Aliki Vougiouklaki ΑΛΙΚΗ ΒΟΥΓΙΟΥΚΛΑΚΙ
Born 20 July, 1934 Died 23 July, 1996
Aliki was a rare case of an artist who was loved by everyone, whether they admired her talent or were critical of her work. She touched the hearts of people. (Nikos Xatzinikolaou)
Section 14, Number 6
Sunday Afternoon in the village always meant a film on television in most houses. It still does. Many starred Aliki Vougiouklaki and most seemed to present a variation of the same story: a plucky poor girl who after many obstacles gets the good, handsome, and occasionally rich man - or, a rich girl, spoiled at first gets the poor, but handsome hero. You could count on a song and dance or two along the way - an interlude on a beach, a park, an island, a bus - somewhere! A Greek chorus of young people would often materialize wearing coordinated outfits, all supporting her in dance or song. ‘Nice for the aunties and grannies’ I remember grumbling to my husband. I was a little contemptuous of those Cinderella plots.
But the more I see of Aliki Vougiouklali, the more I have come to appreciate her talent, not to mention her stamina: so many films, so many plays. She was a phenomenon. Even now, almost thirty years after her death, an article about her in the Greek press guarantees attention. Over a 40 year career, she starred in 42 films and close to 60 theatrical productions. Whether as a producer, actress, singer, or comedienne, she was a consummate professional and a savvy self promoter who knew how to present her image to the public, and how to maintain it.
Her Life
She was born in July 1934 in Maroussi, Athens. Her father was Ioannis Vougiouklaki, a prominent lawyer and her mother Emilia belonged to the famous Maniot clan, the Koumoundouroi. Aliki was in a direct line to Alexandros Koumoudouros, a man who served as Greece’s prime minister an astounding ten times during his long career. Her parents had married in 1933 in the small village of Lagia in the inner Mani where the Vougiouklaki clan had been based during Ottoman rule. (1)
In spite of having a good start in life, tragedy struck early because her father chose to support Georgios Tsolakoglou the first of three puppet prime ministers after the German invasion of Greece in 1941. Ioannis accepted the post of Prefect in the Province of Arkadia in the Peloponnese between the years 1941 and 1943 under Tsolakoglou’s quisling government. Men like Vougiouklaki may have been altruistic in attempting to mitigate the worst effects of Axis rule but history does not see it that way. In November 1943, some members of ELAS, the military wing of EAM, the largest resistance group in Greece, knocked at his door, took him away, and executed him as a traitor. Her last sight of her father was him being led away in the night. What nine year old could comprehend that? Wartime traumas affected so many lives of young people in Greece; it is sometimes easy to forget that when looking at figures from the fifties, sixties, and seventies.
Her young widowed mother had the task of raising her three children during the rest of the war and the civil war that followed. It is no surprise that she was not at all pleased by Aliki wanting to become an actress and entering the Drama School of the National Theatre in 1952. As her mother herself put it: the life of artists is strewn with a lot more thorns than roses. (2)
While at the school, Aliki studied under the tutelage of Dimitris Horn, one of the best theatrical actors in Greece. Students were given parts in productions as part of their training. In the 1953-4 season, she appeared in Molière‘s Le Malade Imaginaire as Louison, the young daughter of Argon, the hypochondriac. It was watching her daughter in this part that brought her mother on board at last.
They remained best friends throughout her career
One role she played at the ‘National’ did get her into trouble. She accepted the stand in role of Juliet in The National’s 1954 production of Romeo and Juliet but without obtaining permission from her mentors at the school. She got excellent reviews as Juliet but was reprimanded; her final grade was dropped from Άrista (excellent) to Λίαν Καλώς (very good).
Even before graduating, she had starred in her first film, The Little Mouse (Το ποντικάκι) in 1954. It was in black and white as were all Greek films until 1961.
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Aliki with blond tresses and oozing confidence was still in the chrysalis stage.
