Nikos Foskolos

Nikos Foskolos (Greek: Νίκος Φώσκολος; 26 November 1927 – 30 October 2013) was a Greek screenwriter and director. He is one of the most commercially successful screenwriters of Greek cinema. He has been called the "Goldfinger of commercial shows". He has been described as "the maître of exaggeration" and "the king of TV shows". His film Ipolochagos Natassa kept the most commercially successful film record for almost three decades from 1970 to 1999. Foskolos was born in Athens on 26 November 1927. He studied Political Science at the University of Athens but did not graduate. From the age of 17, he started writing successful radio plays with both a historical and modern background. His radio series Police Stories were the most popular radio series for three years. In the 1960s, he worked as a theatre critic and also wrote plays for the theatre and radio. He wrote screenplays for over 70 Greek films, mostly working for Finos Film. He introduced Spaghetti Westerns to Greek cinema. His TV daily serial Lampsi was a huge success and ran for 14 seasons getting into the Guinness World Records in 1995. He gained another entry into the Guinness World Records for writing two daily TV series, Lampsi and Kalimera Zoi, for ten years. Lampsi was shown for 13 years from 1991 to 2005 with a total of 3457 episodes produced. In the 1970s, his TV serial Agnostos Polemos (Unknown War) broke the record of TV ratings with 92% of Greek households tuning in to the show. Foskolos has been described as an "important screenwriter", a "talented director", a "wonderful human being" and "the father of TV-serials and films". Ta Nea refers to him as "hyperproductive". The same paper also calls him polygrafotatos translating as "a prolific writer". Foskolos has received awards for The Asphalt Fever (Πυρετός στην άσφαλτο), and The Ruthless (Οι αδίστακτοι). His film Blood on the Land (Το χώμα βάφτηκε κόκκινο) was an Academy Awards Best Foreign Film nominee in 1965. He also received three awards and a state award for Concert for Machine Guns (Κοντσέρτο για πολυβόλα).

Works

Good morning Life

Release Date: 1993-11-27

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Episode Count: 100

Vote Count: 1

Lampsi

Lampsi is one of the most popular series on Greek television. It was broadcast for more than 14 years by the Greek television station ANT1 nearly every day. This TV series was played on Greek television station ANT1 and began broadcasting on 16 September 1991 and the last episode was broadcast on 29 July 2005. In total 3,457 episodes were broadcast in 14 years. The script was written by Nikos Foskolos and on the filming of the episodes directors were Nikos Foskolos, Spyros Foskolos and other five directors. All the actors and the actresses, who were performed roles on TV series, were 1.500 who were already well-known or became well-known from their acting careers on the TV series.

Release Date: 1991-09-16

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Episode Count: 14

Vote Count: 2

Deadly dilemma

Release Date: 1989-01-01

Department: Directing

Job: Director

ABE Mafia... National academy of crooks

Release Date: 1989-01-01

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

Μαρκησία του λιμανιού

Release Date: 1988-01-01

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Sentenced to Death

Release Date: 1987-04-04

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Vote Count: 1

Unknown War 2: The Man with Two Faces

Release Date: 1987-04-04

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Vote Count: 1

Front Page Woman

What was this woman? The tragic victim of the SS or the female executioner of the Hitler's camps? What was it all about? A satan or an angel? Why, in peacetime, the old nightmares come back and drift into this shocking adventure of love, hatred and action with an unexpected ending?

Release Date: 1987-01-01

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Vote Count: 2

Θύρα 7: η μεγάλη στιγμή

Makis Bitsakos is a young man who loves football and his dream is to become a football star. His father tries to stop him. His sister is in love with the son of Archos, a wealthy and powerful man. One day Archos insults her and soon afterward she has an -almost fatal- accident with her bike. Makis is hired by a major football tema and soon becomes a star. Soon Archos' son is murdered by Nick, his ruthless assistant. Makis is seriously during a game. He needs money in order to save his foot. Along with his friends, they kidnap another football player and demand ransom. When they collect the money they go to attend a football game. During the game's ending, Gate 7 is full of enraged fans.

