Stathis Giallelis
Encyclopedia
Stathis Giallelis is a Greek
actor who, in the early 1960s, won brief international renown as the star of Elia Kazan
's Academy Award-nominated epic America, America
, a role which brought him the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actor, as well as a nomination for Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama.
and the eventual fulfillment of his determined dream of immigrating to the United States
. Kazan wanted an unknown actor in whom the audience would see the character rather than the familiar face. In his autobiography, Elia Kazan: A Life, the director describes the details of his search for "a ferret, not a lion", someone who, like his uncle, did not always behave honorably, but had "my boy's single redeeming quality, devotion to his father and family".
Kazan first tried to find his leading actor in England
and, subsequently, in France, where a likely candidate was found, tested and rejected as "too handsome" and "lacking desperation" (although the actor was never named, circumstantial evidence points to Alain Delon
). Even the Actors Studio
proved deficient in providing the ideal aspirant. Finally, as he described it, "I did the obvious, went to Athens
, and in the office a film director found an apprentice sweeping the floor so he could be near production work". This was the office of Greek producer/director Daniel Bourla. Unfortunately, Stathis Giallelis was severely limited in both acting experience and knowledge of English
. The only son in a family with four daughters, he nevertheless impressed Kazan with his sincerity and deeply felt reminiscences of his Communist
father's martyrdom in the aftermath of the Communist–centrist/rightist struggle in the Greek Civil War
. Kazan continued to insist over the following decades that had the central role been played by a contemporary actor of the caliber of Marlon Brando
or Warren Beatty
(both of whom became stars under Kazan's direction) or one of the 1970s stars such as Dustin Hoffman
, Al Pacino
or Robert De Niro
, the project would have lacked verisimilitude
, even while enjoying much greater financial success. He compared Giallelis' performance to that of the protagonist in Vittorio De Sica
's 1949 neorealist
classic The Bicycle Thief.
The production, hampered by loss of its original financial backers, on-location hostility from Turkish
authorities and onlookers, as well as other problems, continued into 1963. Powerful elements within Turkey came to be convinced that the country's national institutions and historical perspective upon turn-of-the-century events would be unfavorably portrayed by the Greek director and, when Kazan decided to transfer the troubled production to Greece, customs officials confiscated the cans of what they considered to be finished film, but owing to a prescient switch of labels between exposed and unexposed product, the valuable cargo survived.
Bosley Crowther
, in his December 16, 1963 review of the film, noted that "Greek lad Stathis Giallelis is incredibly good as the determined hero, putting fire and spirit into the role". Other critics called his performance "mesmerizing", "heartbreaking" and "unforgettable". America, America earned three Oscar nominations for Elia Kazan (Best Picture
, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay), but its only win on Oscar night, April 13, 1964, was for Gene Callahan
's black-and-white Art Direction
. Eleven additional nominations came from other awards, including Golden Globes, which, a month earlier, March 11, named Elia Kazan "Best Director
" and Stathis Giallelis "Most Promising Male Newcomer/New Star of the Year", an award he shared with two of the remaining five nominees—Albert Finney
and Robert Walker, Jr.. He was also nominated for "Best Actor in a Drama", but lost to Sidney Poitier
in his Oscar-winning Lilies of the Field role.
' 1963 Greek art film
Mikres Afrodites (Young Aphrodites). Returning to Hollywood, the young actor seemed to be on the verge of a long and successful film career. Ultimately, however, in the 16-year period between 1964 and 1980, he appeared in front of the camera only seven more times in widely spaced film projects, only three of which (Cast a Giant Shadow
, Blue and The Children of Sanchez
) were American productions.
