On this day, Aliki Vougiouklaki was born ‒ Rare photos of her from the Museum's collection

On this day, July 20, 1934, Aliki Vougiouklaki was born ‒ the most popular Greek actress, who left an indelible mark and shaped the history of Greek cinema and theater like few others.

Her love for the theater became apparent at a very young age, and upon coming of age in 1952, she began her studies at the National Theater’s Drama School, despite her family’s objections. The following year, she made her stage debut, while her film debut came in 1954 with Nikos Tsiforos’s “Pontikaki”.

After graduating in 1955, she enjoyed a steadily rising career in theater and film. In 1960, she was awarded First Prize for Best Actress at the Thessaloniki Film Festival for her performance in Dinos Dimopoulos’s “Mantalena”.

In 1961, she formed her own theater company, with which she staged the play “My Fair Lady” that winter. A year later, she experienced one of her few artistic setbacks when the production of “Caesar and Cleopatra” was cut short because the audience did not accept her new look with jet-black hair.

During the same period, she began her collaboration with Finos Film, starring in some of the most successful films in Greek cinema, such as “The Wood Came from Paradise,” “Mantalena,” “Aliki in the Navy,” “The Bait,” and “The Lady and the Tramp.”

The roles she played ‒ mostly charming and lighthearted ‒ played a decisive role in shaping her public image, to such an extent that her artistic persona became almost completely identified with her personal identity.

In 1970, she starred in Nikos Foskolos’s “Lieutenant Natassa”, which remained for decades the highest-grossing film in Greek cinema. Her co-star was Dimitris Papamichail, with whom she formed the most famous couple on the Greek arts scene.

The commercial decline of Greek cinema in the 1970s prompted Aliki Vougiouklaki to devote herself almost exclusively to the theater, appearing in a total of over 53 theatrical productions. The rock opera “Evita”, which premiered in 1981 with Vlassis Bonatsos co-starring as Che Guevara, was the greatest theatrical triumph of her career.

In 1996, she was forced to suspend performances of “The Sound of Music” due to a rapid deterioration in her health. She passed away on July 23, 1996, at the age of 62. Nearly three decades after her death, her work continues to move audiences, and her films are shown continuously, justifying her designation as a “national star.”

The Museum is exhibiting four rare photographs of Aliki Vougiouklaki from the Floros Brothers Archive ‒ Nikos L. Floros. The first, taken in 1962, shows her talking on the phone. The second, taken in 1960, captures the couple during a break from filming the movie “Aliki in the Navy”, alongside the then-mayor of Athens, Angelos Tsoukalas. The last two date from shortly after her marriage to Dimitris Papamichail in 1965.