Kostas Voutsas

Kostas Voutsas (Greek: Κώστας Βουτσάς; born Konstantinos Savvopoulos (Greek: Κωνσταντίνος Σαββόπουλος; 31 December 1931 – 26 February 2020) was a Greek actor, director, and writer.

Voutsas was born in Athens in 1931 and moved to Thessaloniki in 1932. He studied drama at the Drama School of the Macedonian Conservatory of Thessaloniki and made his stage and screen debut in 1953.

Voutsas was the father of Theodora Voutsa. In 2016, he married Aliki Katsavou.

Voutsas died of a lung infection on 26 February 2020 at an Athens hospital, aged 88.

He was a major actor in Finos Films and went on to star in about 60 movies, mostly comedies and musicals of the 'golden era" of Greek commercial cinema.

In 1961 his breakthrough came when the Greek film director Giannis Dalianidis gave him a leading role in his phenomenally successful youth melodrama O Katiforos. He soon became one of the best and most popular comic actors of his generation and created personal groups, starring in many Greek comedies by top playwrights and classics like Aristophanes' The Wasps (as Philokleon), Molière's Le bourgeois gentilhomme (title role), etc.

He was always more committed to being a theatrical actor. In an interview with the Athens daily newspaper To Vima, he said: "Playing in movies has helped me a lot, but I was always committed to the theatre and that was my highlight." His acting technique is being studied at the University of Patras. He received many lifetime achievement awards: Thessaloniki International Film Festival and more.

In 1984 he received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Thessaloniki Film Festival.