Giallelis' first post-America, America film offer came shortly after the epic went into wide release during Christmas week of 1963. Leopoldo Torre Nilsson
, Argentina
's internationally best known filmmaker, whose hypocrisy- and corruption-themed films regularly received acclaim at European film festivals, invited him to star in his new project, El Ojo de la cerradura
(The Eavesdropper). His co-star, and the only other non-Spanish
speaker in the cast would be intense twenty-one-year-old actress Janet Margolin
who, two years earlier, received critical praise for her highly dramatic co-starring role (with Keir Dullea
) in Frank Perry
's David and Lisa
. Filmed in Buenos Aires
, El Ojo de la Cerradura garnered encouraging notices at a number of film festivals and won the Silver Condor Best Film Award from the Argentine Film Critics Association. Two years later it received a belated release in U.S. art houses, including a September 1966 New York premiere. Despite good notices, it soon ended its run and has remained elusive. Giallelis' second 1966 U.S. release, Cast a Giant Shadow, is the only title in his brief filmography structured as a major studio production. The all-star epic about a Jewish-American army
officer's key leadership role in winning the battles which led to the 1948 establishment of Israel
, found him fifth-billed after Kirk Douglas
(as the central figure, Colonel Mickey Marcus
), Senta Berger
, Angie Dickinson
and James Donald
. His role, as a dedicated Israeli fighter for independence, spotted him in various brief moments throughout the film, but did not leave a strong impression. Despite its Hollywood pedigree, Cast a Giant Shadow was shot by director Melville Shavelson
entirely on outdoor locations in Israel and Italy
as well as studio interiors at Rome
's Cinecittà
studios.
Two more years would pass before Stathis Giallelis was seen in another film. Blue was a well-budgeted independent western
directed on picturesque Utah
locations by Silvio Narizzano
. Billed fourth after Terence Stamp
(as "Azul" ["Blue" in Spanish
]), Joanna Pettet
and Karl Malden
, Giallelis, as the son of Mexican
bandit Ricardo Montalbán
had little to show for his dramatic efforts and, with Montalban's "Special guest" billing factored in, he actually was, again, in fifth place. Released by Paramount
on May 10, 1968, Blue was perceived by a number of critics as an anti-war allegory, specifically focusing on Vietnam
. Saddled with a mostly negative response from the critics, the film was quickly out of theaters.
-produced war film Rekvijem (Requiem), but his participation remains unconfirmed. The World War II
heroics on display gave top billing to American Ty Hardin
who, in the late 1960s and early 1970s, appeared in a number of European-made action films and spaghetti western
s. Rekvijem premiered in Yugoslavia on July 15, 1970 and, although it never had a U.S. release, it was later seen on television in a cut and dubbed version entitled Last Rampage.
In 1974, Jules Dassin
and his wife Melina Mercouri
used the donated services of many top entertainment personalities to produce The Rehearsal
, an angry docudrama which reconstructed the events leading to the killing of some forty students in Athens
, as they protested against the heavy-handed rule of the Greek Junta. As a Greek living abroad, Stathis Giallelis was invited to participate along with Olympia Dukakis
, Mikis Theodorakis
and other celebrities of varying nationalities, such as Laurence Olivier
and Maximilian Schell
. Socially active writers, including Lillian Hellman
and former Elia Kazan compatriot Arthur Miller
also took rare acting turns in the production. Filmed in a makeshift New York
studio, the film was finished only days before the Junta's fall in July, and was thus set aside without public showings. Decades later, it received a brief New York premiere on October 17, 2001. Now able to return to his homeland, Giallelis appeared in esteemed Greek director Pantelis Voulgaris
' Nineteen Eighty-Four
-like allegory Happy Day, playing one of the leads in the story about imprisonment and repression in an unspecified European-style society. Having briefly been a Hollywood star in the previous decade, he was still seen as a celebrity in his homeland, but the film, despite receiving top prizes at Greek film festivals in 1976 and a showing in Canada
at the 1977 Toronto Film Festival, had little impact on his career.
After a passage of another two years, Giallelis appeared in his last-to-date American film, The Children of Sanchez. Hall Bartlett
's adaptation of the Oscar Lewis
novel was filmed on location in Mexico
and starred native-born Anthony Quinn
as his country's putative everyman
, Jesus Sanchez. Giallelis received yet another fifth billing, following two veteran Mexican actresses, Dolores del Río
and Katy Jurado
, as well as Venezuela
n Lupita Ferrer
who, at the time, was married to Hall Bartlett. Gialellis's role as Roberto was relatively small and underwritten, but he did receive a couple of closeups, which showed premature aging on the 37-year-old actor's once-youthful face. Upon its Los Angeles
premiere on November 22, 1978, the film received mixed to poor reviews, with the primary attention going to Chuck Mangione
's lively score.