Release Date: 1983-01-01

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Vote Count: 4

Wild Youth

Sifis, a young boxer, is going to challenge the Greek champion Vlassis Hristou, despite the opposition of his cruel, conservative father. His little sister Maria, a virgin teenager, gets pregnant after a romance with Lefteris. Her father reacts violently, because Lefteris comes from a destroyed family: his mother is a poor charwoman, his sister, Roula, a young harlot and his brother, Foivos, an ex-convict.

Release Date: 1982-01-13

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

Vote Count: 3

Nelly, the Spy

Against the backdrop of the Nazis' rapid rise to power, a Greek music student arrives in 1936 Berlin and becomes a cabaret singer. In Europe, WWII rages on, and joining the Resistance is the only way to fight back. Will Nelly do her part?

Release Date: 1981-11-11

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

Vote Count: 5

17 Bullets for an Angel

Iro Konstantopoulou was thirteen years old when the Germans invaded Greece. Despite her age, however, she got involved with the resistance. When she was arrested for the first time, her rich father managed to set her free, and she fell in love with a young doctor who took care of her injuries following torture. A little before the withdrawal of the Germans, she participated in the blowing up of a train that was transporting ammunition, and she was arrested again, but this time no one could save her. She was executed at the Chaïdari camp, along with forty-nine other prisoners.

Release Date: 1981-01-12

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Vote Count: 4

Emergency exit

When Daisy saves the life of police officer Markos she is immediately promoted to the drug department of the police. Markos falls in love with her and they start going out until he asks her to marry him. That's exactly when she meets a junkie named Tasos Bekiris and falls in love with him. When he is murdered by a mysterious woman all the clues lead to Daisy who tries to prove her innocence. As she discovers, this woman is in charge of a drug-smuggling racket and she is also planning to import a huge quantity of heroin in Athens. Daisy kills her and arrives at their meeting place along with Markos.

Release Date: 1980-11-24

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Vote Count: 4

Dangerous Exits

Release Date: 1978-05-09

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

Episode Count: 12

The Brave Die Twice

Release Date: 1973-12-12

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

Vote Count: 1

The years of rage

Release Date: 1973-01-01

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

Captives of Hate

Viky, a Greek from Africa, returns in shock to her homeland after the riots in the Congo, where she saw almost all of her family killed before her very eyes. In Athens, the businessman Angelos von Zirach, of German origin, helps her brother avoid financial disaster, but also helps her launch a career as a singer and dancer. Viky falls in love with him and agrees to marry him, inviting the wrath of his secretary and lover Tzina, who, in order to get even with him, reveals to Vicky that Angelos' ships don't transport food, medicine and indispensable articles to Africa, but guns, ammunition and even mercenaries. Viky is shocked. She turns in von Zirach to the police and leaves. After some years, she returns to him with their son Freiderikos, when von Zirach has donated his fortune to the orphans of Biafra.

Release Date: 1972-12-27

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Vote Count: 4

Love and Betrayal

Agents of German espionage approach the wife of the Greek officer Alexis Mourouzis, and with various tricks they convince her to cooperate with them. She begins to systematically betray her homeland and convey vital information to the enemy, without fully understanding what exactly she is doing. One night, Lieutenant Colonel Mourouzis catches her photographing some secret documents and delivers her to the judge. The truth is revealed, and against her will, the traitor agrees to help her countrymen capture the German spies.

Release Date: 1972-04-25

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

Vote Count: 1

With Fear and Passion

An incorruptible examiner finds the real culprit of a brutal homicide and tries to release his wrongfully accused ex-lover. Now, he is closer to the solution; but, it takes courage to face the facts. Is he prepared to confront the truth?

Release Date: 1972-04-13

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Vote Count: 3

Frenzy

A woman murders her disabled husband and informs his brother (with whom she is having an affair), but she realizes she has misdialed and accidentally confessed her crime to a stranger. The caller attempts to blackmail her, but when he tries to rape her she kills him in the struggle. Worse still, her doctor and lover inform her to say nothing because her husband has been dead for eight months and everything that has happened she has imagined.

