Titos Vandis

Titos Vandis
Born (1917-11-07)7 November 1917
Salonika, Greece
Died 23 February 2003(2003-02-23) (aged 85)
Athens, Greece
Occupation Actor
Years active 1953–2000

Titos Vandis (Greek: Τίτος Βανδής; 7 November 1917 – 23 February 2003) was a Greek actor who appeared in more than 100 films and television shows between 1953 and 2000.[1] In 1962 he won the Best Actor award for the movie Poliorkia at the Thessaloniki International Film Festival.[2] Vandis left Greece when a dictatorship took power and lived in the United States for 24 years.[3]

Vandis appeared in over 250 plays before making his Broadway debut[4] in the Tony-nominated musical On A Clear Day You Can See Forever (1965). He created the role of Themistocles Kriakos, a Greek shipping magnate who believed in reincarnation and planned to leave his fortune to his future self.[5] Boston Globe critic Kevin Kelly wrote that Vandis played the role with "marvellous finesse" and that the character was "rather like Zorba as a businessman with $4 million."[6]

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).[7][8] The title character Illya was a carefree Greek prostitute. Newsday critic George Oppenheimer wrote, “Major credit goes to Titos Vandis for his playing of Illya’s oldest client, who sings and dances as rousingly as the youngsters…”[8] Vandis reprised his role in a Westbury Music Fair production in 1968. Newsday critic Murry Frymer wrote that Vandis “. . . is delightfully authentic. In fact, he’s better than that. Vandis has been in both the film Never on Sunday and the Broadway production of Illya Darling and he’s 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.”[9]

In 1970 Vandis joined the cast of Man of La Mancha as Sancho Panza.[10] In 1972 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.[11] 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 producer William Friedkin felt that Vandis's face would be connected with his previous role as Milos.[12]

Vandis had a recurring role in the detective series Baretta (1975-1978), having appeared in four episodes,[13] and guest-starred alongside Hulk Hogan in The A-Team episode "Body Slam" (1985-1986 season).[14]

Selected filmography

References

  1. ↑ "IMDB.com: Awards for Oi paranomoi". imdb.com. Retrieved 3 January 2010.
  2. ↑ Schuster, Mel (1979). The Contemporary Greek Cinema. Metuchen, New Jersey: The Scarecrow Press. p. 317.
  3. ↑ Savvas, Minas (31 March 2003). "Hellenic Happenings". Greek - American Review.
  4. ↑ "Greek Film Star Will Make Debut". Los Angeles Times. 13 July 1965.
  5. ↑ On A Clear Day You Can See Forever (CD booklet). New York, NY: RCA Victor. 1965.
  6. ↑ Kelly, Kevin (8 September 1965). "Lerner-Lane Musical Bright, But Too Complex". Boston Globe.
  7. ↑ Mordden, Ethan (2001). Open a New Window: The Broadway Musical in the 1960s. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 227. ISBN 0312239521.
  8. 1 2 Oppenheimer, George (April 12, 1967). "'Illya' an Olympian Hit, Then Comes the 2nd Act". Newsday.
  9. ↑ Frymer, Murry (June 26, 1968). "'Illya' in Westbury". Newsday.
  10. ↑ Guernsey, Otis (1970). The Burns Mantle Theater Yearbook: The Best Plays of 1969-1970. Dodd Mead. p. 390.
  11. ↑ "AFI Catalog of Feature Films". afi.com. American Film Institute. Retrieved 21 March 2015.
  12. ↑ Clagett, Thomas (1990). William Friedkin: Films of Aberration, Obsession, and Reality. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc. pp. 113–114. ISBN 0-89950-262-8.
  13. ↑ Abbott, Jon (2009). Stephen J. Cannell Television Productions: A History of All Series and Pilots. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc. pp. 75–81. ISBN 978-0-7864-4173-0.
  14. ↑ Abbott, pp. 152-143.
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