Two additional years elapsed before Stathis Giallelis made one more passage in front of the cameras. In writer-director Giuseppe Ferrara
's 1980 RAI TV Italian miniseries
, Panagulis vive (Panagoulis Lives), which examined the life and death of Greece's renowned martyred poet-politician/democracy activist Alexandros Panagoulis
(1939–1976), the title role went to the actor whose ethnicity, still-remaining international fame, and age (a year-and-a-half younger than Panagoulis) made him a natural candidate for the part. Heading a large cast, he received generally favorable notices in various European media outlets. The 220-minute production, however, was never made available to American audiences.
disagrees, stating that Giallelis' speaking mannerisms in America, America are clear and distinct. Whatever the reasons for the actor's aborted film career, as one of a handful of screen performers known for a single acclaimed role (an ultimate example would be Maria Falconetti), his tour de force in America, America provides him with a secure place in film history.
in Manhattan, New York, working as a child supervisor and mentor. He retired in the summer of 2008.
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
actor who, in the early 1960s, won brief international renown as the star of Elia Kazan
Elia Kazan
Elia Kazan was an American director and actor, described by the New York Times as "one of the most honored and influential directors in Broadway and Hollywood history". Born in Istanbul, the capital of the Ottoman Empire, to Greek parents originally from Kayseri in Anatolia, the family emigrated...
's Academy Award-nominated epic America, America
America, America
America, America is a 1963 American dramatic film directed, produced and written by Elia Kazan, from his own book.-Plot:...
, a role which brought him the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actor, as well as a nomination for Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama.
Role of a lifetime in America, America
Stathis Giallelis' entire prominence revolves around his central role in America, America. He appears in nearly every scene of the 174-minute film and gives what some critics described at the time as a "towering performance". He has not, however, faced a camera since 1980 and his biographical details remain sketchy. The date of his birth is generally accepted as correct, although two sources indicate 1939 as the year. All listings agree that he was born in Greece, but none specify the location. The medium-height, slightly built Giallelis was twenty-one years old in mid-1962, upon Elia Kazan's arrival in Greece to meet the future star of his long-planned cinematic representation of his uncle's life in 1890s AnatoliaAnatolia
Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...
and the eventual fulfillment of his determined dream of immigrating to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Kazan wanted an unknown actor in whom the audience would see the character rather than the familiar face. In his autobiography, Elia Kazan: A Life, the director describes the details of his search for "a ferret, not a lion", someone who, like his uncle, did not always behave honorably, but had "my boy's single redeeming quality, devotion to his father and family".
Kazan first tried to find his leading actor in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and, subsequently, in France, where a likely candidate was found, tested and rejected as "too handsome" and "lacking desperation" (although the actor was never named, circumstantial evidence points to Alain Delon
Alain Delon
Alain Fabien Maurice Marcel Delon is a French actor. He rose quickly to stardom, and by the age of 23 was already being compared to French actors such as Gérard Philipe and Jean Marais, as well as American actor James Dean. He was even called the male Brigitte Bardot...
). Even the Actors Studio
Actors Studio
The Actors Studio is a membership organization for professional actors, theatre directors and playwrights at 432 West 44th Street in the Clinton neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded October 5, 1947, by Elia Kazan, Cheryl Crawford, Robert Lewis and Anna Sokolow who provided...
proved deficient in providing the ideal aspirant. Finally, as he described it, "I did the obvious, went to Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
, and in the office a film director found an apprentice sweeping the floor so he could be near production work". This was the office of Greek producer/director Daniel Bourla. Unfortunately, Stathis Giallelis was severely limited in both acting experience and knowledge of English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
. The only son in a family with four daughters, he nevertheless impressed Kazan with his sincerity and deeply felt reminiscences of his Communist
Communist Party of Greece
Founded in 1918, the Communist Party of Greece , better known by its acronym, ΚΚΕ , is the oldest party on the Greek political scene.- Foundation :...
father's martyrdom in the aftermath of the Communist–centrist/rightist struggle in the Greek Civil War
Greek Civil War
The Greek Civil War was fought from 1946 to 1949 between the Greek governmental army, backed by the United Kingdom and United States, and the Democratic Army of Greece , the military branch of the Greek Communist Party , backed by Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Albania...
. Kazan continued to insist over the following decades that had the central role been played by a contemporary actor of the caliber of Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando, Jr. was an American movie star and political activist. "Unchallenged as the most important actor in modern American Cinema" according to the St...
or Warren Beatty
Warren Beatty
Warren Beatty born March 30, 1937) is an American actor, producer, screenwriter and director. He has received a total of fourteen Academy Award nominations, winning one for Best Director in 1982. He has also won four Golden Globe Awards including the Cecil B. DeMille Award.-Early life and...
