Ellie Lambeti
Ellie Lambeti was a famous actress. She established herself as a leading lady in the theatre world and she gained ardent fans due to her excellent acting skills. Because of her delicate, fragile and at the same time dynamic character and of course because of her love for the theater, she enacted all of her roles with passion. Continual losses in her life stopped her only for a while, but she always returned to her big love, the theatre.
She was born in 1926 at Vilia, Attiki. At the age of 2, her family moved to Athens. Every day, when she went to school, she walked past the National Theatre and she dreamt that one day she could be an actress. Her uncle, who was an actor, encouraged her to take exams for the acting school of the National Theatre, but they rejected her. However, Marika Kotopouli recognized her talent and admitted her to her acting school. This is when she changed her name from Ellie Loukou to Ellie Lambeti.
In 1942 she made her debut in the theatre with the play Hanneles Himmelfahrt. But the performance that established her as an actress was The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams.
In 1950 she married Marios Ploritis. Their marriage lasted for three years but ended because Ellie fell in love with Dimitris Horn. They were a passionate couple on the theatre stage as well as in their personal life. They established their own theatre company and they had big success. The audience used to love them together. At the same period Ellie collaborated with Mihalis Kakogiannis in the cinema. In 1959 her relationship and her collaboration with Dimitris Horn ended.
Her successful career in the theatre and cinema gave the impression of a brilliant and happy actress. But when the lights turned off Ellie had to face the shadow of loss. Whithin very few years she lost her mother, her father and two of her sisters. She was forced by her partner to have an abortion because he didn’t want to have children. Her sisters died from breast cancer and she realized that she would die from breast cancer, too. Her art was her haven. She turned to acting and through her dramatic approach to her roles she was able to mourn. She collaborated with the National Theatre, the Theatre of Manos Katrakis and the NTNG.
In the ’70s she adopted a child. Unfortunately, Elissa’s parents claimed their child back and after a long litigation took her back. Lambeti broke down, but she continued acting in the theatre. At the same time, she had to fight breast cancer so she shared her life between a hospital bed and the theatre stage.
In 1981 her vocal cords were damaged because of the chemotherapies, so she couldn’t speak. She discovered the play Sara, Children of a Lesser God and the audience deified her for the role of deaf-mute Sara. This was her last performance. She died in 1983 from breast cancer at an American hospital. She took part in 80 plays and 10 movies.
