| Nikos Xanthopoulos Νίκος Ξανθόπουλος |
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|---|---|
| Born | 31 August 1934 Athens, Greece |
| Occupation | actor, singer |
| Years active | 1957- |
| Spouse | Eryfilli Xanthopoulou |
Nikos Xanthopoulos (Nίκος Ξανθόπουλος) (born 31 August 1934) is a Greek actor, known for his roles in the sixties era Greek Drama Cinema. He was also a singer of Greek folk bouzouki, having released many albums and singles. He is known as "the child of the folk" (παιδί του λαού) mainly for his appeal in the lower working classes. He usually portrays a poor suffering man, hit hard by fate, seeking for justice or struggling against wealthy and evil men. In other cases, he is an immigrant in Germany working hard to feed his wife and kid or an unknown poor bouzouki player and singer working his way up to stardom. All those stereotyped roles helped him acquire a rockstar-like status in Greece, held to the late sixties - early seventies, in a difficult era for Greece (the dictatorship of the Junta).
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Xanthopoulos was born in Athens, Greece in 1934. He was a stage actor from 1957 to 1963, but he soon devoted himself exclusively to cinema. His film debut was in 1958 with a small role in Η Ζωή Μου Αρχίζει Με Σένα (My Life Starts With You). At 1964 he started collaborating with director-producer Apostolos Tegopoulos and the film company KLAK Film. That's when he became most famous for his roles - a golden period that lasted until 1971. It was his roles portraying him as a singer and bouzouki player that dictated that he needed to learn how to sing. Apostolos Kaldaras (a famous Greek musician and composer) came to the rescue, teaching Xanthopoulos to sing. Xanthopoulos sang over 300 songs in 30 movies, but his singing talent was not confined to movies. He recorded 9 Albums and 55 singles, an impressive figure for someone who was acting he was singing!
His most successful films were produced by KLAK Film, a film production company who specialized in Greek Drama of a special flavour, called μελό or σπαραξικάρδια, which used exaggerated and pompous scripts to generate tears in spectators' eyes. Film titles like: Mάνα Γιατί Με Γέννησες (Mother, why did you birth me?) and Είμαι μια δυστυχισμένη (I am a miserable girl) were a strong indicator of the kind of movies you were going to see. Those kind of movies were always a huge success and the most successful artist-actor was, you guessed it, Nikos Xanthopoulos.
As it is with those kind of movies, a man suffering is never enough, so Xanthopoulos films needed a female lead actress as well. Xanthopoulos had the chance to collaborate with many young actresses of his time, all specialized more or less on tearful performances. The one that stands out of the crowd and had her own cult following (and her own film production company as well), was Martha Vourtsi. Giving equally heartbroken performances as Xanthopoulos, they quickly became a powerful duo, spawning 7 films (their most notable being "Περιφρόνα με γλυκιά μου (Contempt me, my dear)"). Other actresses that had the fortune of playing the love interest of Nikos Xanthopoulos are: Angela Zilia, Afroditi Grigoriadou, Kakia Analyti, Katerina Vasilakou, Mairoula Evangelou, Dora Sitzani & Kaiti Papanika.
Xanthopoulos starred in 48 movies from 1958 to 1971:
His most notable films are: Adiki Katara, Kapote Kaline Kai Oi Dynatoi, I Kardia Enos Aliti, O Katatregmenos, I Odysseia Enos Xerizomenou, Sklavoi Tis Moiras, Tapeinos Kai Katafronemenos, Ftohogeitonia Agapi Mou and Perifrona me Glykeia Mou.