(both of whom became stars under Kazan's direction) or one of the 1970s stars such as Dustin Hoffman
Dustin Hoffman
Dustin Lee Hoffman is an American actor with a career in film, television, and theatre since 1960. He has been known for his versatile portrayals of antiheroes and vulnerable characters....
, Al Pacino
Al Pacino
Alfredo James "Al" Pacino is an American film and stage actor and director. He is famous for playing mobsters, including Michael Corleone in The Godfather trilogy, Tony Montana in Scarface, Alphonse "Big Boy" Caprice in Dick Tracy and Carlito Brigante in Carlito's Way, though he has also appeared...
or Robert De Niro
Robert De Niro
Robert De Niro, Jr. is an American actor, director and producer. His first major film roles were in Bang the Drum Slowly and Mean Streets, both in 1973...
, the project would have lacked verisimilitude
Verisimilitude
Verisimilitude is the quality of realism in something .-Competing ideas:The problem of verisimilitude is the problem of articulating what it takes for one false theory to be closer to the truth than another false theory...
, even while enjoying much greater financial success. He compared Giallelis' performance to that of the protagonist in Vittorio De Sica
Vittorio de Sica
Vittorio De Sica was an Italian director and actor, a leading figure in the neorealist movement....
's 1949 neorealist
Neorealism (art)
In art, neorealism was established by the ex-Camden Town Group painters Charles Ginner and Harold Gilman at the beginning of World War I. They set out to explore the spirit of their age through the shapes and colours of daily life...
classic The Bicycle Thief.
The production, hampered by loss of its original financial backers, on-location hostility from Turkish
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
authorities and onlookers, as well as other problems, continued into 1963. Powerful elements within Turkey came to be convinced that the country's national institutions and historical perspective upon turn-of-the-century events would be unfavorably portrayed by the Greek director and, when Kazan decided to transfer the troubled production to Greece, customs officials confiscated the cans of what they considered to be finished film, but owing to a prescient switch of labels between exposed and unexposed product, the valuable cargo survived.
Golden Globe Award and short-lived fame
Giallelis perfected his English-language skills as he spent nearly 18 months preparing for and filming his role, and the result was evident in the critical notices. The New York TimesThe New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
Bosley Crowther
Bosley Crowther
Bosley Crowther was a journalist and author who was film critic for The New York Times for 27 years. His reviews and articles helped shape the careers of actors, directors and screenwriters, though his reviews, at times, were unnecessarily mean...
, in his December 16, 1963 review of the film, noted that "Greek lad Stathis Giallelis is incredibly good as the determined hero, putting fire and spirit into the role". Other critics called his performance "mesmerizing", "heartbreaking" and "unforgettable". America, America earned three Oscar nominations for Elia Kazan (Best Picture
Academy Award for Best Picture
The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to artists working in the motion picture industry. The Best Picture category is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible not only...
, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay), but its only win on Oscar night, April 13, 1964, was for Gene Callahan
Gene Callahan (production designer)
Gene Callahan was an American art director as well as set and production designer who contributed to over fifty films and more than a thousand TV episodes. He received nominations for the British Academy Film Award and four Oscars, including two wins .A native of Louisiana, Eugene F...
's black-and-white Art Direction
Academy Award for Best Art Direction
The Academy Awards are the oldest awards ceremony for achievements in motion pictures. The Academy Award for Best Art Direction recognizes achievement in art direction on a film. The films below are listed with their production year, so the Oscar 2000 for best art direction went to a film from 1999...
. Eleven additional nominations came from other awards, including Golden Globes, which, a month earlier, March 11, named Elia Kazan "Best Director
Golden Globe Award for Best Director - Motion Picture
This page lists the winners of and nominees for the Golden Globe Award for Best Director. Since its inception in 1943, it has been presented annually by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, an organization composed of journalists who cover the United States film industry for publications based...
" and Stathis Giallelis "Most Promising Male Newcomer/New Star of the Year", an award he shared with two of the remaining five nominees—Albert Finney
Albert Finney
Albert Finney is an English actor. He achieved prominence in films in the early 1960s, and has maintained a successful career in theatre, film and television....
and Robert Walker, Jr.. He was also nominated for "Best Actor in a Drama", but lost to Sidney Poitier
Sidney Poitier
Sir Sidney Poitier, KBE is a Bahamian American actor, film director, author, and diplomat.In 1963, Poitier became the first black person to win an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Lilies of the Field...
in his Oscar-winning Lilies of the Field role.
