Aimilios Veakis

Aimilios Veakis (Greek: Αιμίλιος Βεάκης; December 13, 1884 – June 29, 1951) was a Greek actor.^[1] An active member of the National Liberation Front during the Axis occupation of Greece, he was persecuted for his leftist beliefs during the White Terror.

Biography

Aimilios Veakis was the grandson of the scholar and theatrical author Ioannis Venakis, but was orphaned at a very early age, and was raised by childless relatives. Over the objections of his guardians, in 1900, at the age of 16, he enrolled in the Royal Drama School. The school abruptly stopped functioning though, and Veakis enrolled in the School of Fine Arts, where he studied painting. Eventually, however, he broke off his studies and began working as an actor in Volos in the company of Evangelia Nika. His career was interrupted due to his drafting into the army during the Balkan Wars of 1912–13, where he received a field promotion to sergeant for valour.

Returning from the war, Veakis went on to cooperate with the most famous companies of the time (Lepeniotis, Kalogerikou, Kotopouli, Kyveli, Oikonomou) and distinguished himself in all theatrical genres, especially in classic tragedy and drama. His performance of the title role in Oedipus Rex under the direction of Fotos Politis with the Greek Theatre Society was considered a landmark in his career. From 1932 he reached the apogee of his career in the National Theatre of Greece, serving both as company director and as a professor of acting in the National Theatre's drama school. In 1938 he performed in the production of King Lear.^[1]

During the

Legacy and recognition

After his death, Veakis was recognized for his contributions to modern Greek theatre. The

• Polemikai Entyposeis ("Impressions from War"), 1914
• Tragoudia tis agapis kai tis tavernas ("Songs of Love and of the Tavern"), poetry, 1926
• Dervenochoria, poetry, 1945
• Tapeinoi kai katafronemenoi, theatrical adaptation of
  Dostoyevsky's novel Humiliated and Insulted
  , 1934
• Rinoula ("Little Irene"), drama
• Symplegades, drama
• Oi theatrinoi ("The actors"), novel
• Epta ekatommyria eisodima ("Income seven million"), theatrical comedy