George Foundas

George Fountas Greek Γιώργος Φούντας Mavrolithari Fokida 13 February 1924 Athens 28 November 2010 was a Greek actor one of the most important in cinema theatre and television known among other things for his role in the film Stella 1955 by Michael Cacoyannis 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 Lanterns 1963 while he also appeared in the foreign productions America America 1963 and Zorbas 1964 His most important moment in television is his role in the series Christ is Crucified Again 19751976 George Fountas was born on February 13 1924 in Mavrolithari Fokida In 1944 Fountas appeared in the film Applause by Giorgos Tzavellas which is considered the most important film made during the Occupation He then studied acting at the Drama School of the Athens Conservatory where he studied with Emilio Veakis Dimitris Rontiris and Kostas Mousouris while also playing football as a player for the AEK reserve team At a young age he also played amateur shot put discus and boxing He made his first theatrical appearance in the play Nyfiatiko ngai Wedding Song by Notis Pergialis Gradually he began to appear more and more in films such as Aegean Raid 1946 by M Karagatsis and Dead City 1951 by Frixos Eliades In 1954 he starred in Nikos Koundouros first film Magic City through which he became more widely known In 1955 Fountas appeared in Stella directed by Michalis Cacoyannis This film contains one of the most emblematic scenes in Greek cinema during which the line Go away Stella Im holding a knife is heard Stella caused a sensation internationally especially for the performance of Melina Mercouri and was nominated for the Palme dOr at the Cannes International Film Festival and won the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film Fountas collaborated with Cacoyannis again shortly afterwards for The Girl in Black 1956 Between 1960 and 1964 Fountas appeared in many films that received international attention In 1960 he participated in Jules Dassins Never on Sunday again alongside Mercouri The foreignlanguage film Never on Sunday opened the way for his international career and made him known abroad In 1963 he appeared in two films that were nominated for the 36th Academy Awards One was Red Light District 1963 directed by Vasilis Georgiadis which is considered one of Fundas most characteristic performances and the other was America America by Elia Kazan In 1964 Fundas collaborated again with Cacoyannis for the awardwinning Zorba the Explorer Fundas next major moments were With the Flash in Your Eyes 1966 and Asphalt Fever 1967 directed by Panos Glykofrydis and Dinos Dimopoulos respectively For his performances in these films he was awarded Best Actor Awards at the seventh and eighth Thessaloniki Film Festivals From 1970 onwards Giorgos Fountas presence in cinema began to decline In 1973 he made his first appearance on television in the series Occupation which was broadcast on YENED Two years later he received a leading role in the series Christ is Recrucified His last film was Vicky Peziris dramatized documentary Tales of the Sea 1997 Source Wikipedia