He was in cinema the personification of poverty, pain, injustice but also of strength, patience and honesty. He was and will forever remain, the beloved “child of the people” who expressed through his film roles and songs the sufferings of millions of people who recognized him as one of them during the difficult post war years for Greece. That’s why they adored him and put him in their hearts and kept his image alive by establishing him as one of the most popular Greek movie heroes of all time.
This was Nikos Xanthopoulos, who died at the age of 89, who lived a full life that gave him a sense of completeness. And how could he not feel complete? He made history in Greek cinema and music, he was loved like few others and when the time came, he retired to live as he wished, away from the lights of publicity, in an estate in eastern Attica, together with his family, his beloved wife, the his children and grandchildren.
A few days ago and after spending a whole month in the intensive care unit due to serious heart problems, the beloved actor showed signs of improvement and was transferred to a simple bed as he continues his treatment. However, it seemed that his heart could not take it and today, January 22, he breathed his last in a special rehabilitation center where he had recently been transferred.
He was at the clinic throughout the holidays, with his family members by his side.
“In my life I have seen such joys, so much love from the people, as if I was a part of them, as if I were their child. Some times I had watery eyes, my insides were melting, I was speechless, I couldn’t speak. I wondered if I deserved this love and tried over time to become better, more humble, more amenable, more solidary, more honest. One with the world, one with them. I didn’t avoid people, I was among them, next to them, to feel them, to understand them, so that in my works I could talk about their woes and problems, which were also mine in the past. I didn’t forget my shoemaker father, my mother in the factory, my stepmother who was a maidservant”, he confessed in his autobiography entitled “What I remember and what I loved”, which was released in 2005 by “Ankyra” publications.
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As a child of refugees who struggled daily for their bread, he knew from a very early age what poverty and deprivation means. However, he did not give up and chased his dreams. He played football with AEK FC in his teenage years, read constantly and when it came time to decide which path he wanted to follow in his life, his steps led him to the drama school of the National Theatre. He had been enchanted by the performances of Manos Katrakis and wanted to enter this magical world himself.
His first jobs may have been in the theater, but the cinema was to be the one that would win him over and bring him to prominence. He appeared on the big screen for the first time in 1958, in the comedy of Philippa Phylaktos “The Collector”, playing alongside two great comedians, Vassilis Avlonitis and Nikos Rizos.
And yet it turned out that his destiny was the dramatic roles where he distinguished himself by starring, over the years, in a series of successful films.
