Aleka Paizi

Acting

Aleka Paizi

Born 1919-01-01 · Heraklio, Greece

Aleka Paizi (Greek: Αλέκα Παΐζη, Heraklion, Crete, 1919 - Athens, 4 February 2009) was a Greek actress. She studied at the Drama School of the National Theatre. Her family was financially comfortable, as her father was a tobacco manufacturer and experienced difficult times when he lost his business. She made her theatre debut in 1941, playing Susanna in Carlo Goldoni's Fan, on the Main Stage of the National Theatre. In 1945 and 1946 she participated in the theatre group "United Artists", which was founded by order of the KKE as the cultural arm of the party. In 1946, she formed a troupe with Dimos Starenios and Tito Vandis, her first husband. She collaborated with the troupe of Kostas Mousouris, Katerina, Elsa Vergi and others. From 1963 to 1966, she performed various roles in plays by the State Theatre of Northern Greece. She made her film debut in 1957, in the film Barba-Yiannis, the juggler. She also played in the films O Mimikos kai imairi by Grigorios Xenopoulos, To paid tou dromo by T. Aliferis, Synikoia to oneiro by Alekos Alexandrakis, etc. Abroad, she worked in Italian cinema. She also appeared on television, most famously in the role of Chrysostomi in Pantheoi by Tasos Athanasiadis, directed by Vasilis Georgiadis. On 28 November 1994, at an event of the Hellenic Theatre Study and Research Centre, she was awarded the "Marika Kotopouli" award for her overall contribution. In 2008, she participated in the exhibition and corresponding photographic album of nude portraits entitled "White Book" by photographer Takis Diamantopoulos. Aleka Paizi was also a leftist activist: she participated in the National Resistance during the Occupation, through EAM and the KKE, she passed through Makronissos, Trikeri, and was arrested several times. After the declaration of the dictatorship in April 1967, she fled abroad. Returning to Greece after the Revolution, she collaborated with Leonidas Trivizas's People's Experimental Theatre, with Manos Katrakis, with Karolos Koun's "Karolos Koun" Art Theatre, etc. She died on 4 February 2009, after a long health crisis, about a month before her starring role in "Moonlight Sonata", a stage adaptation of the poem by Yannis Ritsos, having served the theatre for more than 60 years. She was buried in the Second Cemetery of Athens, in a family grave.

Acting credits

Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion poster
8.2

Rome, Italy. After committing a heinous crime, a senior police officer exposes evidence incriminating him because his moral commitment prevents him from circumventing the law and the social order it protects.

Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion

1970

Honeymoon poster
4.7

Taxidi Tou Melitos is about the fear that most elderly people experience: approaching death. Leon (Stavros Xenides) and Zaharoula (Betty Livanou) are heading out for their annual vacation at a summer resort. Instead of their usual carefree anticipation, their mood is subdued because their daughter has just married and is off on her honeymoon. Life is lonely without her and the couple cannot avoid the realization that death is not that far away for them. Once at the resort, Leon tries to overcome this nagging fear by taking a wild plunge in the ocean, naked, as he and Zaharoula are out walking on the beach. Taken up in the spirit of the moment, she joins him among the waves. The results, however, are not what they expected.

Honeymoon

1979

Uncle Giannis, the Potter poster
6.1

Barba Giannis the potter tries to match Krinio with the wealthy Alexandros Harisis. Her mother Margarou and her uncle Platon feel very lucky, but Krinio is in love with Loukas and can no longer bear her mother's pressure.

Uncle Giannis, the Potter

1957

Dirty Weekend poster
5.2

A man and his mistress have just taken off for a weekend romp when they're kidnapped by a trio of bank robbers. They wind up becoming media "stars" as police and reporters follow them. They all wind up at the beat-up shack of a cranky old codger, with the police surrounding them and the robbers threatening to kill everybody.

Dirty Weekend

1973

Synoikia to Oneiro poster
7.2

A poor neighborhood of Athens, Asyrmatos, is the center of the world for the people who live there and try in every way to escape from poverty and destitution. A handsome released youth, Ricos (Alekos Alexandrakis), is trying to make money, at the same time that his lover, Stefi (Aliki Georgoulis), is seeing other men and her father, Nekrophoras (Manos Katrakis), is trying to contribute in family finances. Rico will set up a job, but will spend the money raised before he can put it into action. As a result, one of his "partners" (Alekos Petsos) will commit suicide, leaving his pregnant wife, Eleni (Aleka Paizis), to her fate. Rikos, his beloved and her father, defeated and disappointed because of the expectations that were never fulfilled, will be forced to come to terms with the harsh reality.

Synoikia to Oneiro

1961

The Perfume of the Lady in Black poster
6.4

Sylvia, an industrial scientist, is troubled by strange hallucinations related to the tragic suicide of her mother.

The Perfume of the Lady in Black

1974

Kill the Fatted Calf and Roast It poster
5.2

After many years of living abroad, a troubled young man returns home due to the death of his father (who he suspects was actually murdered). He attempts to untangle that mystery while still carrying an unhealthy obsession toward his mother, who committed suicide ten years ago. This obsession then draws in his attractive cousin and takes a sexual turn.

