Ellie Loukou ( el, Έλλη Λούκου; 13 April 1926 – 3 September 1983), known professionally as Ellie Lambeti ( el, Έλλη Λαμπέτη), was a
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
actress.
Family
Lambeti was born in 1926 in the village of
Vilia
Vilia ( el, Βίλια; formerly Eidyllia, Ειδυλλία) is a village and a former municipality of West Attica, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Mandra-Eidyllia, of which it is a municipal unit. I ...
,
Attiki
Attica ( el, Αττική, Ancient Greek ''Attikḗ'' or , or ), or the Attic Peninsula, is a historical region that encompasses the city of Athens, the capital of Greece and its countryside. It is a peninsula projecting into the Aegean ...
, to Kostas Loukos and Anastasia Stamati. She had six siblings. Her maternal grandfather was a Captain Stamatis who fought together with
Kolokotronis Kolokotronis (Greek: Κολοκοτρώνης) is a Greek surname. When used without any other context, it refers to the Greek warlord Theodoros Kolokotronis whose contribution to the Greek revolution of 1821 against the Ottoman Empire, was determi ...
against the Turks in 1821, when the modern Greek democracy was created. In 1928, the family moved to
Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates a ...
. During the war of 1940, she moved to the big neoclassical style house on Delphon and Didotou street where she had been living all her life. During the
Dekemvriana
The ''Dekemvriana'' ( el, Δεκεμβριανά, "December events") refers to a series of clashes fought during World War II in Athens from 3 December 1944 to 11 January 1945. The conflict was the culmination of months of tension between the c ...
in December 1944, her mother, who was in the house at the time, was killed by a loose shot fired amidst the battle. This took a significant psychological toll on Lambeti, lasting well into her adult life.
Early career
Ellie studied theatre at Marika Kotopouli's drama school. She made her first steps on the stage at the time of German occupation of Greece. She passed this difficult period as all her theatre colleges.
In 1941, she was rejected from two theatre schools: the state one (Ethniko) and a private one named for the Greek actress
Marika Kotopouli
Marika Kotopouli ( el, Μαρίκα Κοτοπούλη; 3 May 1887 – 11 September 1954) was a Greek stage actress during the first half of the 20th century.
Biography
Kotopouli was born on 3 May 1887 in Athens to actor parents, Dimitrios Ko ...
. However, Kotopouli herself recognized Lambeti's talent and hired her. She adopted the professional surname Lambeti and became a lead actress. She starred in ''Hanneles Himmelfahrt'' by
Hauptmann
is a German word usually translated as captain when it is used as an officer's rank in the German, Austrian, and Swiss armies. While in contemporary German means 'main', it also has and originally had the meaning of 'head', i.e. ' literally ...
. In 1945, she met Marios Ploritis, her future husband, during the filming one of her first films, ''Adoulotoi sklavoi'' (1946).
In 1946 Lambeti became one of the actresses who performed for the famous modern theatre director
Karolos Koun
Karolos Koun ( el, Κάρολος Κουν; September 13, 1908 in Bursa – February 14, 1987 in Athens) was a prominent Greek theater director, widely known for his lively staging of ancient Greek plays.
Biography
Koun was born in Bursa, Ottom ...
; she was the female lead in the Greek
productions of the following plays:
* ''
The Glass Menagerie
''The Glass Menagerie'' is a memory play by Tennessee Williams that premiered in 1944 and catapulted Williams from obscurity to fame. The play has strong autobiographical elements, featuring characters based on its author, his Histrionic persona ...
'' by
Tennessee Williams
Thomas Lanier Williams III (March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983), known by his pen name Tennessee Williams, was an American playwright and screenwriter. Along with contemporaries Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller, he is considered among the thr ...
(1946)
* ''
Antigone
In Greek mythology, Antigone ( ; Ancient Greek: Ἀντιγόνη) is the daughter of Oedipus and either his mother Jocasta or, in another variation of the myth, Euryganeia. She is a sister of Polynices, Eteocles, and Ismene.Roman, L., ...
'' by
Anouilh
Jean Marie Lucien Pierre Anouilh (; 23 June 1910 – 3 October 1987) was a French dramatist whose career spanned five decades. Though his work ranged from high drama to absurdist farce, Anouilh is best known for his 1944 play ''Antigone'', an ad ...
(1947)
* ''
Bodas de sangre
''Blood Wedding'' ( es, link=no, Bodas de sangre) is a tragedy by Spanish dramatist Federico García Lorca. It was written in 1932 and first performed at Teatro Beatriz in Madrid in March 1933, then later that year in Buenos Aires, Argentina. ...
'' by
Lorca (1948)
1950s/1960s
In August 1950, she married Marios Ploritis, but their marriage collapsed in 1952 when she had a love affair with
Dimitris Horn
Dimitris Horn () (9 March 1921 – 16 January 1998) was a Greek people, Greek theatrical and film performer of modern times.
