Nikos Xanthopoulos, in the mid-60s, through the films of the highly commercial KLAK FILM, became one of the most beloved actors of the public, especially in the poor neighborhoods of Athens and the surrounding area. Where summer movie theaters or makeshift theaters regularly hosted his films and there was panic.

“What’s playing at the cinema today?”

“The child of the people”. In the 1960s, there was no need for more talk or information about the film. And just the photos of Nikos Xanthopoulos in the windows of the cinemas were enough to raise an alarm in the neighborhood, to reach the message even to the old woman who left the house on the side of her street only for the Sunday service.

In these neighborhoods with muddy water and cinemas that grew and flourished better than cabbages, the films of Nikos Xanthopoulos sold countless tickets. No one can calculate how many million tickets his films sold in the so-called second screening at the time, because at that time we only had data for the first screening films.

That is, the tickets that were only sold in Athens and Piraeus.

And since there were not a few people who watched the same movie two, three and thirteen times to the delight of the people, we are probably talking about several million tickets. Besides, in that decade, KLAK FILM became the third, maybe even the second, most commercial film production company in Greece, while it should be noted that several of his films never passed the first screening and went straight to the districts of Athens or of the province.

We are talking about a phenomenon, which nowadays it is difficult to understand the reasons for its success, with the, often eye-popping, melodramas in which it starred. Melodramas that were praised by the critics, the bourgeois and the intellectuals of the time. Sometimes the Left too, without, however, showing their embarrassment in front of the incredible success of Xanthopoulos and the permanent director of Apostolos Tegopoulos.

Completing 90 years since his birth (March 14, 1934), it is an opportunity to remember the difficult path of Nikos Xanthopoulos to the top, the reasons for his success in popular song and his recognition as the “child of the people”.

Prosfygopoulos and AEKara

Nikos Xanthopoulos was born in the refugee neighborhood of Nea Ionia, where he grew up in poverty and in difficult conditions. Child of Pontian refugees, with his father, who was occasionally a cobbler and fisherman, imprisoned during the occupation for his resistance action.

He grew up with his mother, another heroine, who took care of her child’s upbringing, as his father had a habit of “disappearing” for long periods of time.

“One day he went to get wine and it turned six months…” he wrote in his biography, published in 2005 under the title “What I Remember and What I Loved”. In his teenage years he will get a ticket to his favorite team as an athlete. His “AEKara”, to which he remained faithful until the end.

Indalma Katrakis, teacher Mrs. Katerina

Having Manos Katrakis as his mentor, he will decide from a young age to engage in acting, going to study at the Drama School of the National Theater, while his first appearance in the theater was in 1957 in the troupe of Kyrias Katerina, with the comedy “Virginia ». Mrs. Katerina was for Xanthopoulos his teacher, while later he managed to collaborate with his indalma Manos Katrakis and his troupe, in “Song of the dead brother”.

In 1958 he will make his debut in the cinema, in the comedy of Philippa Phylakos “The Collector”, and then he played the bad and tough guy in supporting roles, until the 60s came to work with the producer and director Apostolos Tegopoulos, taking off his career.

CLOCK FILM and melodrama

With KLAK FILM and director Tegopoulos, he will shoot 24 filmshaving as co-stars many actors of the National Theatre, from Manos Katrakis and Zervo pantsuntil Eleni Zafiriou and Theodore Moridis.

All with melodramatic scripts and melodious direction, which stereotyped him in the roles of poor and downtrodden, always wronged, courageous boy, who will do anything for his love, the poor girl or the rich girl, who will refuse her cruel father or better yet bring to the straight path.

Movies, with flashy, titles like “Scorn Me Sweetie” (1965), “Sometimes Even the Strong Cry” (1967), “Unfair curse” (1967), “Uprooted Generation” (1968), “Humble and Dejected” (1968) “The Seal of God” (1969), “Slumdog My Love” and the epic “The Odyssey of an Uprooted Man” (1969).

The good voice and Kaldaras

His poor childhood, his love for ordinary people and their struggles for survival, gave him a naturalness in his roles, while he used his good voice, with the help of Apostolos Kaldara, performing folk songs, making a huge success and as a singer. In fact, he recorded nine records and 55 singles, while appearing in major entertainment centers and touring the world, with unprecedented success.

Social cinema made in Greece

Today, his films mainly have a nostalgic value, while younger people often hold back their laughter, so as not to offend grandma or grandpa who are trying to hold back their tears. In the 60s, however, the situations and conditions were completely different. Huge sections of the population lived in poverty, in neighborhoods that didn’t even have running water or sewerage, experiencing the exploitation of those who got rich even in the occupation, a system of power that was ruthless and often vindictive.

In addition, hundreds of thousands of people were taking the path of alienation for a better tomorrow, heating the German factories. Stories, which Xanthopoulos’ films described, even if they did not have the background to talk about the deeper causes, to send messages of awakening, as in Italy and in Europe in general, where there was an uprising with political and combative cinema.

But let’s not judge Tegopoulos’s simplistic melodramas too harshly, as times were difficult for art as well, with the imposition of the police state and then with the dictatorship of the colonels.

Nikos Xanthopoulos withdrew from the cinema in the early 70s, returned for a while playing in television series, made two or three video films, while his last appearance on the screen was in 1995 in the film by Giorgos Zervoulakos “With Orfea in August ».

Robin Hood

He left his personal life out of the public eye, while for many years he lived only with his family, his four children, after two marriages and his five grandchildren and his good friends, withdrawn to his estate in Peania . The “Robin of the Woods” of Greek cinema, loved by women and men, will die, after many health problems, last year, on January 22, 2023.

Nikos Xanthopoulos may not have left behind any great film work, but he will always remind us of a time when his authentic populism was synonymous with kindness, boyhood, and sacrifice. And of course the courage he gave to the people, with his deep characteristic sigh, in the face of any problem.