. Most of Vougiouklaki's fans, including journalists and artists, stated that it was too early to produce a TV series based on Vougiouglaki's life, considering that she died in 1996. The lead actress of the series, Katerina Papoutsaki was generally mocked by fans and many critics and her portrayal did not receive favourable reviews.

Trivia

  • Chtipokardia sto thranio (1963) was shot simultaneously in Greek and Turkish, with two different crews. Aliki starred in both versions, with her voice being dubbed in the Turkish version, Siralardaki heyecanlar.
  • The film, Ipolochagos Natassa
    Ipolochagos Natassa
    Ipolochagos Natassa is a 1970 Greek film. It starred Aliki Vougiouklaki as Natassa, Dimitris Papamichael as Orestis, and Costas Carras as Max. The story about the German occupation of Greece and the resistance by the Greeks...

    (1970) sold 751,000 tickets in Athens, which made it the most successful film in Greece, a record held for almost three decades.
  • Laurence Olivier
    Laurence Olivier
    Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM was an English actor, director, and producer. He was one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century. He married three times, to fellow actors Jill Esmond, Vivien Leigh, and Joan Plowright...

     stated about her portrayal of Eva Perón in the Rice-Webber musical Evita (1981): "the best Evita I have seen".
  • She worked with writer Willy Russell when she performed in Shirley Valentine
    Shirley Valentine
    Shirley Valentine is a one-character play by Willy Russell. Taking the form of a monologue by a middle-aged, working class Liverpool housewife, it focuses on her life before and after a transforming holiday abroad.-Plot:...

    onstage in 1989.

External links

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