Release Date: 1971-01-01

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

Vote Count: 1

Ο δρόμος των ηρώων

Release Date: 1971-01-01

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

Abuse of authority

A police officer tries to discover the murderer of his brother, who was a pianist and a morphine. As a member of the Drug Enforcement Department, he tries to identify the head of a drug dealer gang. His unorthodox way of acting upsets his superiors, even though they allow him to continue his investigations. When the gang discovers that he is a police officer, he makes him a drug addict, but he manages to detoxify and eventually capture the gang's brain.

Release Date: 1971-01-01

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

Vote Count: 4

I loved a bum

Release Date: 1971-01-01

Department: Writing

Job: Story

Lieutenant Natassa

The year is 1965. Natasa Arseni visits Dachau, the place where she was found by the Americans at the end of the World War II. She returns to Greece, and during the train ride she recalls those past events. Before the beginning of the Greek-Italian war, she met Orestis . With the German invasion, Orestis, who was an officer in the Greek army, left for the Middle East. She followed him and accompanied him back to occupied Greece on a mission. She was arrested, interrogated and tortured and was finally sentenced to execution.

Release Date: 1970-12-12

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Vote Count: 13

The Jungle of Cities

Athens, 1964. A police reporter, Nikos Avgeris, has the journalistic mission to cover a suspected car crash that killed a senior state official. His investigation reveals that the victim was responsible for the financial control of a large building organization and that he was being used to cover the illegality of his administration. This organization had abused much of the money earmarked for the erection of homes for homeless war wounded, and is now very much annoyed by the revelations of Augustus. This is why they try to close his mouth, but he is not hurt and continues the investigation. Augustus reaches the end, revealing everything and clearing up yet another dirty affair.

Release Date: 1970-08-12

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

Vote Count: 5

In the name of the law

A traumatised Korean War veteran is accused of arson and murder. Now, the deceased's criminal attorney daughter is determined to send him in prison, even though he claims he's innocent. Will she destroy a man in the name of the law?

Release Date: 1970-05-09

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Vote Count: 3

Visibility Zero

Angelos Kreouzis (Nikos Kourkoulos) survives a shipwreck and reveals to the committee in charge that the disaster was not an accident, but the consequence of the neglect of the ship by those responsible.

Release Date: 1970-01-05

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Vote Count: 9

Ο μεγάλος ένοχος

Release Date: 1970-01-01

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

Treason Avenue

Release Date: 1969-05-08

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

Vote Count: 1

When the City Dies

In a maternity hospital observed unusually high number of abortions. The authorities are conducting investigations into their suppliers drug Prolouton Prosilon. Mars Ragkousis is the leader of the gang that sells illegal drugs. The girlfriend of actor, Gella, not knowing where they come from the money with which filmed the new movie. Her acquaintance with the young doctor Claus, would reveal the true face of Ragousi.

Release Date: 1969-03-10

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

Vote Count: 2

I Die Every Dawn

The story of three young girls that are sisters and remain with their mother a tavern in the port. The Persa, the more dynamic it has relations with the labeled Zachos. The Tasia waiting at the port for years, the return of her beloved. Hara, a tomboy, reluctant to reveal feelings for Alekos, who sees it as a good childhood friend. Among all these catalytic moves a man of law, Orpheus.

Release Date: 1969-02-03

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Vote Count: 2

The Refugee

The adoptive son of a lawyer, with the help of a girl who loves him, healed from amnesia, which was caused because of a childhood trauma. He remembers that he has a twin brother. When he discovers, he sees with surprise that his brother has become a successful lawyer, but who will draw him to court, accusing him of burglary.

Release Date: 1969-01-01

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

Vote Count: 1

The Avenue of Hate

An unconscious driver fatally injures a woman and leaves her helpless to die. The victim was the wife of investigator Kostas Kyriazis, who, six years later, is called upon to solve a similar incident. He will not be able to perform his work without emotional involvement and passion, as he leads to the conclusion that the driver being treated is the same as the person responsible for the death of his wife.

