Andréas Voutsinas

Andréas Voutsinas

Andreas Voutsinas (22 August 1930 – 8 June 2010) was a Sudanese-Greek actor and theater director. In the English-speaking world, he was best known for his roles in three Mel Brooks films, The Producers (1967), The Twelve Chairs (1970) and History of the World, Part I (1981). Voutsinas was born on 22 August 1932 in Khartoum, since there was a sizeable community of Greek settlers in Sudan at the time. His parents hailed from the Ionian Island of Kefalonia. They set up a pasta factory in the Anglo-Egyptian colony, "reputedly supplying spaghetti to Italian forces" during the Fascist invasion of Abyssinia. After the collapse of the business during WWII, Voutsinas moved with his mother to Athens. Voutsinas studied acting and costume design at the Old Vic School and drama and song at the Webber Douglas Academy in London, and, in 1957, joined The Actors Studio. Voutsinas directed more than 130 performances of classical and contemporary repertoire in London, Paris, New York, Canada and Greece. He worked as an actor and director on Broadway and acted in films by Jules Dassin and Luc Besson. Voutsinas, a life member of The Actor's Studio since 1957, spent many years working in summer stock theater and as an assistant to Studio co-founder Elia Kazan, before he met Jane Fonda, with whom he got involved and whom he cast in the leading part in The Fun Couple, his Broadway directorial debut in 1963. Voutsinas later followed Fonda to Hollywood where he coached her in a number of movies. He then started working as a coach for many others, including Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty. Following Fonda to Paris to coach her in Roger Vadim's Barbarella, he decided to found Le Theatre Des Cinquante, an acting workshop based on the principles of Lee Strasberg. Many famous French actors and actresses started attending his classes, and at the same time he successfully began directing plays for the French theater. In 1968, Voutsinas became the original Carmen Ghia after befriending Mel Brooks's wife, Anne Bancroft. She recommended him to Brooks and said Voutsinas would be perfect for the part. Voutsinas had a role in another Brooks feature, History of the World, Part I, playing the role of "Bernaise" in the French Revolution scenes. It was not until the early 1980s that he eventually moved to his ancestral Greece, where he continued his career directing a wide range of repertoire from Tennessee Williams to Euripides, mainly for the State Theater of Northern Greece in Thessaloniki. His productions were also staged during summer in the Athens Festival in Herodion, as well as in the Epidaurus Festival. He continued working between the two countries while he appeared in many French and Greek films, including Le Grand Bleu (1988) and Safe Sex (1999). Andreas Voutsinas taught acting at the State Theatre of Northern Greece from 2002 to 2009. After a stroke he founded his own drama school in Thessaloniki, Superior Drama School Andreas Voutsinas. Voutsinas died of a respiratory tract infection on 8 June 2010 at age 79, after several days of hospitalization in Henry Dunant Hospital in Athens. Source: Article "Andreas Voutsinas" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

  • Title: Andréas Voutsinas
  • Popularity: 1.656
  • Known For: Acting
  • Birthday: 1932-08-22
  • Place of Birth: Khartoum, Sudan
  • Homepage:
  • Also Known As: Andreas Voutsinas, Ανδρέας Βουτσινάς
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Andréas Voutsinas Movies

  • 1988
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    The Big Blue

    The Big Blue

    7.5 1988 HD

    Two men answer the call of the ocean in this romantic fantasy-adventure. Jacques and Enzo are a pair of friends who have been close since childhood,...

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  • 1968
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    The Producers

    The Producers

    7.1 1968 HD

    Broadway producer Max Bialystock and his accountant, Leo Bloom plan to make money by charming wealthy old biddies to invest in a production many...

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  • 1970
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    The Twelve Chairs

    The Twelve Chairs

    6.314 1970 HD

    In 1920s Soviet Russia, a fallen aristocrat, a priest and a con artist search for a treasure of jewels hidden inside one of twelve dining chairs,...

