Biography

Dionyssis Papayannopoulos was born in 1912, in Diakofto, Greece. He studied at the Drama School of the National Theater of Greece, where he made his stage debut in 1938, appearing (as the Knight) in Shakespeare's "King Lear". During the next two decades he collaborated with many prestigious stage groups, excelling in, among others, Shakespeare's "Hamlet" (as the Grave-digger) and Dimitris Psathas' "Fonazei o kleftis" (as Solon Karaleon).

In 1961 he created his own stage group and gave memorable performances in a series of modern Greek comedies, like Gerasimos Stavrou's "Zito i zoi" and Asimakis Gialamas and Costas Pretenderis' "Despinis Diefthindis" (as Mr. Vassiliou - a role he repeated in the 1964 film version, opposite Jenny Karezi). He was also very good in Iakovos Kampanellis' "To megalo mas tsirko" (as Kolokotronis, Venizelos and Karagiozis).

His film work has been prolific, too: he appeared in about 120 films, usually in scene-stealing supporting parts. One of his few starring film roles was as the kind-hearted tavern-keeper in _Kyr-Giorgis ekpedevetai, O (1977)_. He died of a stroke in 1984.
- IMDb mini biography by: Thanassis Agathos<thanaga@hol.gr

Papagiannopoulos rarely played protagonist roles. He was typically cast in either prominent supporting roles or as the film's main antagonist. However, his characters were often more memorable or charismatic than the relatively bland protagonists.

His comedy roles included many dotting fathers, corrupt businessmen, and bosses with hair-trigger tempers.