Later roles in the 1960s
As America, America received wide distribution in Europe and elsewhere in 1964-65, Stathis Giallelis basked in the spotlight. In the months between the end of production and its December release, he completed a cameo role in Nikos KoundourosNikos Koundouros
Nikos Koundouros , is a Greek film director, born in Agios Nikolaos, Crete in 1926.He studied painting and sculpture at the Athens School of Fine Arts, and was later exiled because of his political beliefs to the Makronissos island. At the age of 28 he decided to follow a career in cinematography...
' 1963 Greek art film
Art film
An art film is the result of filmmaking which is typically a serious, independent film aimed at a niche market rather than a mass market audience...
Mikres Afrodites (Young Aphrodites). Returning to Hollywood, the young actor seemed to be on the verge of a long and successful film career. Ultimately, however, in the 16-year period between 1964 and 1980, he appeared in front of the camera only seven more times in widely spaced film projects, only three of which (Cast a Giant Shadow
Cast a Giant Shadow
Cast a Giant Shadow is a 1966 big budget, action movie based on the life of Colonel Mickey Marcus starring Kirk Douglas and Senta Berger. Yul Brynner, John Wayne, Frank Sinatra, and Angie Dickinson also appear in supporting roles...
, Blue and The Children of Sanchez
The Children of Sanchez
The Children of Sanchez is a 1961 book by American anthropologist Oscar Lewis about a Mexican family living in the Mexico City slum of Tepito, which he studied as part of his program to develop his concept of culture of poverty...
) were American productions.
Giallelis' first post-America, America film offer came shortly after the epic went into wide release during Christmas week of 1963. Leopoldo Torre Nilsson
Leopoldo Torre Nilsson
Leopoldo Torre Nilsson , also known as Leo Towers and as Babsy, was an Argentine film director, producer and screenwriter....
, Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
's internationally best known filmmaker, whose hypocrisy- and corruption-themed films regularly received acclaim at European film festivals, invited him to star in his new project, El Ojo de la cerradura
El Ojo de la cerradura
El Ojo de la cerradura is a 1964 Argentine film....
(The Eavesdropper). His co-star, and the only other non-Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
speaker in the cast would be intense twenty-one-year-old actress Janet Margolin
Janet Margolin
Janet Margolin was an American theater, television and film actress.- Early life :Margolin was born in New York City, the daughter of Benjamin Margolin, an accountant who was born in Russia and was founder and president of the Nephrosis Foundation, now the Kidney Foundation of New York...
who, two years earlier, received critical praise for her highly dramatic co-starring role (with Keir Dullea
Keir Dullea
Keir Dullea is an American actor best known for the character of astronaut David Bowman, whom he portrayed in the 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey and in 1984's 2010: The Year We Make Contact...
) in Frank Perry
Frank Perry
Frank J. Perry, Jr. was an American stage and film director, producer and screenwriter. His directorial debut, the 1962 film David and Lisa, earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Director....
's David and Lisa
David and Lisa
David and Lisa is a small independent film directed by Frank Perry, often cited as one of his best works. Based on the novel by Theodore Isaac Rubin, the screenplay, written by Frank Perry's wife Eleanor, tells the story of a bright young man suffering from a severe case of obsessive-compulsive...
. Filmed in Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
, El Ojo de la Cerradura garnered encouraging notices at a number of film festivals and won the Silver Condor Best Film Award from the Argentine Film Critics Association. Two years later it received a belated release in U.S. art houses, including a September 1966 New York premiere. Despite good notices, it soon ended its run and has remained elusive. Giallelis' second 1966 U.S. release, Cast a Giant Shadow, is the only title in his brief filmography structured as a major studio production. The all-star epic about a Jewish-American army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
officer's key leadership role in winning the battles which led to the 1948 establishment of Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, found him fifth-billed after Kirk Douglas
Kirk Douglas
Kirk Douglas is an American stage and film actor, film producer and author. His popular films include Out of the Past , Champion , Ace in the Hole , The Bad and the Beautiful , Lust for Life , Paths of Glory , Gunfight at the O.K...