Aliki would later say that she did not at first understand the camera and kept staring into its lens as if she were waiting for it to take her photograph. She hated her image on the screen and vowed she would never make a movie again.
She graduated from the Drama School in 1955. During the same year she appeared on the cover of a magazine, although she was not identified by name.
In the sixties, she also appeared on magazine covers with no name but then everyone knew who she was.
Between 1954 and 1959, she would appear in many films in spite of her previous vow, and appear in as many theatrical productions.
Aliki understood her worth early on. When producer Filopoimin Finos invited her to audition for his 1957 film, The Aunt From Chicago (Η θεία απ' το Σικάγο), a comedy about an aunt trying to marry off her three young nieces, Aliki arrived for her audition and immediately asked Filopoimin if he didn’t think she was a bit young to be playing the aunt. The story goes that he indignantly showed her the door - but not for long. Ιn 1958 she played the role of Aliki in Cutey Pie ( Η Μουσίτσα) - her first Finos Film.
Her song Rίκο Rίκο Rίκοκο became a hit. In a field of 45 films shown in the 1958-9 season, it ranked fifth in popularity. The type of character she played here set the pattern for her most famous roles: adorable, mischievous, childlike but sexy - a handful, but one that will ultimately charm and fall in love with the male lead in the film. Her little girl singing voice became a trademark, as did the swishing hair (not yet blond), the direct way she looks into the camera, and her comic timing - all perfect ‘Vougiouklaki’ even in 1958. The fact that her character in this film is actually named Aliki, is just icing on the cake. (3)
If you are not too familiar with Aliki’s career, this would be a good time to watch her in a clip from this film: https://cityportal.gr/movie/i-moysitsa-1959/
It would be easy to scoff at Aliki because the persona she created was a fantasy of the patriarchal mindset of the era. That she could be ‘tamed’ and brought into the patriarchal fold is a liet-motif of almost every plot and part of the charm for the audience. This is not meant to be a put down. Aliki was brilliant at what she did. Nor did she need mentors to create her image; she was active in creating her own myth and she had her finger on the popular pulse. She also made sure that she was properly paid and was the first Greek actress to insist on a percentage of a film's profit as well as a salary.
1959 was Aliki’s year. First she appeared in Astero (Αστέρω) as a shepherdess to Dimitris Papamichael’s shepherd in, what for me, was a fairly forgettable melodrama except that it brought together the stars who would define an era of Greek cinema. Dimitris had been a fellow graduate of the National Theatre Drama School. Astero was named best out of 45 films that year at the Ninth Festival of Berlin.
Note that they have equal billing
Then, in November of 1959, came Το Ξύλο Βγήκε απ’ τον Παράδεισο (4) in which she played Liza Papastavrou a spoiled but mischievous student who captures the heart of her serious teacher, played by Papamichael.
At 25, she was barely believable as a high school student. This film, as many Aliki films requires a certain suspension of belief
This Finos Film blockbuster was declared the best movie between the years 1955-60 at the Thessaloniki Film Festival. There were songs galore by Manos Hadjidakis: (Έχω Ένα Μυστικό και Το Γκρίζο Γατί). It was the first soundtrack of a film to become a gold record. Aliki was lucky that her rise coincided with a bevy of excellent song writers and composers.
In
1959, as notable a writer as Eleni Vlachos wrote in Kathimerini “We have our
national star Aliki Vougiouklaki, like the French have Bridgit Bardot and the
Americans Marilyn Monroe. (5) For better or worse, she would become an icon and style setter for an entire generation of young women.
1959- 1960: The Prince and the Showgirl: Aliki would eventually confirm that she and then Prince Constantine had had a romance starting in 1959 when the prince attended the play Topo sta niata in which Aliki starred. The story goes that the queen put a stop to it. The suspected romance received a lot of press attention at the time.
True? It doesn’t matter! And, if true, Constantine was just one of the many young men who were entranced by Aliki that year.
