Grigoris Grigoriou(1919-2005)

Grigoris Grigoriou was a Greek director. He was the son of the then well-known lawyer Michalis Grigoriou. He studied law and political science at the University of Athens, as well as foreign languages, took lessons in the theater department of the University Club but eventually became a self-taught director. During the German Occupation, he took part in the Battle of Crete, he was eventually captured by the Germans, escaped and then joined and fought through the lines of the EAM (National Liberation Front). From 1942 to 1949 he worked in the Legal Department of AETE (the predecessor of today's Hellenic Telecommunications Organisation). A film director since 1949 and theater since 1951. In 1948 he wrote the script and directed his first film The Red Cliff. His film Bitter Bread (1951) is considered a landmark for Greek cinema as the first neorealist Greek film in which he combined Italian neorealism with Greek reality criticizing the authorities. He stopped his film activity in 1971 with thirty feature films to his credit. Also, Grigoris Grigoriou directed many plays at the radio theater of the state radio, while from 1949 he was a co-founder of the Lykourgos Stavrakos Film School and from 1957 a professor of the Drama School. His presence in television was also intense with his direction in Immortal Love Stories and Kapodistrias as well as in a series of plays on ERT. The television series of the literary work Loxandra was a great success, as was the show Na i Efkairia, which contributed to the emergence of new artists. From 1984 to 1990 he presented and moderated the weekly show In the Area of Greek Cinema. He was the president of the Society of Greek Directors and, apart from the directing awards, he was also honored with an award from the Ministry of Culture. He spoke French and was a permanent resident of Ilioupoli, Athens. With his first wife Maria Papaleonardou, he had a child, the composer Michalis Grigoriou. He then married the actress Inta Hristinaki without having children and finally Eleni Tsimaratou in 1960 with whom he had two children, the musician Lefteris Grigoriou and the diving instructor-director Stelios Grigoriou.