Nico Mastorakis
Encyclopedia
Nico Mastorakis is a Greek Z movie
filmmaker, director and radio producer.
. Later, as an investigative reporter for the daily "Messimvrini", adding to multiple award-winning reports, he created the first "automobile page" in Greek press.
In his last job as a reporter for the daily “Apogevmatini
” he posed as a musician for the group of popular singer Yanni Poulopoulos and gained access to Onassis’ yacht, the “Christina” where Onassis was hosting Jackie and Ted Kennedy.
He used a Minox camera hidden behind the strings of his guitar to take photos but was inevitably discovered by Ted’s security men and although managing to fly out of Scorpios with his negatives intact he was later arrested by the junta’s secret police and detained for the night while his negatives were discovered and confiscated.
Although his article about that night beiing heavily censored he broke the news of Ari and Jackie getting married months before the official announcement.
Mastorakis’ adventure on board the Onassis yacht was later described in detail in both “Ari” and “Nemesis”, by Onassis’ biographer Peter Evans
, who writes: “… Onassis used his pull with the colonels and Mastorakis was picked up in Athens… later Ari showed me a copy of Mastorakis’ original story which had been cut to ribbons by the military censors…”
He was already a radio personality since the late 1950s, considered by many to be the DJ who brought international pop to Greek radio. In all, he hosted and produced more than 22 different radio shows.
In the late sixties Mastorakis was introduced to the Beatles and became friends with John Lennon
. On April 17, 1967 he produced the first ever international pop concert in Athens, booking the Rolling Stones for a memorable albeit troubled concert, dominated by police and amidst the riots which plagued Athens at the time. The military coup came four days later.
As a lyricist and record producer he launched the careers of almost all of the Greek pop groups of the sixties, working mainly with the Forminx and their keyboard player / composer Vangelis Papathanassiou, later known internationally as Vangelis
for his film scores to “Chariots Of Fire
”, “Blade Runner
” and more.
Their superhit “Jeronimo Yanka” was a sensation for many years and still represents one of the popular party dances in Greece.
Mastorakis was instrumental in the creation of Greek television in the late 1960s. From early 1966 (before the junta years) and until 1973 while Greece was under the Regime of the Colonels, he produced and hosted numerous entertainment shows in the army-owned YENED TV station. While the station's primary goal was to propagandize for the army his shows were mostly apolitical fare, such as game shows and celebrity interviews, including a Greek version of This Is Your Life, and he was among the most popular TV personalities of the time. He produced local versions of many international formats (Candid Camera, To Tell The Truth) and worked for both YENED and ERT, the country's national TV network. In addition to his shows he produced and directed “Alati kai Piperi” (Salt and Pepper), hosted by noted Greek columnist Freddy Germanos. One of the highlights of that show was when Mastorakis brought John Lennon and Yoko Ono into the military TV’s two-camera studio. He wrote, produced and directed dramatic series and variety shows as well as the short-lived breakthrough sci-fi episodic “Invasion From Another Planet”, the first on Greek TV to be shot on film.
However his TV career took some dramatic turns as he was ousted twice by the junta, the unofficial reason being cited “for speaking freely”. The first time that his shows were abruptly banned was for his comment to a 6 year old girl (in a kiddies show) “how can you ever buy a Christmas tree with the cost of life as they are today”, a comment which was considered by the military regime as “anti-government propaganda”. At the time he was serving in the navy and eventually returned to TV, only to be ousted (by order of dictator Papadopoulos) because he interviewed a 12 year old girl who had married and had a baby. Papadopoulos considered the interview as “corruption of ethics for the Greek family”. For almost a year, Mastorakis was producing “underground” with the silent consent of YENED’s management until his final return. His career as a journalist also had clashes with the junta. After writing a long piece about Mikis Theodorakis’ concert in London, for the weekly magazine “Epikera”, he was arrested and detained at the ESA (Military Police) headquarters for a day. Later on, publisher Georgis Athanassiades, hired Mastorakis for the daily “Vradini” (which had been shut down by the junta and was about to be published again) only to find out from Dimitrios Ioannidis (head of the Military Police and later the dictator who replaced instigating a bloodier junta) that the newspaper’s permit had been withdrawn because “Athanassiades had hired anarchist-communists like Mastorakis”.
