Martha Karagianni shone with her presence and beauty in the golden age of Greek cinema. In the 1960s, he was the most desirable creature in the male population of Greece. There wasn't a men's room, workshop and gas station that didn't have a picture of her in a bikini, the "trademark" of her cinematic image in those years.
Martha Karagianni was born on November 6, 1939 in Piraeus. Her father Charilaos Karagiannis came from a rich Russian family, which lost its property during the October Revolution and her mother Domna Tsiridou was of Pontic origin from Baku, the capital of today's Azerbaijan. Her refugee parents both met in a Pontian dance school in Drapetsona, fell in love and decided to unite their fortunes in 1932.
The germ of dance seems to have been instilled in their daughter. At the age of 8, little Martha started dance lessons and very quickly began appearing with Loukia Sakellariou's ballet in performances at the Lyric Theatre. In 1955, at the age of 16, she made her film debut in Orestes Laskos' dramatic film "The Stranger", playing alongside great actors, such as Alekos Alexandrakis, Giorgos Pappas, Kyveli, Eleni Zafeiriou and Lambros Konstandaras. He introduced her to the director, who was his friend, Thanos Tragas, her teacher in high school and in drama school, having appreciated her talent from the shows he put on at her school.
In 1957, Kostas Hatzichristos and Kaiti Dirindawa made their debut in the revue "Elephants and Fleas", staged at the "Peroke" theater in Athens. She did not attend a drama school, but she studied theater and cinema from an early age, playing alongside great revue and comedy actors, such as Vassilis Avlonitis, Kostas Hatzichristos, Orestis Makris, Dinos Iliopoulos and Rena Vlachopoulou. Having made a sensation with her presence in the artistic events, in the summer of 1957, the young starlet was photographed in a bikini for the cover of "Woman" magazine, the first published women's magazine in those years.
Her meeting with Yiannis Dalianidis was to take off her career. In 1962 he played in the first Greek musical "Some prefer it cold" directed by Dalianidis. She was the director's third choice, after Anna Fonsou who turned down the role and Popi Lazou who was late to the shoot. From then on, Karagianni played in all of Dalianidis' musicals: "Something to Burn" (1964), "Girls for a Kiss" (1965), "A Lady in the Bouzoukis" (1967), "Oi thalassies oi handres" (1967), "Marijuana Stop" (1971). He danced in all but sang in one, despite being a musical theater actor. In "Mermaids and Magicians" (1968) she sang "The man I will marry" with music by Mimi Plessas and lyrics by Lefteris Papadopoulos.
In 1969, Martha Karagianni did not hesitate to change her image for the needs of a dramatic role, the only one in her film career. Nikos Foskolos was the one who convinced her to star in his film "I die every morning", alongside Nora Valsami, Martha Vourtsis, Kostas Kazakos and Angelos Antonopoulos. Her next film "The Man" directed by Yiannis Dalianidis, shown at the end of 1969, was a satire of the melo films that had overwhelmed the Greek cinema at that time. She plays a popular girl who aspires to be a movie star, a comedic role with dramatic touches. She herself considers it her favorite movie.
Her film appearances thinned out after the collapse of commercial cinema from the mid-70s and are counted on the fingers of one hand. He starred in the films "I'm dying for you!" (2009) by Nikos Karapanagiotis, next to her younger colleagues, such as Eleni Radou, Fanis Mouratidis and Vassilis Charalambopoulos, as well as in the film adaptation of Thodoris Atheridis' play "Dying of Love" (2014), next to the director, Smaragda Karydis and Panagiotis Vlantis. In the 80's he starred in video films, which he will certainly not want to remember.
In her theatrical career, as early as 1962 she began to turn to prose works as well. In the same year, he played in the show "Beautiful City", staged at the "Park" theater, directed by Michalis Kakogiannis and music by Miki Theodorakis. In the winter of 1972, he staged a particularly ambitious show, the musical "Cabaret", which at the time was triumphant on Broadway, starring Liza Minnelli. The play was directed by Alexis Solomou, with co-stars Dino Iliopoulos, Costas Prekas, Vangelis Voulgaridis and Katerina Gioulakis. The show, despite being praised by critics, did not have the expected commercial success and was canceled after three months.
In the 80s he played in the classic American musical "Men Prefer Blondes", alongside Zoe Laskaris, directed by Stamatis Fassoulis. In the 1990s, he distinguished himself for his performances in important prose works, such as "Tonight we improvise" by Luigi Pirandello (1992-1993), "When Women Have Fun" by Carlo Goldoni (1998) and "Male and Old Lace" by Joseph Kesselring (1999-2000).
In October 1977 he made his debut on the small screen with the comedy series of Kostas Pretenderis "The Road" which was shown by YENED. He continued with the popular series "Androcles and his lions" (1985, ERT2) and "Micromesaioi" by Yiannis Dalianidis (1992, MEGA).
In her personal life, Martha Karagiannis was associated with two very strong loves, both with footballers. In 1959, she married the international footballer of Olympiakos Piraeus, Mimi Stefanakos, a marriage that was a first-class secular event for Athens at that time. The couple will divorce a year later. In 1973, he met the international goalkeeper of Panathinaikos, Vassilis Konstantinou. Their relationship would last twelve years and break up in 1985, a few months before it was formalized by marriage.
Martha Karagianni died on September 18, 2022, aged 82.
