Elena Nathanail(1941-2008)
- Actress
Elena Nathanael was born in Athens, the daughter of a well-off textile
designer and manufacturer. Her impressive good looks got her noticed by
producers and directors of the, then-blooming, Greek commercial cinema
of the mid-sixties. After studying drama at the Pellos Katselis' Drama
School, Elena got her first screen part in the 1963 movie Kati na kaiei
(Something burning), directed by Yiannis Dalianides. Her second screen
role came in 1965 in the German movie Walsungenblunt, directed by Rolf
Thiele and based on a Thomas Mann novel. A few more parts followed in
Greek movies of the late sixties, usually in the Athenian spoilt rich
girl mould. In 1968 she got a best actress award at the Salonica film
festival for her part in the movie Randevou me mia agnosti (Rendez-vous
with a stranger). In the early seventies she established her screen
persona (that of a free-spirited, beautiful young woman) and became
something of a fashion icon but with the abrupt decline of the Greek
commercial cinema in 1973 her career came to a halt. After a seven year
absence she made a comeback of sorts with a number of straight-to-video
movies, usually light comedies. Her last role worthy of her beauty and
acting abilities was that of Julia in the hugely successful Thornbirds
spin-off TV soap, Aggigma psyhis, in 1998.