In 1960 she won best female actor at the Thessaloniki Film festival for her role in Madalena (Μανταλένα) as the feisty fisherman’s daughter who finds herself mixed up in a family feud involving the fisherman character played by Papamichael. The village priest helps them to bury the hatchet, they fall in love, and the village accepts that a girl can be the captain of a fishing boat. Her role, while not quite a blow for women’s lib, may have seemed empowering in island villages in 1960. Madalena represented Greece at the Cannes Film and received outstanding reviews. A look at the posters advertising the film makes it clear who the star is:
The ranking of his name and the smaller letters rankled Papamichael from the get go .He considered himself equally responsible for the film’s success. Aliki and Filopoimin Finos did not agree.
Aliki was becoming so popular that she produced her autobiography, Here Aliki (Εδω Ασλικη), in 1961 at the ripe old age of 27!
Maybe better titled ‘My life so far’.
The rest, as they say, is history. In 1961, in her first colour film Aliki in the Navy Η Αλίκη στο Ναυτικό), was a very expensive Finos Film production again with music by Μάνος Χατζιδάκις. (Τράβα Μπρος, Ο Γλάροςκαι Ο Γαϊδαράκος). In an interview, Xatzidakis would confirm what the public already knew: She was not just an actress, she was a phenomenon.
Papamichael wanted equal billing but did not get it. This caused a rift that split up the winning combination for a time.
The hiatus gave Aliki time to concentrate on her own theatrical company and act in The Prince and the Showgirl, Caesar and Cleopatra, Χτυποκάρδια στο Θρανίο)( High School Crushes) and others.
1964 saw her attempt to appeal to an audience beyond Greece. Aliki My Love was filmed on the Cycladic island of Ios with Wilfrid Hyde-White and Jess Conrad, and directed by Rudolph Mate. It premiered in London and was a dud. You cannot see it now because Aliki made sure that all traces of this film disappeared.
1964 saw the Finos Film, The Bait (Το Δόλωμα), with Aliki playing the attractive bait for a couple of con artists to rope in and fleece wealthy tourists. It was rated second in popularity out of the 93 films of 1964-5.
In this film, she did what she does best, but the public wanted the dynamic Aliki-Papamichael duo of 1959 back and so, apparently, did Aliki. She offered Papamichael equal billing to make the Finos Fllm High School Crushes (Χτυποκάρδια στο Θρανίο), a comedy with all the expected comic misunderstandings, but which, as usual, ends with a happy couple.
1964 saw Papamichael and Aliki together in the theatre. They played in Colombe a play by Jean Anouilh. Somewhere along the line, they had fallen in love. Papamichael, abandoning his partner of ten years, proposed to her on stage. If this was Hollywood, you would assume that to have been something a publicist dreamed up, but it seems to have been a genuine attraction – or possibly, by this time, their public and private personas had melted together in their own minds as well as in the public’s.
Their 1964 hit Modern Cinderella (Μοντέρνα Σταχτοπούτα) where Papamichael gets the girl yet again whetted the public’s anticipation of the real thing.
They wed in January 1965 in Delphi.
Their ten year marriage proved to be less well scripted than their lives on screen. It often often involved arguments and, according to many sources, physical violence. (6)
On screen their lives continued to be perfect: Dancing the Sirtaki (Διπλοπενιές) 1966, Oh That Wife of Mine (Αχ, Αυτή η Γυναίκα μου), My Daughter the Socialist ( Η Κόρη μου η Σοσιαλίστρια), The Brightest Star (Το Πιο Λαμπρό Αστέρι) (1967) The Luna Park Girl (Το Κορίτσι του Λούνα Παρκ) Our Love (Η Αγάπη Μας) (1968) and The Lady and the Tramp (Η αρχόντισσα κι’ο αλήτης) , a personal favourite, which broke all previous Greek box office records and sold over 700, 000 tickets in Attica alone..
