They All Are Greek to Me Trivia Quiz

Answer: Kalogeropoulou

Maria Callas (1923-1977) was one of the most famous opera singers ever. Her repertoire contained the protagonist role in many operas by Verdi and Puccini. One of her most famous roles was that of Norma in the opera by Bellini.

What about her real surname? Well, all the options given are Greek in origin, but only one is a typical Greek surname. The only typical Greek surname is the patronymic Kalogeropoulou. As many Greek surnames, the suffix "poulos" or "poulou" refers to some ancestor having the first name that is completed with this suffix. The English equivalent of the suffix "poulos" or "poulou" would be "son", as in "Johnson" or "Thomson".

The word "Calimera" is the Greek for "Hello" or "Have a nice day". Literally Calimera translates to "good day". "Kalliope" is a Greek first name. It translates to "the one with the beautiful eyes". "Calypso" was one of the immortal sea nymphs in Greek myth. The Odyssey relates how Calypso lived with Odysseus for seven years.

Answer: Nana Mouskouri

All these are Greek singers. Nana Mouskouri was born in 1934 on Crete. She started singing jazz songs in Greek and in English in 1957. In total she has sung in fifteen different languages, including Welsh and Japanese. At least 230 of her disks have obtained gold or platinum awards.

Julia Alexandratou, born 1985, started her singing career in 2007. Her debut single was the song "I Vasilissa tis Pistas". She also worked as a model and as an actress. Sotiria Bellou (1921-1997) was a talented rebetiko singer. Rebetiko is a typical Greek music genre. One of her greatest hits was "Kane kourayio kardia mou". Vicki Leandros was born in 1949 under the name Vassiliki Papathanasiou. She started singing in 1965 and scored a first great hit with the French song "Après Toi" - the winning song she performed for Luxembourg in the Eurovision Song Contest of 1972. She sang in Greek, French, English, German, Spanish, Italian and Japanese.

Answer: Aphrodite's Child

The only Greek group of these four (and by the way, also the only one with a name that refers to Greece) is Aphrodite's Child. Members were Vangelis (keyboards), Demis Roussos (bass guitar and vocals), Loukas Sideras (drums and vocals) and Anargyros Koulouris (guitar). This band authored three albums: "End of the World" (1968), "It's Five o'Clock" (1969) and "666" (1972). Demis Roussos was born in Egypt in 1946. His most famous solo hit is "Forever and Ever" (1973). He sings in Greek, French, English and German.

Golden Earring is a Dutch group founded in 1961. George Kooymans and Rinus Gerritsen, two of the founding members, have been part of the band for almost 5 decades. The greatest hit of Golden Earring was "Radar Love" (1973). Earth, Wind and Fire is an American group founded in 1969. One of their best selling albums is "That's the Way of the World" (1975).
There is a Belgian pop group named "Venus". One of their most successful albums was "Vertigone" (2003).

Answer: Vangelis

Vangelis was born Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou in 1943. This name is of course too long for an international career, so he adopted the stage name Vangelis - short for his first name. He started in various bands of which Aphrodite's Child is probably the best known. Solo albums by Vangelis include "Heaven and Hell" (1975) and "Albedo 0.39" (1976).

But Vangelis is most famous for his movie scores: "Chariots of Fire" (1981), "Blade Runner" (1982) and "1492: Conquest of Paradise" (1992). He won an Oscar for the soundtrack of "Chariots of Fire". "Chariots of Fire" relates Olympic finals in track and field, whereas "1492" tells the story of Columbus setting out to cross the Atlantic Ocean. "Blade Runner" is a sci-fi movie about fighting with replicas.

Answer: Mikis Theodorakis

Yes, all these Greeks have composed movie scores. Let's briefly discuss them, starting with the correct answer. Mikis Theodorakis, born 1925, started his career in 1953. Besides movie scores, he also composed several operas: "Medea" (1990), "Elektra" (1993), "Antigone" (1996) and "Lysistrata" (2001) - all based on ancient Greek theatre plays.

The only lady of these four is Eleni Karaindrou (born 1939 or 1946, sources differ). She started her career as a movie composer in 1975. One of the few movies that gained international attraction was "Ulysses' Gaze" (1995), in which a Greek movie director goes looking for footage by some famous other movie makers.

Stamatis Spanoudakis (born 1948) started his career in 1974. His best known composition is for the movie "Brides" (2004). It tells the story of a mail order bride in 1922.

Manos Hatzidakis (1925-1994) started his career in 1946. Hatzidakis' is most famous for the movie score "Never on a Sunday" (1960), in which an American scholar tries to help a Greek prostitute to regain an honourable living.

