Takis Emmanuel

Biography

Takis Emmanouil (Greek: Τάκης Εμμανουήλ, 1933 - 26 August 2017) was a Greek actor, with an international career in the field of cinema. He was also a director and producer, while in the last years of his life he was involved in literature.

He was born in 1933 in Messolonghi and his real name was Panagiotis. Initially, in Greece, he studied acting at the Drama School of the Athens Conservatory, with the teacher of the theater director Dimitris Rontiris. Later, in the period 1979-1981, he studied directing, screenwriting and television production in Los Angeles.

At the age of 27 (in 1960) he made his first appearance on stage, in the tragedy "Iphigenia in Tauris" by Euripides, performing the role of Geladaris. The play was presented at the Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus, by the 'Ancient Attic Theatre' troupe of Malaina Anousaki. Its theatrical appearances continued until 1965.

In cinema, it first appeared alongside the theatre, in 1960, in the modular film The River by Nikos Koundouros. Other films followed alongside renowned directors (Nikos Koundouros, Michalis Cacogiannis, Takis Kanellopoulos, Dinos Dimopoulos, Dimis Dadiras, etc.) and important actors (Manos Katrakis, Irini Papa, Yannis Fertis, Aleka Katseli, Notis Pergialis, Phaedon Georgitsis, Eleni Zafiriou, Niki Triantafyllidi, Eleni Prokopiou, Zannino, Anestis Vlachos, Lefteris Vournas, Spyros Kalogirou, Anthony Quinn, Alan Bates, Sotiris Moustakas, etc.).

The successes that most of the films in which he participated achieved, both in Greece and abroad, were his passport to an international career. In 1968, he emigrated from Greece to perform abroad in America, England, Italy and Australia. In 1982, he returned to Greece and founded his own production company.