Theofrastos Sakellaridis

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.