The video with special moments from her movies.
One year was completed yesterday, April 15, since the death of the actress, Katerina Helmi, who “passed away” at the age of 83.
Finos Film honored Katerina Helmi with a video on Instagram where it was noted: “The first appearance of Katerina Helmi in the cinema was at the age of 18 with the film “Barba-Yiannis o Kanatas” in 1957. However, as she herself had narrated, her film career, through which she was especially loved by the public, was started by Fino, who when he saw her in the theater playing one of the prostitutes in Alekos Galanos’ “Red Lights”, suggested her to play in the film “Law 4000 » by Yiannis Dalianidis.
Since then she has established herself as a film actress, with perhaps her best moment in the film adaptation of the play “The Red Lanterns”, directed by Vassilis Georgiadis. Three more films with Finos Film followed, in which her performances were disarming: “Without Identity” (1963), “Vertigo” (1963) and “Enemies” (1965). Today marks one year since her death and we remember her through her special moments in Finos Film films”.
A great lady of theater and cinema, Katerina Helmi was a dynamic woman with a strong personality and a kind soul. She passionately served the art of acting for more than sixty years, knowing important distinctions from her first steps on the stage. He had the ability to annihilate the distance between role and reality, convincing the viewer of the story he was acting out.
THE EARLY YEARS
He was born in August 1939 in Athens and grew up in Plaka in a family originally from Kefalonia. She started learning music and foreign languages from a young age, while she never missed a theater performance. Her first choice of studies was the National Theatre, followed by the Dramatic School of Karolos Koun and graduated from the school of Pelos Katselis.
THEATER
While still a student, she first appeared in the theater with Katerina Andreadis’ troupe in the play “Lady Betsy”. He continued with performances at the National Theater and the Free Theater.
In 1962, the defining moment of her career came with the role of a prostitute in the play “The Red Lights” by Alex Galanos, directed by Alexis Damianos. As she told in an interview with Lifo: “I was seen by Damianos and Galanos, the writer, and I was to take the role of the Princess, played by Karezi in the film. At the time of the audition, the role went to another girl, who did not have the necessary intensity in the dialogue with the drummer. She was a decent girl from Kun. I give her a push, I tell her: “Put on the tension, you’ll lose the role.” Galanos jumps: “Change of roles! Since you are teaching the other, take the role and come and show us what you do.” So I got my own role and the other got the Princess’s.”
Many performances followed both at the National Theater and the Free Theater, while he did not hesitate to collaborate with directors of the new generation. In 2009, she performed the title role of Mrs. Venable in Tennessee Williams’ play Last Summer at the Spyros Evangelitos Amphitheater to rave reviews.
In 2018 and at the age of 79, she co-starred in her last theatrical performance, in the play “Homeland now – 8 hours and 35 minutes” by Fotini Tsalikoglou, adapted and directed by Manos Karatzogiannis, at the Stathmos theater. Katerina Helmi had taught acting at the Veaki school, while she was also involved in writing books.
Katerina Helmi died on April 15, 2023, aged 83.