Vasilis Vasilikos

Writer, Actor

November 18, 1934 — November 30, 2023 (89 years)
Vassilis Vassilikos (Greek: Βασίλης Βασιλικός, born November 18, 1934) is a prolific Greek writer and diplomat. A native of the northern Greek island of Thassos, Vassilikos grew up in Salonika, graduating from law school there before moving to Athens to work as a journalist. Due to his political activities, he was forced into exile following the 1967 military coup, where he spent the next seven years.

Between 1981 and 1984 Vassilikos served as general manager of the Greek state television channel ET1. Since 1996, he has served as Greece's ambassador to UNESCO.

As an author, Vassilikos has been highly prolific and widely-translated. He has published more than 100 books, including novels, plays and poetry. His best known work is the political novel Z (1967) (English language ISBN 0-394-72990-0 or ISBN 0-941423-50-6), which has been translated into thirty-two languages and was the basis of the award-winning film Z directed by Costa-Gavras (with music by Mikis Theodorakis).

In 2008, Vassilikos was among to 41 other personalities of Greece that condemned the action of the withdrawal of Ersi Sotiropoulos's book Zigzag Through the Bitter-Orange Trees from the Greek school libraries, after the appeal of insurance measures by Konstantinos Plevris against to the Ministry of National Education of Greece for this issue. In 2001, Petros Tatoulis had asked the withdrawal of this specific book and he characterized this as pornographic due to the provocative sexual scenes that it contains.

Description above from the Wikipedia article Vassilis Vassilikos, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Known For

  • Z
    Z1969
  • Shanghai
    Shanghai2012
  • Young Aphrodites
    Young Aphrodites1963
  • The Steps
    The Steps1966

Filmography

1986
1969
Z · as Novel
1966
1963

2019
Adults in the Room · as Classy Bar Guest
2013
1997
Pater Familias · as Cast
1985
Varieté · as Man Outside The Phone Booth
1971
Nausicaa · as Writer
1970
The Strangler · as Cast
1966
The Steps · as Stavros

2005
1989
The Owl's Legacy · as Self
1984
Dateline (AU) · as Self - Writer

2012
Shanghai · as Adapted From The Novel 'z' By
1998
Black Out · as In Collaboration With
1998