Nikos Galanos, one of the most recognizable and beloved figures of the old Greek cinema, who continued his presence for decades up until recently through his participation in popular television series, is no longer among us. He passed away at the age of 80, after a tough battle with cancer over the past year.

He had the chance to witness the golden era of Greek cinema almost at its end, making his debut on the big screen in 1970 alongside the star Aliki Vougiouklaki in the film “A Funny Girl.” The two of them reunited as a screen couple two years later, in the film “Aliki Diktator.”

In the following years, he had the opportunity to work with other great actors such as Nikos Kourkoulos in “Zero Visibility” and “Straphogianno,” Betty Livanu in “The Sin of Beauty,” and Rena Vlahopoulou in “Rena is Off-Side,” among others.

The elegant dark-haired young man with expressive dark eyes and a sweet smile had all the qualities to establish himself as a fresh leading man: he was handsome, determined, and talented. All these became his main tools for building a career that lasted more than fifty years.

Just as in cinema, he was fortunate to find himself, early in his career, among popular theater troupes of the time and to collaborate with notable actors and directors. In the early 1970s, he received his theatrical baptism from Jenny Karezi and Kostas Kazakos in “The Lady Doesn’t Care,” continuing their collaboration the following year with “A Story from Irkutsk.” During the artistic period of 1972-1973, he worked with the Vougiouklaki–Papamichail troupe in the play “Bones and Clubs.” About a decade later, more mature in acting, he performed for the first time on the stage of the National Theatre, playing the role of Kurt in the production “Play Strindberg.”

However, most of his work was on television, as his career coincided with the advent of TV in Greece, which was enthusiastically embraced.

His first TV appearance was in 1974 in the series “The Just,” a police-judicial drama starring Thanos Leivadi. This was followed by “Journey,” which started airing in 1976 on YENED, consisting of 12 different stories featuring the same protagonist.From then on, over the next decades, he participated in dozens of other TV series on both public and private channels, including “Love and Revolution,” “The Battle of the Storks,” “The Guardians of Achaia,” “Marina Avgeri,” “The Net,” “Immortal Love Stories,” “Pygmalion,” “The Mysterious Club,” “The World and Kosmas,” “Manto Mavrogenous,” “The Hard Nuts,” “The Sacred Thieves,” “The Death of Timothy Konsta,” “Café Eimigrek,” “The Vendetta,” “The Unknown,” “Jealousy,” “The Trust,” “Eastern Wind,” “Department of Morals,” “Casa di Macaroni,” “Eliza and Others,” “Passion,” “The Wrath of the Gods,” “Dawn,” “Bold Stories,” “The Shine,” “Fallen Angel,” “The Key,” “Under the Acropolis,” “If You Love Me,” “Say Goodbye to Me,” “Forbidden Love,” “The Golden Girls,” “One Month and Something,” “Who Can Catch Us!”, “The Stories of Police Officer Beka,” “4,” “Stolen Dreams,” “9 Months,” “Love After,” and “The Olive Tree.”