During the filming of The Teacher with the Blond Hair (Η Δασκάλα με τα Ξανθά Μαλλιά), Aliki was pregnant. Her son, Ioannis Papamichael was born on June 4, 1969. (7)
More successes followed until Lieutenant Natassa (Υπολοχαγός Νατάσσα) in 1970 whose story line was a real departure . It was about the Greek-Italian war and the German occupation. In it, she is a released prisoner of Dachau, looking back on her life. Her husband, played by Papamichael is killed. It was the last film she and Papamichael made together. In spite of the penchant for Greek films to avoid recent history and politics for the sake of domestic dramas, light comedies, and musicals, Lieutenant Natassa became the biggest commercial success in Greek film history very possibly because Aliki was in it. (8)
In a reference to the military dictatorship in Greece, the 1972 Aliki the Dictator (Η Αλίκη Δικτάτωρ) was a nod to Charlie Chaplin and a bit of a challenge to the colonels. It was daring for the time but apparently passed the Junta’s censors with only a few minor changes because one of the Junta member's daughters was an Aliki fan!
The 1973 remake of Johnny Belinda called Maria of Silence (Μαρία της Σιωπής) about a deaf girl taken advantage of by an unscrupulous villain was her last Finos Film.
The golden age of Greek cinema was coming to a close with the advent of television. (9) As if to underline the end of an era, the golden couple divorced in 1975.
Aliki would remarry in 1982 to Cypriot Γιώργο Ηλιάδη but divorced soon after.
The Rest
Aliki then concentrated on the theatre playing the comedic or
musical roles that were her trademark, sometimes using a Greek playwright but,
more often, presenting plays which had already had international success: My Fair Lady, Cabaret, Evita, Victor –Victoria, Educating
Rita, and Filumena, (the last
two with Papamichael). All were vehicles
in which her particular talents could shine. She had her own theatre called Aliki in the centre of Athens.
As Eliza in “My Fair Lady”
Aliki did do some television, but it was not her forte. (10) She was a popular guest on talk shows either promoting her theatre or discussing her life.
Her partner after her second divorce was actor Βλάσση Μπονάτσο (Vlassis Bonatsos) 15 years her junior and one of her co-stars in Evita..
He played Che
That relationship ended in 1987.
Her final partner would be actor Costas Spiropoulos (Κώστας Σπυρόπουλος) with whom she played in the 1987-8 production of Λίγο πιο νωρίς, λίγο πιο αργά. In this play he is 22 and she is supposedly 38. In real life he was 23 and she was 54. She is completely believable as a woman in her 30s. For an excerpt from the play, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JTtmTyc5Go. They remained a couple until her death.
At Epidauros
Aliki played in Epidauros on two notable occasions. The first was in 1986 Aristophanes’ Lysistrata, a play especially suited to her talents. But her appearance in Antigone in 1990 deeply offended Epidauros purists! (11). Many thought she had wandered beyond her depth and the critics were ruthless. I cannot help but admire her chutzpah! She had to know what to expect and she did it anyway.
“Niauou, Niaou Antigonoula” is a sneering reference to her early hit song “Niaou Niaou Vre Gatoula, basically a children’s song.
Her illness: While on tour in 1996, Vougiouklaki experienced severe stomach pains. She was diagnosed with a malignant tumour in her liver, but continued to perform in The Sound of Music until April 28th when she announced on stage her departure for treatment. Further tests found pancreatic cancer. She sought treatments in Europe and America, but none were successful.
She died on July 23, 1996. Her funeral was attended by thousands, including Dimitris Papamichael.
Afterward:
Had she been born 15 years sooner or 15 years later, she may never have become a star. Her meteoric rise was a confluence of cinematic development, the existence of great writers, directors and song writers, notable actors, and the public’s appetite for light entertainment. Did she develop as an actress over time? That’s up for debate. Although she matured and became more professional, it seems as if she appeared ‘full blown’ in Cutey Pie in 1958 and then just carried on in the same vein with few exceptions. Whether her close attention to every aspect of her career made her happy is another question. She would often say that she felt isolated and that maintaining her famous persona was exhausting. She rarely stepped out of character in her art or in public life - and her fans loved her for it.
