Rena vlahopoulou biography

Irene "Rena" Vlachopoulou (Ειρήνη «Ρένα» Βλαχοπούλου) (1923 – July 29, 2004) was a famous Greek actress and singer. She starred in theatre, musical and Greek cinema productions, including The Gambler and The Countess of Corfu.

Vlahopoulou was born on the island of Corfu, the fifth of nine children. She first began playing the piano, taught by her father, Giannis Vlahopoulos. When she turned ten, she began singing at a local bakery; she was a talented dancer and actress and a qualified operetta mezzo soprano. Over the course of her fifty-five year career she appeared in 105 theatrical plays between 1939 and 1994, and twenty-six films between 1951 and 1985. She was a charismatic comedienne, with considerable singing and dancing talents, and remained hugely popular on stage and film throughout her long career.

In 1938, Vlahopoulou fell in love with an AEK footballer, Kostas Vasileiou. The couple eloped to Athens and were married in the summer of 1939. Rena began singing at the Oasis varieté show in the Zappeion gardens, where Mimis Traiforos presented his new work. In the winter of 1930–40, she sang at the World Theatre of Kostas Makedos at Panepistimiou Street. In the winter of 1940, the Italian Army bombed Corfu, and she lost two of her relatives. The marriage wi

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