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  • 1987
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    Les Nouveaux Tricheurs

    Les Nouveaux Tricheurs

    2 1987 HD

    Adolescents or young adults, Franck, Christine and the others meet, bond, leave each other. But the drama lurks.

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  • 1978
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    A Dream of Passion

    A Dream of Passion

    5.5 1978 HD

    Melina Mercouri plays Maya, a jet-setting Greek actress who returns to her homeland to undertake the role of Medea. Searching for inspiration and...

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  • 1980
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    Les Charlots contre Dracula

    Les Charlots contre Dracula

    4.6 1980 HD

    To Take Possession of Maleficient Powers, Dracula must take control of a lady in a Flee Market, Paris , France. But without wasting any time, her...

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  • 1984
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    Thieves After Dark

    Thieves After Dark

    4.7 1984 HD

    A crime story set in Paris about a Bonnie-and-Clyde couple -- how they got together and how they are pursued for a murder they never committed.

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  • 1971
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    A Little, a Lot, Passionately

    A Little, a Lot, Passionately

    1 1971 HD

    Didier is an embarrassed lover and husband when his young mistress, whom he had just left, attempts suicide and is adopted by her family while she...

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  • 1975
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    Monsieur Balboss

    Monsieur Balboss

    1 1975 HD

    Inspector Balboss, a corrupt police officer with a criminal streak, takes under his wing a young vagrant he meets by chance and sets about teaching...

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  • 1973
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    Lovely Swine

    Lovely Swine

    6 1973 HD

    Pierre used to be a top level football player but he quit. Now he is both a prestidigitator and a stool pigeon, benefiting from the protection of the...

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  • 1993
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    The Little Apocalypse

    The Little Apocalypse

    5.2 1993 HD

    An unknown Polish writer can't publish his novels, so his ex-wife decides to help him and get some of the profit for herself. She finally finds a...

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  • 1971
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    Rum Runners

    Rum Runners

    4.516 1971 HD

    During the prohibition era, Cornelius, a bootlegger, is on the run from the American coastguards. He comes across a silent film actress, Linda, on...

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  • 1962
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    Jane

    Jane

    6.5 1962 HD

    Documentary focusing on 25 year-old actress Jane Fonda as she and her director Andreas Voutsinas prepare a stage play called The Fun Couple for...

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  • 1999
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    Safe Sex

    Safe Sex

    6.6 1999 HD

    A satire of life in modern Greece, presented through a series of different stories about sex. There are several couples and their relation with sex...

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  • 1973
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    The Erotic Films of Peter De Rome

    The Erotic Films of Peter De Rome

    9 1973 HD

    In the late 1960s and early 1970s British-born New Yorker and unsung hero of gay underground filmmaking Peter de Rome produced a number of explicit,...

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  • 1972
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    The Second Coming

    The Second Coming

    5 1972 HD

    Part of BFI collection "The Erotic Films of Peter de Rome."

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  • 2003
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    Πάρτα Όλα

    Πάρτα Όλα

    1 2003 HD

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  • 2002
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    The Making of 'The Producers'

    The Making of 'The Producers'

    7.5 2002 HD

    An hour-long making-of featurette which features interviews and anecdotes from the likes of Mel Brooks, Gene Wilder, Kenneth Mars, Lee "Ulla"...

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  • 1981
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    History of the World: Part I

    History of the World: Part I

    6.8 1981 HD

    An uproarious version of history that proves nothing is sacred – not even the Roman Empire, the French Revolution and the Spanish Inquisition.

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  • 1979
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    Madame Sourdis

    Madame Sourdis

    1 1979 HD

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  • 1983
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    Le Bonheur à Romorantin

    Le Bonheur à Romorantin

    1 1983 HD

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  • 1987
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    Sacrée soirée

    Sacrée soirée

    6.2 1987 HD

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  • 1987
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    Matin Bonheur

    Matin Bonheur

    1 1987 HD

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  • 1995
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    I Prova tou Nyfikou

    I Prova tou Nyfikou

    5 1995 HD

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