Mimis Fotopoulos(1913-1986)

Mimis Fotopoulos was the son of Nikolaos Fotopoulos and Anna Papadopoulos. He was born in Zatouna of Gortynia on April 20, 1913. Zatouna is a small village, 4 km away from Dimitsana, at 1,050 meters altitude. His father died when Mimis was young. The young Fotopoulos preferred to study at the Faculty of Philosophy in Athens, but, in the second year, he left it to study theater at the Drama School of the Royal Theater, which was later renamed the National Theater, as we know it today. He took part in the Greek Resistance and married Margarita Tsala, from whom he had two daughters, Anna and Maria. He participated in various troupes until he made his own troupe. He played in travelling troupes, toured abroad, participated in many Greek films, mainly of the old Greek cinema, wrote plays and books, directed in the theater. He wrote the plays "A Girl at the Window" (1966) and "Pelopidas the Good Citizen" (1976). He published three books: "25 years of theater" (1958), "The river of my life", published by Kastaniotis, 1965, autobiographical, and "El Daba-Homer of the English", published by Modern Times, 1965. Finally, the poetry collections: "Bouloukia" (1940), "Semitonia" (1960), "Sklira trioleta" (1961), "The Death of the days" (1976), "Ballads of love and death" (1984) His wife had been exiled to Gyaros during the junta, when he was left alone with his two daughters. At that time he decided to make paintings with collage of stamps. This was another artistic activity, not so well known by Mimis Fotopoulos. He died on October 29, 1986, of a sudden heart attack.