Thanasis Vengos

Thanasis Vengos was born in 1927 in Neo Faliro, Piraeus, Greece.

From 1948 to 1950 he was exiled in the island of Makronisos due to his political beliefs. On Makronisos he met director Nikos Koundouros who was also exiled there. Nikos Koundouros later gave him his debut movie role in Magiki polis (1954).

He made his movie debut in 1952 and played many supporting parts in films of the 1950s, often working as a technician, too.

His first really major part was in the anti-war comedy Psila ta heria Hitler (1962); he followed that with a long series of comedies, which made him extremely popular. He created the recognizable persona of the everyday man who keeps running to earn his daily bread.

His best roles often have a tragic dimension, as the anti-heroes he played in the commercial and artistic hits Ti ekanes ston polemo Thanasi (1971) and Enas xenoiastos palaviaris (1971).

On 9 June 2000 he had a car accident while crossing the train lines. A train crashed on his car and he and his wife went to hospital with a few injuries. He then filmed a TV-spot warning the drivers not to cross the train lines without looking first

On 9/2/2002 the municipal theatre of Korydallos was named "Thanasis Vengos".

The documentary Enas anthropos pantos kairou (2004) is about him.

Working on a film with director 'Dimos Avdeliotis' [April 2005]

In 2008 he was appointed Commander of the Order of the Phoenix by the President of Greece, Karolos Papoulias.

Until his death, he lived at Agia Paraskevi, Athens. [2011]