THANASSIS VEGGOS

Thanassis Veggos was born in 1926, New Phaliron. Surprisingly he did not study acting at all. During the upsetting years of the civil war he served his military service at the horrible and hellish Makronisos along with other thousands of soldiers and citizens with left wing ideas. When he was finally released from the army he worked in various, non-permanent posts in order to make ends meet. Amongst those various jobs he had were auxiliary jobs on film shoots. In 1953, Koundouros who knew him from Makronisos offered him a role in his film ‘Magic city’. This was his début, straight into the deep waters. Without any previous experience in theatre, without any acting studies, he was also working as a runner on the films he was acting in. He finally acquires an acting license and the beginning of his career is marked by his participation in some of the most important films in Greek cinema (Magic city, The Dragon, Never on Sunday, Girl in black).

Bit by bit, a special and unique comical actor is shaped making Veggos recognizable and lovable to all audiences from all different age groups and various types of film lovers. He is now the leading man in his films. He attempts to create his own film production company, which failed and went bankrupt; however he managed to make very important films, directed by himself or by Dinos Katsouridis.

A lot has been written for Thanassis Veggos and more books and articles are yet to be published. For me he has a huge part in the history of Greek cinema. He was something like a clown, a mime, a real ‘Karagkiozis’ and a Greek Charlie Chaplin but in his long-lasting career in theatre, cinema and television he is still much more than that. I would rather not conclude and say if I preferred him as the bald agent “Thu Vu” (1967) or in his most recent film, “It’s a long road” (1998) by Pantelis Voulgaris. He has still a lot to offer and he will remembered for the totality of his work.

THANASSIS VEGGOS