(as the central figure, Colonel Mickey Marcus
Mickey Marcus
David Daniel "Mickey" Marcus was a United States Army colonel who assisted Israel during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, and who became Israel's first general . He was killed by friendly fire, when he was mistaken for an enemy infiltrator while returning to Israeli positions at night.Marcus is the best...
), Senta Berger
Senta Berger
Senta Berger is an Austrian film, stage and television actress, producer and author.Regarded by critics as one of the greatest actresses of the post-war period, and frequently named as one of the leading German-speaking actresses in polls, Berger has received many award nominations for her acting...
, Angie Dickinson
Angie Dickinson
Angie Dickinson is an American actress. She has appeared in more than fifty films, including Rio Bravo, Ocean's Eleven, Dressed to Kill and Pay It Forward, and starred on television as Sergeant Suzanne "Pepper" Anderson on the 1970s crime series Police Woman.-Early life:Dickinson, the second of...
and James Donald
James Donald
James Donald was a Scottish actor. Tall and thin, he usually specialised in playing authority figures.Donald was born in Aberdeen, and made his first professional stage appearance sometime in the late-1930s, having been educated at Rossall School on Lancashire's Fylde coast...
. His role, as a dedicated Israeli fighter for independence, spotted him in various brief moments throughout the film, but did not leave a strong impression. Despite its Hollywood pedigree, Cast a Giant Shadow was shot by director Melville Shavelson
Melville Shavelson
Melville Shavelson was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and author. He was President of the Writers Guild of America, West from 1969 to 1971, 1979 to 1981, and 1985 to 1987. He came to Hollywood in 1938 as one of comedian Bob Hope's joke writers, a job he held for the next...
entirely on outdoor locations in Israel and Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
as well as studio interiors at Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
's Cinecittà
Cinecittà
Cinecittà is a large film studio in Rome that is considered the hub of Italian cinema.-History:The studios were founded in 1937 by Benito Mussolini and his head of cinema Luigi Freddi for propaganda purposes, under the slogan "Il cinema è l'arma più forte"...
studios.
Two more years would pass before Stathis Giallelis was seen in another film. Blue was a well-budgeted independent western
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
directed on picturesque Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
locations by Silvio Narizzano
Silvio Narizzano
Silvio Narizzano was a Canadian film director, educated at Bishop's University, Quebec.His best received film was Georgy Girl , which was entered into the 16th Berlin International Film Festival...
. Billed fourth after Terence Stamp
Terence Stamp
Terence Henry Stamp is an English actor. Since starting his career in 1962 he has appeared in over 60 films. His title role as Billy Budd in his film debut earned Stamp an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor and a BAFTA nomination for Best Newcomer.His other major roles include...
(as "Azul" ["Blue" in Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
]), Joanna Pettet
Joanna Pettet
Joanna Pettet is a British actress.-Biography:Her parents, Harold Nigel Edgerton Salmon, a British Royal Air Force pilot killed in World War II, and mother, Cecily J. Tremaine, were married in London in 1940...
and Karl Malden
Karl Malden
Karl Malden was an American actor. In a career that spanned more than seven decades, he performed in such classic films as A Streetcar Named Desire, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, On the Waterfront and One-Eyed Jacks...
, Giallelis, as the son of Mexican
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
bandit Ricardo Montalbán
Ricardo Montalbán
Ricardo Gonzalo Pedro Montalbán y Merino, KSG was a Mexican radio, television, theatre and film actor. He had a career spanning six decades and many notable roles...
had little to show for his dramatic efforts and, with Montalban's "Special guest" billing factored in, he actually was, again, in fifth place. Released by Paramount
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
on May 10, 1968, Blue was perceived by a number of critics as an anti-war allegory, specifically focusing on Vietnam
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
. Saddled with a mostly negative response from the critics, the film was quickly out of theaters.
Last years of activity as an actor
Some sources credit Stathis Giallelis with a role in the YugoslavYugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
-produced war film Rekvijem (Requiem), but his participation remains unconfirmed. The World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
heroics on display gave top billing to American Ty Hardin
Ty Hardin
Ty Hardin, born Orison Whipple Hungerford, Jr., is a former American actor best known as the star of the 1950s ABC western television series Bronco.-Early life:...
who, in the late 1960s and early 1970s, appeared in a number of European-made action films and spaghetti western
Spaghetti Western
Spaghetti Western, also known as Italo-Western, is a nickname for a broad sub-genre of Western films that emerged in the mid-1960s in the wake of Sergio Leone's unique and much copied film-making style and international box-office success, so named by American critics because most were produced and...
s. Rekvijem premiered in Yugoslavia on July 15, 1970 and, although it never had a U.S. release, it was later seen on television in a cut and dubbed version entitled Last Rampage.