Answer: Michael Cacoyannis

Michael Cacoyannis started his career in 1954. "Zorba the Greek" (1964) was his breakthrough in international movies. He directed and produced this movie, wrote the screenplay and edited the movie. Anthony Quinn stars as Alexis Zorba: a Cretan farmer and philosopher who teaches the English author Basil (a role by Alan Bates) how to live.

Agnes Varda was born in Brussels (Belgium) in 1928 to a French mother and a Greek father. This causes some confusion about her nationality, but she's generally considered French. Agnes Varda worked as a movie director, producer, screenplay author, and actress for many years. She will probably be best remembered for "Les Demoiselles de Rochefort" (1967). In this movie, two sisters living in the French town Rochefort are desperately longing for love. Two eligible bachelors live nearby and would like to meet a nice young woman.
Theodoros Angelopoulos (born in Athens, 1935) is a Greek director, producer and screenplay author. He started his career in 1965. He collaborated on "Chacun son Cinéma" (2007, French title): a collection of 33 short stories by different movie directors.

George Pan Cosmatos (1941-2005) was a Greek director. He started his career as assistant director with the movies "Exodus" (1960), about a ship packed with Jews trying to flee the Nazi regime. Unfortunately, most countries won't allow the passengers to immigrate.

Answer: Z

Costa-Gavras (real name Constantinos Gavras) was born in 1933 and debuted in 1958. Two of his best known movies accuse some dictatorship: "Z" is aimed at the Greek colonel's regime and "Missing" (1982) attacks the Argentine junta. "Amen" (2002) sketches the lukewarm reaction of the Vatican on hearing the first report on the Holocaust. Finally, "Le couperet" (2005, French title) is based upon another theme: a chemist, who is sacked by his company, invents a very drastic way to deal with his competitors for a job.

By the way, most single letters appear as titles for movies or TV series.

Answer: Takis Emmanuel

The only Greek actor of these four is Takis Emmanuel (born 1933). In "Who Pays the Ferryman?" he plays Matheos Noukakis, who was fired by Annika Zeferis when she fell in love with the Englishman Alan Haldane. As a revenge (and encouraged by Annika's mother), Matheos will stop at nothing to get rid of Alan Haldane.

Yul Brynner (1920-1985) was a Russian born actor. His most famous roles is the King of Siam in "The King and I" (1956), a love story between a king and the governess of his children. Despite having a Greek name, Telly (Aristotelis) Savalas (1922-1994) was in fact an American actor. He is best remembered as Lieutenant Theo Kojak in the eponymous TV series (1973-1978). Anthony Quinn (1915-2001) was a Mexican actor, although he is best known for his roles as a Greek. He started his career in 1936 and won an Oscar for his role in "Viva Zapata" (1952) (about the Mexican revolutionary with the same name) and in "Lust for Life" (1956) - a biopic on the Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh.

Answer: Melina Mercouri

It was Melina Mercouri (1920-1994) who starred in "Topkapi" (1964), next to Peter Ustinov (1921-2004). In this movie she tries to steal a precious dagger from the heavily guarded Topkapi museum in Istanbul. From 1981 until 1989, Mercouri was the Greek Minister of Culture. She created the annual "European Capital of Culture": an event which spotlights the cultural highlights of a different European city each year.

Ann Michelle (born 1952) is an English actress. She starred in the TV miniseries "Levkas Man" - about a young man who was adopted by an anthropologist who goes off exploring the Greek islands.

Alexandra Bastedo (born 1946) is a British actress, too. Her ancestors seem to come from all over the world: her mother is from French, German and Italian descent, and her father combines Scottish, Indian, Spanish and Dutch ancestors. Bastedo played in the TV miniseries "The Aphrodite Inheritance" (1979), where she plays Helen - a mortal woman but also the Greek goddess of love.

Betty Arvaniti (born 1939) is a Greek actress. She acted in the Greek movie "Ostria - to telos tou paihnidiou" (1984), about a group of intellectuals whose stay at an isolated beach is troubled by an English nudist coming over there.

Answer: Irene Papas

The only Greek actress mentioned as one of the options, and also the only one who had a role in "The Guns of Navarone" (1961), is Irene Papas (born 1926). In the movie, she helps some allied soldiers who come to sabotage two heavy anti-ship guns.

Ingrid Bergman (1915-1982) was a Swedish actress, not a Greek one. Her best known role is in "Casablanca" (1942), where she meets a former lover (played by Humphrey Bogart, 1899-1957). Jeanne Moreau (born 1928) is not Greek either: she's French. She starred in "Jules et Jim" (1962). In this French movie, two young men fall in love with the same young woman. Gina Lollobrigida (born 1927) is an Italian actress. One of her movie highlights is her role in "Trapeze" (1956). Set in the circus, this movie relates the triangular relation between a crippled trapeze artist, his pupil and a young girl eager to play a part of her own.