Celebrity Biographies
michael constantine
He is best known as the patriarch of the Portokalos, the clan from “My Big Fat Greek Wedding”, but he has appeared in numerous feature films and television series. Michael Constantine passed away on August 31, 2021, in Reading, Pennsylvania, his hometown, at the age of 94. “He was the father of our film family,” recalled Nia Vardalos, screenwriter and star of the film. “A gift and always a friend. Performing with him was accompanied by an outpouring of love and fun. I will always remember this man who brought Gus to life. He gave us a lot of laughs and now he deserves a break. We love you Michael.”
Born on May 22, 1927, Gus Efstratiou –his real name– belonged to a family of Greek emigrants. He began his acting career on the New York stage, as an understudy for the legendary Paul Muni , in “Inherit the Wind.” At that time he fell in love with a fellow cast member, Julianna McCarthy, with whom he married on October 5, 1953. The couple had two children, but both spouses ended up divorcing in 1969.
Michael Constantine made his big screen debut as a supporting role in Electric Chair for Eight Men. He had a small but memorable role in the classic The Hustler , where he played a henchman of El Gordo from Minnesota. After many years with little relevant roles in series and movies, he achieved some popularity as an institute principal, in Room 222 , with which he won the Emmy for best supporting actor.
At the end of the fiction, he was part of the cast of another well-known classic, Journey of the Damned , and continued to appear in series, such as Remington Steele , where he gave life in several episodes to George Edward Mulch, a businessman with crazy ideas who only seek fame and fortune.
He would achieve international recognition when he was chosen to give life to the father of Nia Vardalos , in the aforementioned My Big Greek Wedding . “When I was going to audition, I asked them to send me the script, because I had been wishing my whole life that someone would write about Greeks in the United States,” explained Michael Constantine . “I didn’t know Nia Vardalos , and I was afraid that the author of the script was someone who didn’t know how we are. When I finished reading it, I realized that yes, indeed, the scriptwriter knew everything about us.” The film, produced by Tom Hanks in 2002, cost $5 million and grossed more than $370.”
The character, the know-it-all Gus, is distinguished by relying on a popular household cleaner, Windex, as a remedy for all manner of ailments. “I got fed up with Windex, because after the success of the tape they sent me hundreds of bottles. In addition, numerous people have asked me to autograph their Windex bottles,” he recalled. He reprized as Gus in My Big Fat Greek Life , a television series about the Portokalos, which only lasted seven episodes, and in My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 , from 1016, which was the last work of Michael Constantine .