Acting

Gelly Mavropoulou

Biography

Gelly (Angeliki) Mavropoulou (Thessaloniki, 21 October 1932 – Athens, 19 July 2021) was a Greek actress. She was born in Thessaloniki in 1932. Her parents were also actors Angelos Mavropoulos (1901–1979) and Marika Krevata (1910–1994). She studied at the French Academy of Athens and at the Drama School of the "Art Theater" of Karolos Koun. Geli Mavropoulou first appeared in the cinema in 1953 with the film Papa is Being Trained by Giorgos Lazaridis and was followed by leading roles in more than 40 more films covering all genres of Greek cinema from the period 1950-1980, classic comedies (The Beauty of Athens, by Nikos Tsiforos, 1954; The Aunt from Chicago by Alekos Sakellarios, 1957; Fanouris and His Family by Dimitris Ioannopoulos, 1957; Fortunately I Went Crazy by Kostas Andritsos, 1961; Company of Miracles by Stefanos Stratigos, 1962; The Gentleman's Wife by Yiannis Dalianidis, 1962; The Messer by Grigoris Grigoriou, 1967), melodramas (Red Roses by Kostas Andritsos, 1955; The Little Sprout by Jason Novak, 1955; The Wandering of an Innocent by Kostas Andritsos, 1959; The Road with Red Lights by Kostas Karagiannis, 1963; Every Port and Woe by Homer Efstratiadis, 1964), resistance adventures (The Brave Die Twice by Takis Vougiouklakis, 1973), historical dramas (Ali Pasha and Lady Frosini by Stefanos Stratigos, 1959), frock films (Myrtia by Kostas Karagiannis, 1961), film noir (Crime in Kolonaki by Tzanis Aliferis, 1960; The Kidnapping of Kostas Karagiannis, 1964; Emergency Exit by Nikos Foskolos, 1980), spy thrillers (The Avenue of Betrayal by Christos Kyriakopoulos, 1969), and even films of the new Greek cinema (The Honeymoon by Giorgos Panousopoulos, 1979). Her last film appearance was in the film 17 Bullets for an Angel (1981) by Nikos Foskolos-Takis Vougiouklakis. Her greatest cinematic successes are considered to be the role of Katina, the unmarried girl who must be rehabilitated at all costs in the film Fanouris and His Family (1957) by Dimitris Ioannopoulos, alongside Mimis Fotopoulos, the role of Eva, the cunning and ambitious middle-class woman who directs her husband's career, in the film The Gentleman's Wife (1962) by Yiannis Dalianidis, alongside Dinos Iliopoulos, and the role of Dimitra, the widow of Lieutenant Avgeris, who hires a double to play her husband, in Takis Vougiouklakis' film The Brave Die Twice (1973), alongside Angelos Antonopoulos. It is worth noting that she is the protagonist who launched rock and roll in Greek cinema, along with Theodoros Dimitriev, in the film The Aunt from Chicago (1957). She died on July 19, 2021, at the age of 88. Her body was cremated, and her ashes were interred in the mausoleum of Greek artists at the First Cemetery of Athens. (Source: Wikipedia)