Early life Evgenia Karpouzi was born in
Athens,
Greece, to a
mathematician father from
Mesolonghi and
high school teacher mother from
Aigio. Her father used to sell watermelons, called "" in Greek (stemming from ), in his spare time, which is the source of her last name, Karpouzi (
neuter singular). She studied under the direction of the Sisters of St Joseph at a private French school in
Thessaloniki, and later by the same Order in Athens. She learned
French fluently. When she was a
teenager, her father left the family and she continued to live with her mother. Her father died in a car accident in 1971. In 1951, she was accepted at the Greek National Theater (
Εθνικό Θέατρο), where she studied in the Drama School. The playwright
Angelos Terzakis and the director
Dimitris Rontiris were among her teachers. Upon graduation, in 1954, she was immediately thrust into starring roles in the theatre, playing alongside such actors as
Alexis Minotis and
Katina Paxinou.
Career Her stage debut was in the
Marika Kotopouli theatre in the French comedy,
La belle Heléne, with
Melina Mercouri and
Vasilis Diamantopoulos. In 1955, Karezi made her cinema debut in the
Alekos Sakellarios' comedy,
Laterna, ftoheia kai filotimo in 1955, a massive success just like its sequel,
Laterna, ftoheia kai garyfallo in 1957. For the soundtrack of the 1959 film
To nisi ton genneon she recorded a song by future
Academy Award-winner
Manos Hadjidakis, "Min ton rotas ton ourano" ("Do not ask the sky"). Her career flourished in the 1960s, when she headed her own theater troupe in 1961 and starred in some of the most classic movies of the
Greek cinema, like
Lola (1964),
Mia trelli... trelli oikogeneia (1965),
Tzeni-Tzeni (1966), and
Kontserto gia polyvola (1967). Her greatest film success was
Ta kokkina fanaria (
The Red Lanterns; 1963), which was nominated for the
Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Her last film appearance was in
Aristophanes'
Lysistrata (1972). Over the following decade, she continued to produce and star in such stage classics as ''
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Medea and Electra''. She appeared for the last time in theatre in 1990 in
Loula Anagnostaki's play,
Diamonds and the blues; suffering from terminal
breast cancer, she was in great pain and had to leave the show.
Personal life In May 1962, Karezi wed a journalist, Zahos Hadjifotiou, but this marriage ended in divorce two years later. In 1967, during the filming of
Kontserto gia polyvola, she met
Kostas Kazakos, with whom she had her only child, Konstantinos Kazakos, who became also an actor. They formed a popular duo and her repertoire shifted to more sophisticated and intellectual plays. They were led to prison where they spent several nights due to the play
To megalo mas tsirko (
Our Big Circus) in 1973, which insulted the
Greek junta. ==Death==