Eleni Prokopiou

Eleni Prokopiou died in Athens on 27 September 2026, aged 87. Fellow actress Melpo Kosti first shared the news that evening, followed by journalist Nikos Nikolizas, who thanked her publicly for years of trust and sent condolences to her family. Greek outlets including Proto Thema, Newsbomb and Tlife reported the death the same night and the following morning. No public cause of death was given.

Eleni Prokopiou was born in Athens in 1939 (Finos Film lists 7 July 1940). She was one of five children in a family that had come to Greece from Constantinople; her father designed furniture and, with his brother, ran a factory in Athens that was twice destroyed by fire. From the age of six she studied ballet with Martha Karagianni at Loukia Sakellariou-Kotsopoulou's school for the National Opera at the Athens Conservatoire. As children they appeared in National Opera productions, graduating at the end of the 1950s.

She made her stage debut as a young teenager dancing with Dimitris Ivanov in Exo oi Angloi at the Olympia Theatre in Piraeus (season 1955-56), then auditioned for lead dancer work at the Acropol under Manolis Kastrinos. From 1960 to 1965 she and Vangelis Seilinos formed a leading revue dance duo across Athens theatres, including Mikis Theodorakis's Omorfi Poli in 1962 for Michalis Kakogiannis.

On screen she began as a dancer in To Rantevou tis Kyriakis (1960), I Athina ti Nychta (1962) and Prodomeni Agapi (1962). Acting recognition followed with Nikos Koundouros's Mikres Afrodites (1963) and the princess role of Gioulinar in O Emiris kai o Kakomoiris (1964). In 1966 she joined Finos Film for Rantevou ston Aera, Paranomi Pothoi, Oi Kyries tis Avlis and Pente Chiliades Psemmata, and also starred in To Syrtaki tis Amartias and Agapi pou den Svinei o Chronos. She appeared in about 23 films through 1972, often opposite Giorgos Pantzas, with a final Finos appearance in To Koroidaki tis Pringipessas.

Prokopiou married actor Nikos Kazis in a short-lived first marriage, then married furniture businessman Antonis Syrigos in the early 1970s after meeting him during film work. They were together for nearly fifty years until his death in 2021, and had a daughter, Eirini. After the second marriage she withdrew from professional performance to focus on family life, while remaining a remembered figure of classic Greek cinema.

Prokopiou remains associated with the musical and comedy boom of 1960s Greek cinema, especially Finos Film titles that still circulate on Greek television. In 2006 the City of Athens awarded her its medal among about ninety figures of the golden age, and the Thessaloniki International Film Festival paid tribute after her death for a lifetime contribution to culture. Finos Film remembered a charismatic dancer and actress who chose family over a longer screen career, leaving a short but vivid filmography of roughly two dozen titles.