, the regime tried to use Mastorakis' popularity to repair its public image. An interview was set up and broadcast, during which he interviewed, in prison, a number of students who had been arrested during the events. Mastorakis claimed that he had guarantees from Minister of Press Spyridon Zournatzis that the interview would not be censored and that the students would not be prosecuted for speaking freely.
After the fall of the regime in 1974, the students were released from prison and stated that they had been beaten and threatened with legal and extra-legal punishment unless they cooperated in the interview. Nico Mastorakis himself claimed that he had been coerced into making the show, but his popularity had evaporated, and the new management of the Greek TV stations wanted nothing to do with him.
(his first music score for "Terminal Exposure
"), Kirstie Alley
, Valeria Gollino and award-winning composer Vangelis
, with whom Mastorakis wrote a bundle of Greek pop top hits in the sixties.
He returned to Greece in late 1989 to launch Antenna TV
(for many years Greece’s #1 TV network) which he managed for three years. He left in 1993 to create a new independent TV network, Star Channel
. Since then, he hosted the extremely successful “Arga” (Late), a late night talk show, and revamped the beauty pageant telecasts.
He also wrote and directed sitcoms “Goodnight, Mom” and “Divorced With Children”, the politically incorrect satirical show “Not the ANT1 News”, and many more. In 1995, he launched his own classic rock radio station (Radio Gold) which he recently sold to Pegassus Publishing Group, returning to script writing and producing of feature films in Hollywood.
always trying to imitate American television, with unintentionally comedic results.
Z movie
The term Z movie arose in the mid-1960s as an informal description of certain unequivocally non-A films. It was soon adopted to characterize low-budget pictures with quality standards well below those of most B movies and even so-called C movies...
filmmaker, director and radio producer.
Early career
At the age of 18 Mastorakis as a young reporter with the Greek newspaper "Ethnikos Kirikas" scored his first international scoop, an exclusive interview with the exiled Princess SorayaSoraya
Soraya is a female name of Persian origin meaning "rich" and/or "princess" . It is also a reference to the Pleiades. It may refer to:...
. Later, as an investigative reporter for the daily "Messimvrini", adding to multiple award-winning reports, he created the first "automobile page" in Greek press.
In his last job as a reporter for the daily “Apogevmatini
Apogevmatini
Apogevmatini was a Greek newspaper that was published nationally for decades until its owners latest declared its bankruptcy in November 2010. Its location is 12 Feidiou Street in the downtown area of the capital city of Athens. The newspaper was founded by the Botsis family in the beginning of...
” he posed as a musician for the group of popular singer Yanni Poulopoulos and gained access to Onassis’ yacht, the “Christina” where Onassis was hosting Jackie and Ted Kennedy.
He used a Minox camera hidden behind the strings of his guitar to take photos but was inevitably discovered by Ted’s security men and although managing to fly out of Scorpios with his negatives intact he was later arrested by the junta’s secret police and detained for the night while his negatives were discovered and confiscated.
Although his article about that night beiing heavily censored he broke the news of Ari and Jackie getting married months before the official announcement.
Mastorakis’ adventure on board the Onassis yacht was later described in detail in both “Ari” and “Nemesis”, by Onassis’ biographer Peter Evans
Peter Evans
Peter Evans may refer to:* Peter B. Evans , political sociologist* Peter Evans , English poker player* Peter Evans , Australian swimmer, won a gold medal at the 1980 Summer Olympics...