In 1974, Jules Dassin
Jules Dassin
Julius "Jules" Dassin , was an American film director, with Jewish-Russian origins. He was a subject of the Hollywood blacklist in the McCarthy era, and subsequently moved to France where he revived his career.-Early life:...
and his wife Melina Mercouri
Melina Mercouri
Melina Mercouri , born as Maria Amalia Mercouri was a Greek actress, singer and politician.As an actress she made her film debut in Stella and met international success with her performances in Never on Sunday, Phaedra, Topkapi and Promise at Dawn...
used the donated services of many top entertainment personalities to produce The Rehearsal
The Rehearsal (film)
The Rehearsal is a 1974 film produced by Jules Dassin that is a cinemagraphic indictment of the Greek military junta of 1967–1974.-Cast:*Jules Dassin*Olympia Dukakis*Stathis Giallelis*Lillian Hellman*Melina Mercouri...
, an angry docudrama which reconstructed the events leading to the killing of some forty students in Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
, as they protested against the heavy-handed rule of the Greek Junta. As a Greek living abroad, Stathis Giallelis was invited to participate along with Olympia Dukakis
Olympia Dukakis
Olympia Dukakis is an American actress. In 1987, she won an Academy Award, BAFTA, and a Golden Globe for her performance in Moonstruck...
, Mikis Theodorakis
Mikis Theodorakis
Mikis Theodorakis is one of the most renowned Greek songwriters and composers. Internationally, he is probably best known for his songs and for his scores for the films Zorba the Greek , Z , and Serpico .Politically, he identified with the left until the late 1980s; in 1989, he ran as an...
and other celebrities of varying nationalities, such as Laurence Olivier
Laurence Olivier
Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM was an English actor, director, and producer. He was one of the most famous and revered actors of the 20th century. He married three times, to fellow actors Jill Esmond, Vivien Leigh, and Joan Plowright...
and Maximilian Schell
Maximilian Schell
Maximilian Schell is an Austrian-born Swiss actor who won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Judgment at Nuremberg in 1961...
. Socially active writers, including Lillian Hellman
Lillian Hellman
Lillian Florence "Lily" Hellman was an American playwright, linked throughout her life with many left-wing causes...
and former Elia Kazan compatriot Arthur Miller
Arthur Miller
Arthur Asher Miller was an American playwright and essayist. He was a prominent figure in American theatre, writing dramas that include plays such as All My Sons , Death of a Salesman , The Crucible , and A View from the Bridge .Miller was often in the public eye,...
also took rare acting turns in the production. Filmed in a makeshift New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
studio, the film was finished only days before the Junta's fall in July, and was thus set aside without public showings. Decades later, it received a brief New York premiere on October 17, 2001. Now able to return to his homeland, Giallelis appeared in esteemed Greek director Pantelis Voulgaris
Pantelis Voulgaris
Pantelis Voulgaris is a Greek film director and screenwriter. His 1989 film The Striker with Number 9 was entered into the 39th Berlin International Film Festival...
' Nineteen Eighty-Four
Nineteen Eighty-Four
Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell is a dystopian novel about Oceania, a society ruled by the oligarchical dictatorship of the Party...
-like allegory Happy Day, playing one of the leads in the story about imprisonment and repression in an unspecified European-style society. Having briefly been a Hollywood star in the previous decade, he was still seen as a celebrity in his homeland, but the film, despite receiving top prizes at Greek film festivals in 1976 and a showing in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
at the 1977 Toronto Film Festival, had little impact on his career.
After a passage of another two years, Giallelis appeared in his last-to-date American film, The Children of Sanchez. Hall Bartlett
Hall Bartlett
Hall Bartlett was an American film producer, director, and screen writer.-Early life:Born in Kansas City, Missouri, he graduated from Yale University Phi Beta Kappa, and was a Rhodes Scholar nominee...
