Nikos Tsiforos ( el, Νίκος Τσιφόρος; 27 August 1912 – 6 August 1970) was a Greek humorist,

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

, and

film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, pr ...

. He had more than 60 film scripts to his credit between 1948 and 1970. He further directed 17 films between 1948 and 1961.

Biography

He was born in

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandri ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...

, in 1912; two years later, his family was permanently resettled in Athens. From age eleven to his death, Nikos Tsiforos had been writing with gusto. In 1938, he wrote his first play, performed in an outdoors theatre in Freattyda; although his first effort did not quite succeed, young Nikos was not disappointed. He went on to earn a degree in Law, and work, for two years, at the Election Supervision Council. He soon resigned to travel the seas. He continued switching jobs regularly until 1939, all the while writing film scripts as well as doing other types of writing. His first big break came in 1944 when the company of

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 ...

and Mairi Aroni staged a play of his at the Akropol theatre. The play was "Η Πινακοθήκη των Ηλιθίων" (The portrait gallery of dolts). In 1948-1949, he scripted and directed his first film ''Τελευταία αποστολή'' (Last Mission). He went on to work as a reporter for the Athens press: newspapers (Φιλελεύθερος; Βήμα; Ελεύθερος Κόσμος), and magazines (Τραστ, Ρομάντσο, Ταχυδρόμος, Πάνθεον), all the while writing over 40 theatrical plays and over 80 film scripts. He collaborated extensively with Polyvios Vassiliadis on numerous hit film scripts, earning exceptional renown for their scintillating wit and hilarious humor. His deft use of the Greek contemporary vernacular is considered peerless by several leading literary critics.

Works

* ''Άνθρωποι και ανθρωπάκια'' (People and nobodies) *''Η Αθήνα σήμερα - Κρουαζιέρες μέσα στην ιστορία'' (Athens Today, Cruises in History) *''Όμορφη Θεσσαλονίκη'' (''Beautiful Thessaloniki'') * ''Τα παιδιά της πιάτσας'' (The boys of the Hood)
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* ''Διηγήματα'' (Short stories) * ''Εορταστικά'' (Holiday essays) *''Ο πρώτος Τσιφόρος'' (Early Tsiforos) * ''Μίλων Φιρίκης'' * ''Ελληνική κρουαζιέρα'' (A Greek Cruise) *''Ελληνική μυθολογία'' (Greek mythology
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* ''Ο Γκιούλιβερ στη χώρα των Γιγάντων - Ο Γκιούλιβερ στη χώρα των νάνων'' (Gulliver in the Land of the Giants; in the land of the Dwarfs) *'(''Η Ιστορία της Αθήνας'' (The History of Athens) * (History of England) ''Ιστορία της Αγγλίας'' *( History of France) ''Ιστορία της Γαλλίας'' *(History of the United States) ''Ιστορία των Ηνωμένων Πολιτειών'' * ''Χρονογραφήματα'' (Newspaper columns) *''Τζιμ κακής ποιότητος'' (Low quality Jim) *''Οι κονκισταδόροι'' (The conquistadors) * ''Το τυχερό μου αστέρι'' (My Lucky Star) * ''Τα παλιόπαιδα τ' ατίθασα'' (The frisky hoodlums) * ''Εμείς και οι Φράγκοι'' ( We and the Franks
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*''Παραμύθια πίσω από τα κάγκελα'' (Tales from behind bars) * ''Ο κόσμος κι ο κοσμάκης'' (The World and the Little People) * ''Η πινακοθήκη των ηλιθίων'' (The Portrait Gallery of Dolts) * ''Τα ρεμάλια ήρωες'' (Heroic Heels) *''Στηβ το χαρούμενο κάθαρμα '' (Steve, the cheerful scumbag) *''Οι μυστικές εταιρίες'' ( Secret Companies) * ''Βιβλικά χαμόγελα'' (Biblical smiles) *''Η γυναίκα κουρσάρος'' (The Woman Pirate)

Selected filmography

Bibliography

* Sylvia Mittler, "The Crusades and Frankish Medieval Greece as (Re)Appropriation: Carnivalesque Historiography and Modern Greek Humorist Nikos Tsiforos." In: ''Postmodern Medievalisms'', ed. Richard Utz and Jesse G. Swan (Cambridge: Brewer, 2004), pp. 209–36. * Sylvia Mittler, "Subversive Storytelling: Popular Historiography, Alternative Cultural Memory, and Modern Greek Humorist Nikos Tsiforos." In: ''Oral and Written Narratives and Cultural Identity'', ed. Francisco Cota Fagundes and Irene Maria F. Blayer (New York: Peter Lang, 2007), pp. 171–88.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tsiforos, Nikos 1912 births 1970 deaths Greek screenwriters 20th-century Greek dramatists and playwrights Greek journalists Greek film directors People from Alexandria Egyptian people of Greek descent 20th-century screenwriters 20th-century journalists Egyptian emigrants to Greece Film people from Athens