, who writes: “… Onassis used his pull with the colonels and Mastorakis was picked up in Athens… later Ari showed me a copy of Mastorakis’ original story which had been cut to ribbons by the military censors…”
He was already a radio personality since the late 1950s, considered by many to be the DJ who brought international pop to Greek radio. In all, he hosted and produced more than 22 different radio shows.
In the late sixties Mastorakis was introduced to the Beatles and became friends with John Lennon
John Lennon
John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
. On April 17, 1967 he produced the first ever international pop concert in Athens, booking the Rolling Stones for a memorable albeit troubled concert, dominated by police and amidst the riots which plagued Athens at the time. The military coup came four days later.
As a lyricist and record producer he launched the careers of almost all of the Greek pop groups of the sixties, working mainly with the Forminx and their keyboard player / composer Vangelis Papathanassiou, later known internationally as Vangelis
Vangelis
Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou is a Greek composer of electronic, progressive, ambient, jazz, pop rock and orchestral music, under the artist name Vangelis...
for his film scores to “Chariots Of Fire
Chariots of Fire
Chariots of Fire is a 1981 British film. It tells the fact-based story of two athletes in the 1924 Olympics: Eric Liddell, a devout Scottish Christian who runs for the glory of God, and Harold Abrahams, an English Jew who runs to overcome prejudice....
”, “Blade Runner
Blade Runner
Blade Runner is a 1982 American science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, and Sean Young. The screenplay, written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples, is loosely based on the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K...
” and more.
Their superhit “Jeronimo Yanka” was a sensation for many years and still represents one of the popular party dances in Greece.
Mastorakis was instrumental in the creation of Greek television in the late 1960s. From early 1966 (before the junta years) and until 1973 while Greece was under the Regime of the Colonels, he produced and hosted numerous entertainment shows in the army-owned YENED TV station. While the station's primary goal was to propagandize for the army his shows were mostly apolitical fare, such as game shows and celebrity interviews, including a Greek version of This Is Your Life, and he was among the most popular TV personalities of the time. He produced local versions of many international formats (Candid Camera, To Tell The Truth) and worked for both YENED and ERT, the country's national TV network. In addition to his shows he produced and directed “Alati kai Piperi” (Salt and Pepper), hosted by noted Greek columnist Freddy Germanos. One of the highlights of that show was when Mastorakis brought John Lennon and Yoko Ono into the military TV’s two-camera studio. He wrote, produced and directed dramatic series and variety shows as well as the short-lived breakthrough sci-fi episodic “Invasion From Another Planet”, the first on Greek TV to be shot on film.
However his TV career took some dramatic turns as he was ousted twice by the junta, the unofficial reason being cited “for speaking freely”. The first time that his shows were abruptly banned was for his comment to a 6 year old girl (in a kiddies show) “how can you ever buy a Christmas tree with the cost of life as they are today”, a comment which was considered by the military regime as “anti-government propaganda”. At the time he was serving in the navy and eventually returned to TV, only to be ousted (by order of dictator Papadopoulos) because he interviewed a 12 year old girl who had married and had a baby. Papadopoulos considered the interview as “corruption of ethics for the Greek family”. For almost a year, Mastorakis was producing “underground” with the silent consent of YENED’s management until his final return. His career as a journalist also had clashes with the junta. After writing a long piece about Mikis Theodorakis’ concert in London, for the weekly magazine “Epikera”, he was arrested and detained at the ESA (Military Police) headquarters for a day. Later on, publisher Georgis Athanassiades, hired Mastorakis for the daily “Vradini” (which had been shut down by the junta and was about to be published again) only to find out from Dimitrios Ioannidis (head of the Military Police and later the dictator who replaced instigating a bloodier junta) that the newspaper’s permit had been withdrawn because “Athanassiades had hired anarchist-communists like Mastorakis”.
Junta Controversy
In the aftermath of the 1973 Athens Polytechnic uprisingAthens Polytechnic uprising
The Athens Polytechnic uprising in 1973 was a massive demonstration of popular rejection of the Greek military junta of 1967-1974. The uprising began on November 14, 1973, escalated to an open anti-junta, anti-US and anti-imperialist revolt and ended in bloodshed in the early morning of November...
