Giorgos Moutsios–Actor
George Moutsios was born on January 31st, 1932, in Kalamata. Later, he moved with his family to Athens, where he finished high school. He studied music and singing at the "Hellenic Conservatory" (with Anna Sarantidou) and theatre at the Drama School of the "National Conservatory". Upon completing his military service, he continued advanced vocal studies at the "Music Academy" in Vienna and continued with theatre and directing at the "Reinhardt Seminar".
He stepped on stage for the first time at the age of 19 in the performance of the ancient drama "Oedipus the Tyrant" by Sophocles with the "National Theatre". He participated in the show as a member of the Chorus in all three seasons (1951, 1952 and 1955) when the play was staged at Delphi, Epidaurus and on tour abroad. With the "National Theatre", he also participated in the "Festival of Nations" in Paris. In the same festival (with the "Art Theatre "), he participated in Aristophanes' "Chickens", as well as in the Shakespeare Festival in London. In total, Giorgos Moutsios appeared in eight plays of the "National Theatre", the last being "Smaragdo’s Kidnapping” (1955).
At the theatre, he collaborated as an actor and a troupe leader, playing with great personalities such as Elli Lampetis, Aliki Vougiouklakis, Jenny Rousseas etc. His wife was also actress Despina Nikolaidou, with whom he formed a troupe in 1977. Of all his theatrical performances, the most important was when he taught and sang to the music of Manos Hadjidakis in Aristophanes' "Chickens", directed by Karolos Koun from the "Art Theatre » (1960). He also participated in M. Hadjidaki's album, "Kyklos tou CNS" (1959).
The first appearance of Giorgos Moutsios on the big screen was in 1951, in Frixos Iliadis' film "Ririka". He appeared in more than 50 films (drama, comedy, adventure), and in the 1960s, distinguished himself in roles as the "villain" or the "intriguer". Characteristic was his participation in the films "The Virgin of the Harbour" (1952) "I Will Make You Queen" (1964) "The Barker" (1966) "Trumpa 67" (1967) "The Road of Heroes" (1971) "Utter betrayal" (1971) etc. His last appearance on the big screen was in Dimitris Kolatos' film, "Alexanders and Ayse" (2002).
Giorgos Moutsios participated in the American film "The Lion of Sparta" ("The 300 Spartans"), which was shot in Greece in 1962 and directed by Rudolph Mate, playing the role of Demophilos the Thespian. He also appeared in the 6th episode of the English television series "Making News", entitled "Yes, we have no secrets". At the same time, with his wife, Despina Nikolaidou, they had created the television series production company "Romi TV. Art Productions”.
Giorgos Moutsios, with his characteristic baritone voice, also distinguished himself in artistic singing, being one of the significant performers of the songs of Manos Hadjidakis ("The Ballad of the Soldier", "Oh, my fair Xantheia" etc.). Unique is his interpretation of the song "A Myth", which he sang as a duet with Maria Dourakis. On May 29th, 1967, he sang the peace oratorio "El Pessebre" by the famous Spanish cellist Pablo Casals in Geneva. He also had extensive collaboration with the "National Opera" in mainly operetta performances, such as: "Princess of the Hippodrome" (1956-1957), "The Apachides of Athens" (2000-2001), "To fioro tou Levante" (2001- 2002), "Girl from the neighbourhood" (2003-2004) etc.
On February 1st, 2010, at the Papagos Spiritual Centre event, he was honoured for his overall contribution to theatre, cinema and singing. In his acceptance speech, he mentioned, among other things: "[…] I want to mention two people. My teacher in Vienna, who taught me how I would like to sing and Manos Hadjidakis, who taught me how I should sing." In 1999, George Moutsios started facing severe health problems. He passed away on July 17th, 2012, at the age of 80.