Biography
Horn was born in Athens in 1921, the son of playwright Pantelis Horn (himself descended from an Austrians, Aust ...
. Together they produced and played in theatre in ''Libelei'' in 1953, in ''La Cuisine des Anges'' in 1953, in ''
L'Invitation au Château
''Invitation to the Castle'' (french: L'Invitation au château) is a 1947 satirical play by the French playwright Jean Anouilh. It was adapted in 1950 by Christopher Fry as ''Ring Round the Moon''. The play concerns twins, a cold, manipulative play ...
'' in 1955, in ''
Quality Street'' in 1956, in ''
The Rainmaker'' by
Richard Nash in 1956, in ''
Gigi'' in 1957, in ''
The Fourposter'' in 1957, in ''
Two for the Seesaw
''Two for the Seesaw'' is a 1962 American romantic- drama film directed by Robert Wise and starring Robert Mitchum and Shirley MacLaine. It was adapted from the 1958 Broadway play written by William Gibson with Henry Fonda and Anne Bancroft ( ...
'' by
William Gibson
William Ford Gibson (born March 17, 1948) is an American-Canadian speculative fiction writer and essayist widely credited with pioneering the science fiction subgenre known as ''cyberpunk''. Beginning his writing career in the late 1970s, hi ...
in 1958 and in 1959 in ''Dans sa Candeur Naive''.
["Ellie Lambeti-Biography"](_blank)
Retrieved on 08 Jan 2018
The following years were dramatic for Ellie: her sister Koula died from cancer in 1955, her other sister Eirini died in a car crash in 1958, and Ellie lost a baby by Horn in 1956.
In 1959 she met her
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
husband, the best-selling novelist Frederic Wakeman, Sr. She starred in
Michael Cacoyannis
Michael Cacoyannis ( el, Μιχάλης Κακογιάννης, ''Michalis Kakogiannis''; 11 June 1922 – 25 July 2011), sometimes credited as Michael Yannis, was a Greek Cypriot theatre and film director, writer, producer, and actor.
...
's Greek masterpieces like ''
Kyriakatiko xypnima'' (1954), ''
To Koritsi me ta mavra'' (1956), and ''
To Telefteo psema
''A Matter of Dignity'' ( el, Το τελευταίο ψέμα, translit. To teleftaio psema) is a 1958 Greek drama film directed by Michael Cacoyannis. It was entered into the 1958 Cannes Film Festival.
Plot
The Pellas are magnates who f ...
'' (1957). She also starred in ''
Kalpiki lira'' (1955) by
George Tzavellas. Lambeti continued her theatrical career, in 1962 came ''
The Heiress
''The Heiress'' is a 1949 American romantic drama film directed and produced by William Wyler, from a screenplay written by Ruth and Augustus Goetz, adapted from their 1947 stage play of the same title, which was itself adapted from Henry Jame ...
'', in 1965 as
Blanche in ''
A Streetcar Named Desire
''A Streetcar Named Desire'' is a play written by Tennessee Williams and first performed on Broadway on December 3, 1947. The play dramatizes the experiences of Blanche DuBois, a former Southern belle who, after encountering a series of per ...
''.
Late life and career
In the 1970s Lambeti starred in ''
The Little Foxes'' (1973), ''Irma La Douce'' (1972), ''Miss Margarita'' (1975) and ''Filoumena Martourano'' (1978). And in spite of her success at theater her personal life was a fiasco: Ellie was involved in a legal procedure about the adoption of a girl named Eliza, from Spring 1970 till 1974, when she lost and gave the child back to its parents.
Lambeti-Biography
Retrieved on 08 Jan 2018
Last years
The subsequent years were a fight against recurrent breast cancer
Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or ...
. She successfully starred in theatre productions like Thornton Wilder
Thornton Niven Wilder (April 17, 1897 – December 7, 1975) was an American playwright and novelist. He won three Pulitzer Prizes — for the novel '' The Bridge of San Luis Rey'' and for the plays ''Our Town'' and '' The Skin of Our Teeth'' — ...
's '' Hello, Dolly!'' (1980) and as Sarah in Mark Medoff
Mark Medoff (March 18, 1940 – April 23, 2019) was an American playwright, screenwriter, film and theatre director, actor, and professor. His play '' Children of a Lesser God'' received both the Tony Award and the Olivier Award
The Laurence ...
's '' Children of a Lesser God'' (1981), but her health was poor. She died in 1983 (3 September) from stage 4 breast cancer in New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, aged 57.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lambeti, Ellie
1926 births
1983 deaths
People from West Attica
Greek film actresses
Greek stage actresses
Deaths from cancer in New York (state)
Deaths from esophageal cancer
20th-century Greek actresses
Burials at the First Cemetery of Athens