George Fountas
Actor
Biography
George Fountas (13 February 1924 – 28 November 2010) was Greek actor one of the most important figures in cinema, theatre and television, known for his role in the film Stella (1955) of Michalis Kakoyannis. He participated in many other distinguished films of the 1950s and 1960s, including Magic City (1954), The girl in black (1956), Never on Sunday (1960) and The red lights (1963), and appeared in foreign productions America, America (1963) and Alexis Zorbas (1964). His greatest moment in television is his role in the series Christ is crucified again (1975-1976).
George Fountas was born in 1924 in Mavro lithari at Fokida. His father was Efthimios Fountas (Kamarakis) and his mother was Angeliki (née Kadda) in a family with five brothers and sisters, Panagiotis, Margarita, Euphrosyne, Loukia and Sotiris. While he was still young, they settled in Athens and specifically in Rizoupoli. After finishing primary school, he started working at his father’s dairy in his father’s house. Psyrri.
In 1944, Fountas appeared in the film Applauses of George Tzavella, which is considered the most important film made during the Occupation. He then studied acting at the Drama School of Athens Conservatory, where he studied near the Emilio Veakis,] Dimitris Rontiris and Kostas Mousouris, while he was also involved in football, as a player of the reserve team of ΑΕΚ. Always at an early age, he was also involved (as an amateur) with sphere, disk and boxing. In the theatre he appeared for the first time in the performance Wedding song of Notis Pergialis.
Gradually, it began to appear more and more in films, such as Raid in the Aegean Sea (1946) of Μ. Karagatsi and Dead state (1951) of Φρίξου Ηλιάδη. In 1954 he starred in the first film of Nikos Koundouros, Magic city, through which he became more widely known.
In 1955, Fountas appeared in the Stella, directed by Michalis Kakoyannis. This film contains one of the most iconic scenes of Greek cinema, during which the line “Go away Stella, I have a knife!” is heard. Stella caused a great sensation at the international level, particularly for its interpretation of the Melina Mercouri,and was nominated for the Golden Phoenix at Cannes International Film Festival and was awarded with Golden Sphere for Best Foreign Language Film. Fountas collaborated again with Kakoyannis a little later, for the Girl in black (1956).
During the period 1960-1964, Fountas appeared in many films that received international acclaim. In 1960 he participated in the Never on Sunday of Jules Dassin, next to Mercouri again. The foreign language film “Never on Sunday” paved the way for his international career and made him known abroad. Foreign producers liked the actor’s performance so much that when Sean Connery decided to stop playing James Bond, they suggested that Fountas replace him. The proposal, which other actors dreamed of, left Fountas almost indifferent and he initially considered rejecting it. Philopoimin Finos, through whose company the offer had been made, finally persuaded him to accept and do the necessary tests. At the end of the audition, Fountas and George Lazenby. The Greek actor lost the role of the most famous movie agent at the last minute because he told the producers that he would not have time to learn English before filming started. It was a time when no one could have predicted that James Bond would last for decades. It then prevailed that the lead actor would always be British, but in the early 1960s this unwritten rule did not yet apply. In 1963 he appeared in two films that were included in the 36th American Film Academy Awards. The one was The red lights (1963), directed by Vassilis Georgiadis, which is considered one of the most characteristic interpretations of Fountas, and the other is the America, America of Elijah Kazan.In 1964, Fountas collaborated again with Kakoyannis, for the award-winning Alexis Zorbas.
Fountas’ next important moments were With the sparkle in the eyes (1966) and Fever on the asphalt (1967), of Panos Glykofrydis and Dinos Dimopoulos respectively. For his performances in these films, he was honoured with First Actor Awards in the seventh and eighth Thessaloniki Film Festival.
From 1970 onwards, George Fountas’ presence in the cinema began to diminish. In 1973 he made his first appearance on television, for the series Κατοχή which was shown on YENED. Two years later, he received a leading role in the series Christ is crucified again. His last film was the dramatized documentary by Vicky Peziri, The lads of the sea (1997).
Private life
George Fountas was married twice. In 1947 he married Eleni Episkopou, with whom he had a son Thymios (1952) and a daughter Jella (1950). His second wife from 1954 was the famous dancer Chrysoula Zoka, with whom he had another son Panagiotis (1969).
In the last years of his life, Fountas suffered from Alzheimer’s disease. He died at the age of 86 on 28 November 2010 and was buried at the Agios Georgios Cemetery in Terpsithea-Glyfada.