Release Date: 1968-10-13

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

Vote Count: 1

A Woman's Past

A nightclub singer is forced to shoot her ex-boyfriend, who has escaped from prison and is blackmailing her for money. Believing him to be dead, the girl decides to leave and start her life anew. She marries a wealthy gentleman, who is unaware of her past, and together they have a baby girl. One day, however, an old friend – who, by a devilish coincidence, is also her husband’s brother – will return, threatening to reveal everything about her past.

Release Date: 1968-02-01

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

Vote Count: 2

Love and Blood

The abysmal hatred which exists between two landowners is transferred to their natural environment as well. Whatever crosses the river separating the two families, be it man or beast, dies. The film is yet another rendering of the Romeo and Juliet tale, with intense emotions, dominated by the extreme behavior of the heroes. The film tries to imitate the style, atmosphere and action of westerns.

Release Date: 1968-01-01

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

Vote Count: 2

The Asphalt Fever

A police constable tries to find blood during the night for his wife to be born. When he finally finds a blood donor, he will have to deal with a frenzy runaway, who holds hostage children in a school car.

Release Date: 1967-09-21

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

Vote Count: 5

Bullets Don't Come Back

From a tragic misunderstanding, the farmer Stathis Karatasos (Angelos Antonopoulos) is accused as the leader of a notorious gang. He manages to escape just before getting executed and the law enforcement starts chasing him. Even the bandits are looking to find him, believing that he has the loot of the robbery in his possession. In addition, another prisoner called Tsakos (Kostas Kazakos) tries to locate him and bring him back dead or alive, in order to ensure the freedom promised to him by the police.

Release Date: 1967-09-01

Department: Directing

Job: Director

Vote Count: 5

Concert for Machine Guns

Athens, shortly before the outbreak of World War II and an Army General Staff official, Niki (Jenny Carezis), is charged with channeling confidential documents to an Italian agent. The category is right. The girl was blackmailing herself with the life of her brother studying in Italy. She does not make any effort to defend herself and is indifferent if she is sentenced to death, but she accepts the cooperative proposal proposed by General Darius, that is to continue to channel secret documents to the Italians, but now they are deliberately made to deceive the enemy . The whole case is also involved with a captain, Theodorou, who is in love with Niki. Theodorou is arrested for misappropriation of documents and goes through a military court where he is sentenced to demolition and death. Certainly, his execution was fictitious, and on the day Greek troops enter Korça, he is shown alive to Niki, which does not hide her surprise.

Release Date: 1967-07-22

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

Vote Count: 5

The Drunk of the Harbor

A sailor, whose life has been destroyed in every way, is drunk all the time. By chance, he discovers the current owner of the villa that used to belong to him.

Release Date: 1967-05-26

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

Tears for Electra

Intent on hurting herself, a beautiful but desperate daughter crashes her car on the day of her mother's wedding, unfolding a tragic tale of love, deception, and murder behind the closed doors of a wealthy family.

Release Date: 1966-11-07

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

Vote Count: 4

Zero Hour Society

A formerly heroic air force pilot, now an alcoholic loser with a failed marriage, is appointed by his older brother in the Ministry of Commerce to investigate a tragic plane crash that killed 28 people. As he goes through the motions in an alcoholic daze, he gradually comes to realize that the wreck was due to criminal negligence and failure to follow mandatory safety regulations.

Release Date: 1966-11-05

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

Vote Count: 7

I blame the People

A new, ambitious prosecutor undertakes a great trial for a murder trial but things get very confused. Instead of the accused, slowly proved that culprit is actually the wife of itself.

Release Date: 1966-10-01

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

Vote Count: 4

Thankless

Release Date: 1966-04-23

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

Blood on the Land

Two rival brothers vie for the same woman against the backdrop of peasant revolts in their Greek homeland.

Release Date: 1966-01-11

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

Vote Count: 14

The man who returned from pain

Nikos Liosis returns to his homeland, with the wounds of the Korean War still fresh in his mind and body. His wife Vera and all his relatives think him dead. He does not want to be present in his home in the state where he is. One day Vera meets him at random. He denies the identity of Nikos Liossis and is recommended as Alexis Sarris. She asks him to play the role of her real husband who never ceases to love, to avoid the marriage forced by her parents.

