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Non profit website to honor her career and legacy.

Aliki Vougiouklaki
1934 -1996

 

“Greece’s National Star” was born on July 20th, 1934, in Marousi, Athens. Three days later she got pneumonia and her parents called a priest to have her baptized. She was named Aliki – Stamatina. Her childhood was especially difficult and poor. During the Occupation of ’41 her father was murdered and her mother brought up her three children, Aliki, Antonis and Takis all on her own. 

 

Aliki adored Mary Pickford and Greta Garbo since she was young enough. Her enormous acting talent showed up even during her childhood, when she was a protagonist in plenty of theatrical performances during the school years.

 

In 1952 she sat for exams for the National Theater Drama School, though her family knew nothing about it; being an actor those days was nothing much than a shame for the family. In 1953, studying in the second year of the school, she took the part of Luison in the Moliere’s play Le Malad Imaginaire (Kata Fantasian Asthenis). Within the same year she also played the part of Olympia in Dimitris Bogris’ Fouskothalassies

 

In the summer of ’54, even before she graduated from the Drama School and while she was returning form her vacations, the great actor and director Nikos Hatziskos called her to replace Anna Synodinou, who played Juliet, and who opted out of the theatre company. In order to take the part she had to have a special leave granted from the school, and had only three days and nights to prepare fully for the part. Her Juliet might not have been an epitome of Shakespearean performance, but the audience and the critics greeted her effort with applauds. 

 

Her next steps were a great film under the title Pontikaki in 1954, her cooperation with Kotopouli’s theatre company, Katerina’s theatre company and with Kostas Mousouris’ theatre company, who established her as a protagonist. 

 

 

 

In 1961, Aliki Vougiouklaki formed her own theatre company, staging the following plays, Caesar and Cleopatra, Htipokardia sto Thranio, etc. Meanwhile she meets Filopimin Finos and starts cooperating with his productions company “Finos Films” and together they make many out of the biggest successes of the Greek Cinema. Here are some of the finest: I Aliki sto Nautiko, I Liza kai h Αlli, I Kori mou I Sosialistria, I Maria tis Siopis, O Agapitikos tis Voskopoulas, To Koritsi me ta Paramythia, Diakopes stin Aigina, Erotas stous Ammolofous, Astero, To Xilo Vgike apo ton Paradeiso, Madalena, I Ypolohagos Natassa, I Pseftra, etc.

 

The vast majority of her parts were about a cute fancy girl, and they were literally adored by the audience, which made her extremely popular. In 1960, she was awarded with the “First Female Part Award” for her part in Madalena, during the Film Festival in Thessaloniki, while the film represented Greece in the International Festival of Cannes and made a very positive impression. I Ypolohagos Natassa is granted to be the biggest success as for the Greek box office in the history of the Greek Cinema, though the second and third positions in this rank are attributed to Aliki Vougiouklaki as well.

 

In 1959, while playing the part Astero for the corresponding film she met Dimitris Papamihail, and this was the beginning of the love story of the most famous couple in the history of Greek Cinema and Theatre. On January 18th, 1965, they got married and later they gave birth to Yiannis, their only boy child. However their tumultuous marriage did not last long… They ended up divorced on July 4th, 1979, after long judicial conflicts. Apart from the movies they co-played, they cooperated, from 1964 to 1974, in the theatre company they made together. One of their biggest successes was Bernard Shaw’s Play, My Fair Lady (Oraia mou Kyria)

 

When Greek Cinema met its decadence, Aliki Vougiouklaki, focused on the theatre and made a few TV productions. Some of her great theatre successes were Kabare, Evita, Oraia mou Kyria, Pepsy, Lyssistrati. Her theatrical performances lasted till 1996 with the play I Melodia tis Eutihias (The Sound of Music) of Rogers and Hammerstein, playing the part of Maria. A little afterwards she was diagnosed with cancer of aggressive type. Her dearth, only three days after her birthday, brought sorrow to the whole Greek Nation.

 

More (in Greek) in the site fortunecity.com         

This is a non profit site, to honor Aliki’s Vougiouklaki memory