, the regime tried to use Mastorakis' popularity to repair its public image. An interview was set up and broadcast, during which he interviewed, in prison, a number of students who had been arrested during the events. Mastorakis claimed that he had guarantees from Minister of Press Spyridon Zournatzis that the interview would not be censored and that the students would not be prosecuted for speaking freely.
After the fall of the regime in 1974, the students were released from prison and stated that they had been beaten and threatened with legal and extra-legal punishment unless they cooperated in the interview. Nico Mastorakis himself claimed that he had been coerced into making the show, but his popularity had evaporated, and the new management of the Greek TV stations wanted nothing to do with him.
Later Career
Unable to work in public television after the junta, Mastorakis turned to commercials and features and eventually left the country in 1975 to pursue his career as a film maker overseas. He had already made two low budget movies, one of which later became a cult classic (Island Of Death) and while living in London he wrote the screenplay of “The Greek Tycoon”, a roman-a-clef based on his Onassis’ encounters. The movie, financed by Allan Klein, was shot in 1976 with Anthony Quinn and Jacqueline Bisset starring and was distributed by Universal. Mastorakis landed a two year contract with Paramount but in 1980 he turned independent with “Blood Tide” which he wrote and produced. He has since written, produced and directed 17 features, mainly low budget but with awards attached (“Blind Date”, ”Nightmare At Noon”, “Grandmother’s House”) and distribution by major studios and mainstream TV networks. He wrote two published novels ("Fire Below Zero" and "Keepers Of The Secret") with Barnaby Conrad and was instrumental in the careers of Hans ZimmerHans Zimmer
Hans Florian Zimmer is a German film composer and music producer. He has composed music for over 100 films, including critically acclaimed film scores for The Lion King , Crimson Tide , The Thin Red Line , Gladiator , The Dark Knight and Inception .Zimmer spent the early part of his career in the...
(his first music score for "Terminal Exposure
Terminal Exposure
Terminal Exposure is a 1987 American comedy film directed by Nico Mastorakis. It involves two amateur beach photographers who accidentally capture a murder on film...
"), Kirstie Alley
Kirstie Alley
Kirstie Louise Alley is an American actress known for her role in the TV show Cheers, in which she played Rebecca Howe from 1987–1993, winning an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award as the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series in 1991...
, Valeria Gollino and award-winning composer Vangelis
Vangelis
Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou is a Greek composer of electronic, progressive, ambient, jazz, pop rock and orchestral music, under the artist name Vangelis...
, with whom Mastorakis wrote a bundle of Greek pop top hits in the sixties.
He returned to Greece in late 1989 to launch Antenna TV
ANT1
Antenna, better known as ANT1, is a television network airing in Greece and Cyprus. The alternate spelling is play on words in Greek; ena is the Greek number 1, thus ANT1 is pronounced the same as Antenna . It launched on 31 December 1989, the same year as rival Mega Channel, and is owned by...
(for many years Greece’s #1 TV network) which he managed for three years. He left in 1993 to create a new independent TV network, Star Channel
Star Channel
Star Channel is a Greek television network that broadcasts a mix of foreign and Greek programming. It launched in December 1993 and is owned by Nea Tileorasi A.E.. The main news bulletin is called Star Eidiseis, which is currently hosted by Aimilios Liatsos...
. Since then, he hosted the extremely successful “Arga” (Late), a late night talk show, and revamped the beauty pageant telecasts.
He also wrote and directed sitcoms “Goodnight, Mom” and “Divorced With Children”, the politically incorrect satirical show “Not the ANT1 News”, and many more. In 1995, he launched his own classic rock radio station (Radio Gold) which he recently sold to Pegassus Publishing Group, returning to script writing and producing of feature films in Hollywood.
