Acting
Dec 31, 1914
Athens, Greece
Maria Alkaiou
Acting
Biography
Maria Alkaiou (born Maria Papageorgiou, Athens, 1915 – January 1, 2005) was a Greek award-winning theater (mainly) actress and troupe leader. She appeared on the stage from the age of 5 with the troupe of Kyveli. Her film debut took place in 1933. A graduate of the Pelos Katseli Drama School, she collaborated with the National Theater for a number of years, as well as with the National Opera. She also took part in television series. She was honored with the award for the first female role at the Thessaloniki Film Festival (1975) for her performance in the film Fonissa by Kostas Ferris.
Feature Films (5)
Twenty-year-old homosexual Angelos, who works in a jewelry shop, lives very discreetly in a rather hostile social environment. When he falls in love with a sailor, Michalis, he decides to leave home, abandoning his alcoholic father, his hysterical mother and his disabled sister, to live with his lover.
Angel
An adaptation of one of the greatest greek novellas ('The Murderess' by Alexandros Papadiamantis). Fragkogiannou (Maria Alkaiou), a hard-done by, deranged woman after a life full of hardship, recalls the past by her newborn girl grandchild’s crib. Her mother was a wicked woman and one of her sons was a criminal. Lost in a haze, she strangles the baby as she is concvinced that girls can cause their family only trouble. Later, she lets a little girl drown in a well, while she drowns three other little girls, one of whom is a newborn baby. This is her way of sparing children and parents of the inevitable suffering in life.
The Murderess
Three students share their dreams for their future after school. Yanna is the moral compass of the film. She wants to work, become financially independent, and then, if she finds the man who speaks to her heart, get married and start a family. Katerina simply wants to get married and take care of her children, and the third member of the group wants to solve her financial problems through a wealthy marriage. She doesn't care about love and romance, she doesn't want children, she wants a life full of "money" even if it means marrying without love. The camera finally focuses on Yanna's life, which seems to be going uphill. Remaining steadfast in her beliefs, she looks for work. When, after a year, she manages to find a job in the offices of a factory, her boss, Mr. Georgiou, makes advances towards her and she seriously injures him.
Uphill
Shortly before the start of a recital at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, pianist Stefanos Ballis has an accident and is taken to hospital. As she goes to see him, his wife Elli, distraught, tells her friend Stella how she met Stefanos seven years ago, when he was giving her piano lessons at her home, how she fell in love with him and married him—despite her military father's opposition—and had two children with him: Petrakis and Chloe...
