Lela Patrikiou(1904-1975)

Lela Stamatopoulou, later known as Lela Patrikiou, was a Greek actress who worked in musical theater, particularly operetta, before also appearing in Greek cinema. The daughter of actors Panagiotis Stamatopoulos and Evdoxia Stamatopoulou, she made her stage debut in 1916 at the age of 12 in the revue Panorama by Timos Moraitinis in Tripoli. That same year, she joined Marika Kotopouli's theater company with her older sister Anna. She studied under director Thomas Oikonomou and soon gained recognition for her singing voice and performances in musical theater. In 1925, she joined the theater company of actor Spyros Patrikios, whom she later married, and the two remained closely associated in both their personal and theatrical lives. They had a son, poet Titos Patrikios, and toured the United States from 1929 to 1931 with Spyros as company leader. During the Greek Civil War, she supported the family while her husband faced persecution because of his political views. She later established a film career, appearing in such films as The Counterfeit Coin (1955), The Taxi Driver (1953) and Anthismeni amygdalia (1959). She continued performing on stage for many years and retained the surname Patrikiou professionally as a sign of devotion to her husband.