Grande dame of Greek cinema, Mary Chronopoulou, passes away

The grande dame of the Greek cinema, Mary Chronopoulou, passed away on Friday following an accident in her home. The popular actress was 90 years old.

She suffered a serious hematoma when she fell off the stairs in her home in Paiania, East Attica, on October 2. She was hospitalized in the ICU without signs of recovery and until her death on Friday, October 6.

Mary Chronopoulou was one of the most popular actresses of the 1960s and the 1970s in the “Golden Era” of Greek musical films.

Her performance in the film A Lady in Bouzoukia (1968) remains a classic. She was featured as a rich and dynamic shipowner who falls for a shipyard worker (Faidon Georgitsis) who on his part is the object of the secret love of a neighborhood girl.

Video: “Tell the boy over there that I’m dying” of love.

She once said in an interview that this and other similar roles “ruined” her private life because everyone was thinking she was a woman stealing other women’s men.

Mary Chronopoulou starred also in dramas and had several appearances in theater.

Her last film appearance was in the mid 1990s but she has been always in the mind of Greeks as the dynamic business woman with the iconic dress ‘with a stab in the chest.’

Twenty years ago she suffered burned injuries in a fire in her home and had mobility issues ever since.

She was married once and for one year only.

Mary Chronopoulou was living alone with a caretaker, who also found her after the fatal accident.

In her last interview a few months ago, she had said that she wanted to be cremated in a very modest ceremony.

Rest in Peace, Maroula.