's adaptation of the Oscar Lewis
Oscar Lewis
Oscar Lewis was an American anthropologist who is best known for his vivid depictions of the lives of slum dwellers and for postulating that there was a cross-generational culture of poverty among poor people that transcended national boundaries...
novel was filmed on location in Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
and starred native-born Anthony Quinn
Anthony Quinn
Antonio Rodolfo Quinn-Oaxaca , more commonly known as Anthony Quinn, was a Mexican American actor, as well as a painter and writer...
as his country's putative everyman
Everyman
In literature and drama, the term everyman has come to mean an ordinary individual, with whom the audience or reader is supposed to be able to identify easily, and who is often placed in extraordinary circumstances...
, Jesus Sanchez. Giallelis received yet another fifth billing, following two veteran Mexican actresses, Dolores del Río
Dolores del Río
Dolores del Río was a Mexican film actress. She was a star of Hollywood films during the silent era and in the Golden Age of Hollywood...
and Katy Jurado
Katy Jurado
Katy Jurado , born María Cristina Estela Marcela Jurado García in Mexico, D.F., was a Mexican actress who had a successful film career both in Mexico and in Hollywood....
, as well as Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
n Lupita Ferrer
Lupita Ferrer
Lupita Ferrer is a Venezuelan theater, film and television actress.Ferrer was born Yolanda Guadalupe Ferrer in Maracaibo to Spanish immigrant parents. She became famous for her beauty and her strong theatrical presence.Ferrer has a strong theatrical background...
who, at the time, was married to Hall Bartlett. Gialellis's role as Roberto was relatively small and underwritten, but he did receive a couple of closeups, which showed premature aging on the 37-year-old actor's once-youthful face. Upon its Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
premiere on November 22, 1978, the film received mixed to poor reviews, with the primary attention going to Chuck Mangione
Chuck Mangione
Charles Frank "Chuck" Mangione is an American flugelhorn player and composer who achieved international success in 1977 with his jazz-pop single, "Feels So Good." Mangione has released more than thirty albums since 1960.-Early life and career:...
's lively score.
Two additional years elapsed before Stathis Giallelis made one more passage in front of the cameras. In writer-director Giuseppe Ferrara
Giuseppe Ferrara
Giuseppe Ferrara is an Italian film director and screenwriter. His 1987 film The Moro Affair was entered into the 37th Berlin International Film Festival, where Gian Maria Volonté won the Silver Bear for Best Actor....
's 1980 RAI TV Italian miniseries
Miniseries
A miniseries , in a serial storytelling medium, is a television show production which tells a story in a limited number of episodes. The exact number is open to interpretation; however, they are usually limited to fewer than a whole season. The term "miniseries" is generally a North American term...
, Panagulis vive (Panagoulis Lives), which examined the life and death of Greece's renowned martyred poet-politician/democracy activist Alexandros Panagoulis
Alexandros Panagoulis
Alexandros Panagoulis was a Greek politician and poet. He took an active role in the fight against the Regime of the Colonels in Greece. He became famous for his attempt to assassinate dictator Georgios Papadopoulos on 13 August 1968, but also for the torture that he was subjected to during his...
(1939–1976), the title role went to the actor whose ethnicity, still-remaining international fame, and age (a year-and-a-half younger than Panagoulis) made him a natural candidate for the part. Heading a large cast, he received generally favorable notices in various European media outlets. The 220-minute production, however, was never made available to American audiences.
Career evaluation
In his autobiography, Elia Kazan faults Stathis Giallelis for having been pampered by his mother and four sisters and never developing enough ambition to become a viable screen personality. He writes that the young actor should have devoted more time to losing his accent so he would not be cast exclusively in ethnic roles and his speech pattern could be better understood by American audiences. However, Kazan's biographer, film critic and historian Richard SchickelRichard Schickel
Richard Warren Schickel is an American author, journalist, and documentary filmmaker. He is a film critic for Time magazine, having also written for Life magazine and the Los Angeles Times Book Review....
disagrees, stating that Giallelis' speaking mannerisms in America, America are clear and distinct. Whatever the reasons for the actor's aborted film career, as one of a handful of screen performers known for a single acclaimed role (an ultimate example would be Maria Falconetti), his tour de force in America, America provides him with a secure place in film history.
Later life
After his years as an award-winning actor, Stathis Giallelis exited the life of Hollywood glam and went to work at the United Nations International SchoolUnited Nations International School
The United Nations International School is a private international school in New York City. It was founded in 1947 by families who worked for or were associated with the United Nations. The school was founded to provide an international education, while preserving its students' diverse cultural...
in Manhattan, New York, working as a child supervisor and mentor. He retired in the summer of 2008.