Kill the Fatted Calf and Roast It

1970

The Butterfly's Dream poster
6.3

This European existential drama utilizes complex symbols inspired by abstract psychological theories to explore the effects and reasons behind a young classical actor's decision to stop talking. No one knows why Massimo has vowed to stop talking. Other than speaking dialog from classical plays, Massimo refuses to say a single word. His father, a classic-literature professor believes it reflects to a disappointing love affair. His new girlfriend thinks Massimo is rebelling against his mother, a poet. A director learns of Massimo and commissions his mother to write a play about him. Though Massimo plays himself in the play, and does speak, he returns to silence when the play is finished.

The Butterfly's Dream

1994

Dawn on the Third Day poster
10.0

The inhabitants of Praxos, a mountain village in an occupied country, organize their own resistance to the oppressor. Faced with reprisals, they decide that every hour a man will cross the bridge that is the population's only supply route. The action, which results in the death of all those taking part, continues until dawn on the third day.

Dawn on the Third Day

1962

My Daughter Belongs to Me poster
8.0

A Greek father, estranged from his German wife, kidnaps his daughter from her busy career mother in Berlin, and brings her home to live with his family. An international custody battle follows.

My Daughter Belongs to Me

1992

Erotic Stories poster
4.9

A modest film of three independent parts showing sad couple stories.

Erotic Stories

1959

The Child of the Street poster
7.5

A girl, Vassula, learns shortly before marrying her lover, Richard, that the alleged father is actually her uncle. The latter, when the natural daughter died, presented the event as the death of his adoptive daughter. The mother of the girl is still alive and will accompany her to church with her true father.

The Child of the Street

1957

Desires in the Straw poster
8.0

In the Thessalian plain, a wealthy landowner creates insecurity among farmers when he brings in a threshing machine and boosts his production to unrealistic levels. The landowner's brother is released from prison and demands his share of the property, while also slandering Thanos, the engineer who found the machine. Thanos is in love with the landowner's daughter. With the consent of the girl's mother, the two young people manage to get married.

Desires in the Straw

1960

Roza poster
8.0

In an inn in Trieste, Kyveli, wife of a political prisoner of the junta, falls in love with an old student of her husband, who has been distinguished for his activities against the dictatorship. But he will be forced to run away, along with his lover, as they are hunted by the police. Kyveli will go to Strasbourg to present evidence to the Council of Europe, which proves human rights violations in Greece, but the session is postponed and she now lives in a web of fantasies and unfulfilled expectations.

Roza

1982

Mimikos and Mary poster
5.6

The tragic story of a couple that upset Athenian society at the end of the 19th century. Michail Mimikos (Andreas Barkoulis) is a doctor in the Greek army, and Mary Weber (Aliki Vougiouklaki) is an upper-class girl. The two want to get married, but Mary’s parents want her to marry a rich man. When Mimikos leaves abruptly for Nauplion for professional reasons, he writes her a letter which she never gets, leading to tragic consequences...

Mimikos and Mary

1958

Gamos sto Perithorio poster
7.0

An 80-year-old widower, Mr. Elias, goes to his village (Perithorio, where he had been president of the community for twenty-four consecutive years) to vote in the municipal elections. There he meets his childhood sweetheart (Fotini, also a widow). Their youthful engagement had been broken off due to a misunderstanding, but now their love is rekindled and they are considering marriage, despite the opposition of Fotini's daughter. When one day the village madman announces their rendezvous, the elderly couple, panicked, take the bus and flee to Drama. There they spend carefree, tender moments, but Mr. Elias' son, Aristides, finds them and forces them to return. However, the big decision has already been made, and when Mr. Elias' pension for former mayors and community presidents comes through, nothing can stop the couple anymore. Fotini comes to Athens and, together with Elias, they visit her grandson.

Gamos sto Perithorio

1989

Quiet Days in August poster
5.3

The stories of three lonely people surviving a sweltering summertime in Athens are interwoven in this gentle romantic drama. Nikos used to be a merchant seaman, traveling around the globe to exotic places and testing his wits and his mettle in different situations. Now he is retired, living in Athens with his wife whom he no longer loves. While at the train station, he encounters a woman who faints more or less into his arms. From her, he learns that this day has already been special to her for two reasons: her husband just died, and it is her birthday. Curiously, this meeting sparks new life in him. Another man suffering through the hot Athens summer is a bank employee who gets calls every day at four p.m. from a woman who seeks to arouse him. What she succeeds in doing is rousing his curiosity, which he is likely to regret giving in to.

Quiet Days in August

1991

Melodrama? poster
6.2

A 30-year-old man returns from America suffering an existential crisis. He goes to Corfu to see his sick mother and tries to find happiness through a desperate love affair.

Melodrama?

1980

Sweet Memory poster
7.5

Irina returns to Athens after long absence to find her step-brother. Her brother's friends, an American musician, a young Russian, a heritage-suitcase of her father and a series of odd events drift her into an inner journey...

Sweet Memory

2005