Veteran Greek actor Christos Politis dies aged 83
Source: NEOS KOSMOS
Greek theatre, television and cinema actor Christos Politis has passed away at the age of 83, leaving behind a long and influential career across stage and screen.
The news was announced on Facebook by writer Manos Lamprakis, who wrote: “Christos Politis is no longer among us… 1942–2026,” accompanying his post with Frank Sinatra’s song My Way.
Christos Politis was born in Heraklion, Crete, on 27 December 1942 as Christos Piatoulakis. Over the course of his career, he appeared in more than 45 theatre productions, 18 films and eight television series, becoming especially well known to television audiences through his long-running role in Lampsi, created by Nikos Foskolos.
He made his theatrical debut with the Yiannis Ferti–Xenia Kalogeropoulou troupe in Ten Little Indians (1965–66), followed by performances with the Titika Nikiforaki–Nikos Hatziskos company in Much Ado About Nothing (1968) and Tea and Sympathy (1969).
Politis later collaborated with the Kostas Mousouris Theatre and the National Theatre of Greece, where he appeared for the first time in ancient drama, performing in Aeschylus’ Choephori–Eumenides and Euripides’ Hippolytus. These productions toured international festivals abroad.
In 1974, he became a founding member of the Simple Theatre (Aplo Theatro), where he remained until 1990. The company aimed to decentralise theatre through touring productions across Greece and later by establishing a permanent venue in Kallithea. Its repertoire focused on classic and modern drama, staging works by Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams, Oliver Goldsmith and Loula Anagnostaki, while also introducing the plays of Joe Orton to a wider Greek audience for the first time.
Alongside his work at the Simple Theatre, Politis collaborated with leading figures of Greek theatre, including Antigoni Valakou, Aliki Vougiouklaki, Alekos Alexandrakis, Alexis Minotis and Alexis Solomos, as well as regional theatres such as the Municipal and Regional Theatre of Crete and the Thespis Wagon.
He returned to ancient drama in 1986 alongside Alexis Minotis in Sophocles’ Oedipus at Colonus, and again in 1992 in Antigone. His final stage appearance was in James Goldman’s The Lion in Winter during the 1997–98 theatre season.
In cinema, Politis first appeared in a small role in 1968 in Boulevard of Hate, directed by Nikos Foskolos. He gained a leading role in 1969 and won the Best Supporting Actor award at the Thessaloniki Film Festival for The Girl of 17. After decades away from film, he returned to the screen in 2022 in Broadway, directed by Christos Massalas.
His television debut came in 1973 with The Nets of Terror. He later appeared in series such as Queen Amalia (1975) alongside Aliki Vougiouklaki and Dimitris Papamichael, and Aphrodite (1977) with Nora Valsami. In 1991, he returned to television in Lampsi, portraying the character Iago Drakos for 14 years until 2005—a role that firmly established him in the public consciousness.
Beyond acting, Politis also taught at the Athens Drama School of Giorgos Theodosiadis in the 1990s and was intermittently involved in politics. In 1998, he was elected as a prefectural councillor in Athens, while he had also been a candidate on the national list of the Political Spring party in the 1996 parliamentary elections.
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