Manos Katrakis

Born in Kissamos, Crete, he was the youngest of five children of Haralambos Katrakis and Irini Katraki. When Manos was 10 years old, his family moved from Crete to Athens, where his father searched for work. His brother, Giannis, emigrated to North America. Manos played soccer during his youth for the Athinaikos football team and others.

Along with actor/director Kostas Leloudas, he acted in his first movie To Lavaro tou '21 in 1928. He later performed in the Ethniko Theatro (the National Theatre) in 1931. During the 1930s, he continued acting in theatrical plays (he was friends with the maestro Dimitris Mitropoulos). He married Anna Lori in 1943.

He took part in the resistance as a member of EAM/ELAS and after refusing to sign a declaration of repentance during the Greek Civil War of 1946–49, he was exiled to Makronisos, along with such other well-known figures as Yiannis Ritsos, Nikos Koundouros, Mikis Theodorakis and Thanasis Veggos.

In the 1950s he returned to Athens from Makronisos but there was little acting work. He was handed both small and big roles in plays and films. In 1954, he married his third and last wife named Linda Alma (real name Eleni Malioufa). Shortly before his death, he filmed his last and best movie Taxidi sta Kythira, the Journey to Kythera/Kythira, with director Theo Angelopoulos.

Katrakis died at the age of 76 on 2 September 1984, from lung cancer; he had been an avid smoker for most of his life. In 2009 the Greek Post Office issued a €0,01 postage stamp in honor of Katrakis.

• Manos Katrakis at IMDb
• Biography from creta-info.gr