Tzeni Karezi

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Tzeni Karezi
Born	Evgenia Karpouzi January 12, 1932 Athens, Greece
Died	July 27, 1992 (aged 60) Athens, Greece
Occupation	actress
Years active	1955 - 1992
Spouse(s)	Zahos Hadjifotiou (1963 - 1965) Kostas Kazakos (1968 - 1992)

Tzeni Karezi (Greek: Τζένη Καρέζη, January 12, 1932 - July 27, 1992) was a Greek film and theatre actress. She was considered as one of the most popular and successful actresses of the cinema of Greece.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Early life 1.2 Career 1.3 Personal life 2 Filmography 3 References 4 External links

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Tzeni (or Jenny) Karezi was born Evgenia Karpouzi, in Athens, to highly educated parents; her father was a mathematician and her mother a high school teacher. She studied under the direction of nuns in a private French school in Thessaloniki and as a result she spoke French fluently. When she was a teenager, her father left the family and she continued to live with her mother. She did not see her father until he died in a car accident, in 1971.

In 1951 she was accepted at the Greek National Theater (Eθνικό Θέατρο), where she studied in the Drama School. The play writer Angelos Terzakis and the director Dimitris Rontiris were among her teachers. Upon graduation, in 1954, she was immediately thrust into starring roles in the theatre, playing alongside actors such as Alexis Minotis and Katina Paxinou.

[edit] Career

She first appeared in the theatre, in this of the actress Marika Kotopouli, along with Melina Mercouri and Vassilis Daiamantopoulos in the French comedy, The beautiful Helen. She continued starring in theatrical plays of Lorka, Shakespeare, Miller, Tolstoy and of Greek contemporary writers like Psathas, Fotiadis and Kampanellis.

In 1955, Karezi made her first appearance in the cinema, in the movie Laterna, ftoheia kai filotimo in 1955, by Alekos Sakellarios, which was a massive success, just like the sequel to her first movie, Laterna, ftoheia kai garyfallo in 1957 and To nisi ton genneon in 1959, where she sang a song of the subsequent Academy Award-winner Manos Hadjidakis, a classic one named "Min ton rotas ton ourano" (Do not ask the sky). Later this song was sung by Brenda Lee under the title "All alone am I", and was a success in the United States and Europe.

Her career flourished in the 1960s, when she made her own stable in 1961 and starred in some of the most classic movies of the Greek cinema, like Lola in 1964, Mia trelli...trelli oikogeneia in 1965, Tzeni-Tzeni in 1966 and Kontserto gia polyvola in 1967. Maybe her greatest success was the film Ta kokkina fanaria (The Red Lanterns) in 1963, which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and made her known outside of Greece. Her last appearance in film was in her production of Lysistrati in 1972, from the ancient Greek comedy Lysistrata by Aristophanes.

Karezi continued to produce and star in difficult plays in the following decade, inspired by famous plays like Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, and the ancient Greek tragedies Medea of Euripides and Electra of Sophocles. She appeared for the last time in theatre in 1990 in the Greek play Lula Anagnostaki, diamantia kai blouz, while she suffered from cancer, she was in terrible pain and she had to stop her appearances in order to continue with her treatment.

Tzeni Karezi was considered the greatest "rival" of the other major Greek star Aliki Vougiouklaki, in terms of popularity and success, although actually they were close friends and they followed the same paths in life, while they had the same end as both were attacked by cancer.

[edit] Personal life

In 1963 Karezi made her first marriage to the journalist Zahos Hadjifotiou, but this marriage did not last for a long as it ended up in 1965. In 1967, during the filming of Kontserto gia polyvola, she met Kostas Kazakos, "the love of her life" as she continuously said, with whom she gave birth to her only child, Konstantinos Kazakos. They formed a popular duo and this forced Karezi to change her theatre career to more sophisticated and intellectual plays. They were led to prison where they spend several nights, for the production of the play To megalo mas tsirko (Our great circus) in 1973, which was humiliating the Greek dictatorship (1967-1974).

Tzeni Karezi died on 27 July 1992 from cancer at her home. She was buried at a public expense, while thousands of people were present to attend her funeral. She, as a cancer sufferer, greatly admired the new branch of medical science for the cancer pain relief and palliative care and the work of the specialized doctors who helped her relieving her pain. As a result she asked those close to her, to make it widely-known and assist the development of this branch, so that other fellow sufferers could be freed from the agony of cancer and be able to live through their last days with dignity. After her death, her wish materialized and her family founded the "Tzeni Karezi Foundation", for the people who suffer great pains from cancer^[1].

[edit] Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1955	Laterna, ftoheia kai filotimo	Kaiti	box office: 126,530
1957	Dellistavrou kai ios	Billy Mavrogianni	box office: 106,356
	I theia ap'to Chicago	Katina Barda	box office: 142,459
	Laterna, ftoheia kai garyfallo	Kaiti	box office: 113,641
1958	To trellokoritso	Jenny
	Mia laterna, mia zoi	Nina
	I limni ton pothon	Miranda
1959	To nisi ton genneon	Dona
	Taxidi me ton erota	Gianna
	Navagia tis zois	Foula
1960	To koroidaki tis despoinidos	Julia	box office: 115,029
	Randevou stin Kerkyra	Diana Laniti/Mirka	box office: 95,664
	Hristina	Hristina
	I hionati kai ta 7 gerontopalikara	Alexia/Marina	box office: 88,074
1961	Poia einai i Margarita	Margarita Kondostavrou
1962	Prodomeni agapi	Anna
	I nyfi to skase
1963	Ta kokkina fanaria	Eleni	box office: 473,686 Academy Award nomination - Best Foreign Language Film Cannes Film Festival nomination - Grand Prix du Festival International du Film
1964	Despoinis diefthyntis	Lila Vasileiou	box office: 402,143
	Lola	Lola
	Enas megalos erotas	Lena	box office: 202,607
1965	Mia trelli...trelli oikogeneia	Mika	box office: 521,134
1966	Tzeni Tzeni	Tzeni Skoutari	box office: 587,323
	Une balle au coeur	Carla
1967	Ekeinos ki ekeini	She	box office: 198,551
	Kontserto gia polyvola	Niki
1968	Enas ippotis gia ti Vasoula	Vasoula Liontou	box office: 347,441
	Agapi kai aima	Fani Geraka
1970	Mia gynaika stin Antistasi	Anna Kolleti
1971	Manto Mavrogenous	Manto Mavrogenous
1972	Erotiki symfonia	Eirini/Betty Stergiou	producer and writer
	Lysistrati	Lysistrati	International Thessaloniki Film Festival win - Best Production

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Tzeni Karezi at the Internet Movie Database
• Finos Film (Greek) (English)
• Τζένη Καρέζη (Greek)