Theofrastos Sakellaridis
- Writer
- Composer
- Soundtrack
Theofrastos Sakellaridis gained fame and wealth at the age of 17 and is
regarded as one of the most successful Greek playwrights and composers.
It was in the year 1900 that his operettas and music scores began to be
performed in Athens, Greece. He founded The Greek Lyric Opera and wrote
over a hundred scripts and music scores during his lifetime. He married
actress Kiriaki Litsaku in 1929 after meeting her during a rehearsal
where she was cast as one of the chorus girls and had one son together,
Giannis Sakellarides. Theofrastos' life was filled with fame, wealth,
writing, and attending parties with Greek aristocracy and famous
artists of the time. In the fall of 1940 he lost his fortune and fame
when Greece was invaded by Nazi Germany and theatrical productions
ceased. By the time the war had ended he was flat broke and many of his
scripts were lost and stolen. He had survived the war by selling all of
his assets for money to buy food. He also got a job playing the piano
in an Athenian movie theater where he would play the music score that
accompanied silent films that were shown. After the war ended he began
to continue writing and was planning a comeback to his career with
several music scores and opera scripts as The Greek Lyric Opera House
planned to reopen. However, it was all cut short when he died suddenly
of cancer in 1950.