The Grave
It is still often Festooned with flowers from her fans
Section 14, Number 6
Footnotes
(1) Maniot clans have a special place in Greek history. They were famous for their fighting spirit, tenacity, and their determination to come out on top in a vendetta, all qualities that may have helped her along the way.
(2) Κι αν αντέδρασα στα πρώτα της βήματα, το έκανα γιατί την αγαπούσα και γιατί ο δρόμος του καλλιτέχνη έχει λίγα τριαντάφυλλα και πολλά αγκάθια.)
(3) Aliki preferred her own name or one similar in her films. It was a promotional ploy and one that a lot of other Greek actors also adopted. In the relatively small world of Greek cinema, this form of advertising worked so well that it would seem strange to call Aliki by her last name.
(4) The title literally means “Wood Comes from Paradise”. Wood in this context refers to a beating (to eat wood). The saying suggests that smacking young people is, in a sense, God-given! It was translated into English as Maiden’s Cheek.
(5)…η εθνική μας Αλίκη Βουγιουκλάκη, όπως οι Γάλλοι καθιέρωσαν τη Μπριζίτ Μπαρντό και οι Αμερικάνοι την εθνική τους Μέριλιν Μονρόε
(6) July 20th 1974 saw the police called to their home where Papamichael was beating his wife. Only the fact that it was the same day Turkey invaded Cyprus and that all Greek men of military age, including him, had been called up to active duty, stopped the police from arresting him. It was the beginning of an end that many had been predicting for years.
(7) The story of Ioannis Papamichael is a sad one. He was traumatized by his parent’s complicated relationship, sometimes spoiled, and then left to sort it all out after his mother died. It is a saga all by itself.
(8) I leave a closer analysis of this film to the critics. The 1965 film Stella with Melina Mercouri might be deemed a serious film, but it stands pretty much alone. The public preferred happy endings and politics being what they were in the fifties and sixties’, a little bit of self-censorship went a long way.
(9) She would make two other films, one in 1980 «Πονηρό Θηλυκό, Κατεργάρα Γυναίκα», and one in 1981 «Κατάσκοπος Νέλλυ».
(10)«Βασίλισσα Αμαλία» (ΕΡΤ, 1975), «Η θεατρίνα» (ΕΡΤ, 1977), «Καμπαρέ» (60λεπτο show με τις καλύτερες μουσικοχορευτικές σκηνές της ομώνυμης θεατρικής παράστασης, ΕΡΤ, 1978), «Και εύθυμη και χήρα» (ΑΝΤ1, 1991).
(11) Followers of ancient Greek drama could be merciless. I attended a performance of Medea at Epidauros when a third of the audience simply walked out yelling ‘shame’ because they believed the director had not respected the play.
Sources
The internet is studded with Aliki lore. The trick is sifting it. Here are some suggestion by my fellow researcher for this entry, my good friend Nicole Mabger:
All theatrical production of Vougiouklaki’shttps://alikivougiouklaki.us/theatre.html
https://www.ellines.com/en/myths/42544-national-star/
https://www.hello.gr/celebrity-news/aliki-vougiouklaki-90-gennisi/
https://intellectdiscover.com/content/journals/10.1386/jgmc_00004_1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGWWVndge3A
https://www.alikivougiouklaki.us/interviews.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8oWjLj5DFMo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UybbJUIFYI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4v6R4zAE48
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKN-8TSfjMM
https://gr.pinterest.com/pin/375980268864961155/?lp=true
https://www.port-magazine.com/film/greek-legend-aliki-vougiouklaki/
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0903818/trivia/
http://finosfilm.com/movies/overview Finos Movies
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