Filmography
- Island of Death (1975)
- Death Has Blue Eyes (1976)
- The Greek TycoonThe Greek TycoonThe Greek Tycoon is a 1978 American drama film directed by J. Lee Thompson. The screenplay by Morton S. Fine is based on a story by Fine, Nico Mastorakis, and Win Wells loosely based on Aristotle Onassis and his relationship with Jacqueline Kennedy.-Plot:...
(1978) - Blood TideBlood TideBlood Tide is a 1982 British film directed by Richard Jefferies.The film is also known as Bloodtide and Demon Island...
(1982) - Blind DateBlind Date (1984 film)Blind Date, also known as Deadly Seduction, is a 1984 independent thriller by B-film maker Nico Mastorakis. It stars Kirstie Alley and Joseph Bottoms...
(1984) - The Next One (1984)
- Sky HighSky HighSky High may refer to:*Sky High , a 1975 song by the band Jigsaw*Sky High , a famous Australian racehorse*Sky High , a novel*Sky High Lee , Canadian professional wrestler*Sky High Stuntman, an Amiga game...
(1986) - The Zero BoysThe Zero BoysThe Zero Boys is a low-budget 1986 action-horror B-movie, written and directed by Nico Mastorakis.-Plot:Steve , Larry , and Rip are part of a paintball team known as "The Zero Boys". After winning a paintball tournament, they decide to celebrate...
(1986) - Terminal ExposureTerminal ExposureTerminal Exposure is a 1987 American comedy film directed by Nico Mastorakis. It involves two amateur beach photographers who accidentally capture a murder on film...
(1987) - The Wind (1987)
- Glitch (1988)
- Nightmare at Noon (1988)
- Ninja AcademyNinja AcademyNinja Academy is a 1988 Nico Mastorakis' comedy film starring Will Egan, Gerald Okamura, Kelly Randall, Michael David, Robert Factor, and Jeff Robinson...
(1988) - BloodstoneBloodstone (1988 film)Bloodstone is a 1988 American mystery-adventure film produced by Ashok Amritraj and Sunanda Murali Manohar, directed by Dwight H. Little and written by Nico Mastorakis; starring Brett Stimely, Rajnikanth and Anna Nicholas...
(1988) - DarkroomDarkroomA darkroom is a room that can be made completely dark to allow the processing of light sensitive photographic materials, including photographic film and photographic paper. Darkrooms have been created and used since the inception of photography in the early 19th century...
(1988) - Grandmother's HouseGrandmother's House (film)-Plot:The story focuses on a boy called David and his sister who move to their grandparent's house after the death of their parents. Unfortunately, they are stalked at every turn by a crazy lady who has a extremely unsettling smile and a talent with a cook's knife...
(1989) - Hired to Kill (1990)
- In the Cold of the Night (1990)
- The Naked TruthThe Naked Truth (1992 film)The Naked Truth is a 1993 comedy film starring Robert Caso and Kevin Schon, as well as a host of C-list celebrities such as Zsa Zsa Gabor, Lou Ferrigno, Erik Estrada, Ted Lange, Billy Barty, Yvonne De Carlo, Norman Fell, Little Richard, David Birney, M...
(1992) - .com for Murder.com for Murder.com for Murder is a 2001 science fiction crime drama film written by Nico Mastorakis and Phill Marr and directed by Mastorakis, starring Nastassja Kinski, Nicollette Sheridan, Roger Daltrey, and Huey Lewis...
(2002)
In Popular Culture
In the 2005 TV comedy series Loufa kai parallagi, which satirizes life in YENED during the Regime, a character named "Mastronikos" is portrayed as a loud wide-eyed Greek AmericanGreek American
Greek Americans are Americans of Greek descent also described as Hellenic descent. According to the 2007 U.S. Census Bureau estimation, there were 1,380,088 people of Greek ancestry in the United States, while the State Department mentions that around 3,000,000 Americans claim to be of Greek descent...
always trying to imitate American television, with unintentionally comedic results.