Release Date: 1966-01-01

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

Vote Count: 1

The Devastated

The honest laborer falls into disfavour and is undermined by his factory's son because they both love the daughter of the factory owner without suspecting the secret that unites them.

Release Date: 1966-01-01

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

Vote Count: 1

The enemies

Release Date: 1965-08-19

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

Vote Count: 4

Dirty city

Release Date: 1965-07-09

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

Vote Count: 2

The Ruthless

After his release from prison, Stathis visits a private investigator, Othonas, whom he had assigned many years ago to find his mother, who has been missing from the time of the German Occupation. When he meets Othonas, however, they quarrel because the detective hadn’t worked seriously enough on the case. Afterwards, Stathis takes control of his old gang again and sets up a few new scams, selling dreams and hopes to simple people. He soon realizes that he has lost his old love, Vana, who, while he was in prison, had become involved with his second-in- command, Michalis. Nevertheless, his bitterness is softened by Stella, Vana’s sister, who works at the Red Cross. He falls for her, and she responds in kind.

Release Date: 1965-06-12

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

Vote Count: 4

Betrayed

Release Date: 1965-01-01

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

Scream

Release Date: 1964-11-08

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

Vote Count: 2

The barker

A union leader is corrupted by the owner of a factory and appointed as its CEO.

Release Date: 1964-11-01

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

Vote Count: 3

It is a great pity

Mr. Anastasis, an elderly bouzoukis who suffers from his heart, forbids Liza's daughter to become a singer. When she learns that she has violated her commandments, she leaves the house because she does not want to be her weight and begins to beg. Meanwhile, Lisa knows Michalis, a motorbike acrobat, who makes the "round of death" in an amusement park, and they fall in love with each other. One night, at the center where she sings, she meets a rich thirty-five, who then turns out to be her brother who was lost during the German Occupation. Together they will seek their elder father, find him, and return all together to their home. Near them is Michalis, the old man of the brisk Liza.

Release Date: 1964-01-30

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

Vote Count: 1

Without parents and siblings

Release Date: 1964-01-01

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

The Scum

A string of miscalculated choices and the longing of a fresh start will drag Magda of the slums deeper and deeper into a tireless personal nightmare.

Release Date: 1963-10-07

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

Vote Count: 3

The Golden Eagles

A gunman, during the Turkish occupation of Greece, collides with the landlords, considering them traitors. But when he learns that belong to the Society of Friends and prepare the Revolution, would become their ally.

Release Date: 1963-01-01

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

Mother, why did you give birth to me?

Release Date: 1963-01-01

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

Vote Count: 1

What the Night Hides

Release Date: 1963-01-01

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

Vote Count: 1

Death Will Return

Adapted from Nikos Foskolos’ theatrical play. On a terribly stormy night, in a secluded hotel, the owner, Brigadier Norton, is murdered. Prime suspects: his daughter Elena, his second wife Liza, Liza’s niece and her fiancé, Norton’s physician, and the hotel staff. Inspector Fox and his assistant, policeman Petridis, are assigned the investigation of the crime. While the suspects’ questioning is under way, some more people arrive at the hotel: detective Tilemachos Christofis with his assistant Aliki, and lieutenant Karalis, a sworn enemy of the victim, complicating things even more.

Release Date: 1961-06-12

Department: Writing

Job: Author

Vote Count: 1

Love and storm

Release Date: 1961-01-01

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

Vote Count: 1

The mother's curse

After the murder of a brutal landowner, and six long years of incarceration, unarmed Tasos returns to his village, only to face the deceased's murderous brothers. Is Tasos willing to honour his promise to his late mother?

Release Date: 1961-01-01

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

Vote Count: 2

Tsakitzis: The Patron Saint of the Poor

Release Date: 1960-01-01

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

Vote Count: 2

Krystallo

Release Date: 1959-01-01

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

Vote Count: 1

Jeep, Pavilion and Love

Release Date: 1957-02-18

Department: Writing

Job: Writer

Vote Count: 4