Titos Vandis

Titos Vandis 7 November 1917 23 February 2003 was a Greek actor Vandis began his career on the Greek stage in the late 1930s In 1962 he won the Best Actor award for the film Poliorkia at the Thessaloniki International Film Festival Vandis left Greece when a dictatorship took power and lived in the United States for 24 years Vandis appeared in over 250 plays before making his Broadway debut in the Tonynominated musical On A Clear Day You Can See Forever 1965 Vandis was in the original Broadway cast and led the title song in Illya Darling 1967 a musical based on his film Never on Sunday 1960 The title character Illya was a carefree Greek prostitute Newsday critic George Oppenheimer wrote Major credit goes to Titos Vandis for his playing of Illyas oldest client who sings and dances as rousingly as the youngsters Vandis reprised his role in a Westbury Music Fair production in 1968 Newsday critic Murry Frymer wrote that Vandis is delightfully authentic In fact hes better than that Vandis has been in both the film Never on Sunday and the Broadway production of Illya Darling and hes not tired of it at all His portrayal was fresh and kept bringing the affair back to the colorful gayety that bubbled through the motion picture In 1970 Vandis joined the cast of Man of La Mancha as Sancho Panza at the Martin Beck Theater He also played the title role in the musical Zorba at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn NJ Critic W C Flahault wrote His portrayal of the Greek vagabond with an eye for the girls has an earthiness which brings reality to the role In 1972 Vandis played an uneducated coal miner on Ironside who sought Ironsides help in discovering the murderer of his daughter He admitted that drama was easier for him than the musical stage Vandis said I suppose this part can be considered a change of pace for me but as an actor I find myself considering each role I play as a separate entity During the days of my early training I often played old men in fact I relished the opportunities Today of course as I grow older I wish the positions were reversed That same year he appeared in the Woody Allen film Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex But Were Afraid to Ask as Milos Stavros an Armenian shepherd who was in love with a sheep In The Exorcist 1973 he played the uncle of protagonist Father Damien Karras Vandis wore a hat in one shot that obscured his face as director William Friedkin felt that Vandiss face would be connected with his previous role as Milos Vandis had a recurring role in the detective series Baretta 19751978 having appeared in four episodes and gueststarred alongside Hulk Hogan in The ATeam episode Body Slam 19851986 season His other TV appearances have included The Flying Nun Trapper John MD MASH The Odd Couple Kojak Barney Miller Wonder Woman Newhart and The Mary Tyler Moore Show Description above from the Wikipedia article Titos Vandis licensed under CCBYSA full list of contributors on Wikipedia