Dimitris Horn | Greek Actor | A Genuine Star of the Cinema and the Theatre of the 60s

Author

George Papadellis | SG Head

Dimitris Horn [1921 – 1998], born in Athens, son of the playwright Pantelis Horn, was a Greek performer in theater and cinema. His godmother was the famous Greek actress Kyveli.

Photo by: public (according to Wikipedia)

His first appearance in the theater was in the arms of Kyveli, in the play "Geitonisses" (meaning "Female Neighbors") of his father, and his second appearance came in the age of four, again with his godmother in Ibsen's "Nora".

He studied Drama at the National Theater School of Greece, with which he made his stage debut in 1941 in the play "Bat" of Johan Strauss in Thessaloniki. During the next years, he co-operated with the Greek National Theater and famous actors.

In 1951 he left to England with a one year scholarship, and then he went to the United States to get acquainted with the global theatre trends.

Coming back to Greece he made his own theater group (Dimitris Horn Theatre) with George Pappas and the famous Elli Lampeti. With Lampeti they fell in love and remained a couple for seven years. A most well known Dimitris Horn Movie with Elli Lampeti is the "Morning Awakening" of Michalis Kakogiannis, and other are the "False Pound" of George Tzavellas and the "Girl in Black" of Michalis Kakogiannis.

He gradually developed a reputation as "the best actor of his generation", performing many classics such as "Diary of a Madman", "Richard III", "Dom Juan", "Enrico IV".

In 1958, Horn shot a huge cinema score of his, the film "Life is only one" of George Tzavellas. In 1960 he shot the film "One for the thief" of Dimitris Ioannopoulos and gets awarded with the 1st men's role prize in the Thessaloniki Cinema Festival.

Video by: Heracles V. | 26.07.2007

In 1961, Horn gets awarded with the 1st men's role prize in the Thessaloniki Cinema Festival for a second time with the film "Woe Young People".

In 1967 he got married with Anna Goulandri, of the famous business family, until her death in 1988. Together, they founded the "Goulandri - Horn Foundation" which studied Greek civilization.

Dimitris Horn was honored with the Medal of the Golden Cross of Georgios A' from the Greek State, and in 2000 the Greek State established, in his memory, the Horn Prize, for the best new actors each year. The Horn Prize (which is actually the golden cross worn by Dimitris Horn, awarded each year by each winner to the next), established by the Greek actor Stamatis Fasoulis, is awarded each year to a young actor of the Greek Theater, in memory of Dimitris Horn. Candidates for the award must be graduates of drama school or working actors who have appeared professionally up to five years before the theatrical award year.