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Michael Constantine (born May 22, 1927) is a Greek American actor.[1]

Michael Constantine

He is probably now best known for his portrayal of Gus Portokalos, the Windex bottle-toting Greek father of Toula Portokalos (Nia Vardalos), in the 2002 surprise hit film My Big Fat Greek Wedding.[2]

Prior to that, he was well-known for his extensive TV work, especially as the long-suffering high school principal Seymour Kaufman on Room 222 for which he won an Emmy Award as Best Supporting Actor in 1970. He played a night court magistrate, Matthew J. Sirota, on the brief 1976 sitcom Sirota's Court.[3]

Life and career

Constantine was born Constantine Ioannides in Reading, Pennsylvania, the son of Andromache Efstratiou (née Fotiadou) and Theoharis Ioannides (a steel worker), both immigrants from Greece.[4]

He began his career on the New York stage and in the mid-1950s as understudy to Paul Muni in Inherit the Wind. While in the cast, he met and married actress Julianna McCarthy on October 5, 1953; they had two children, Thea Eileen and Brendan Neil. The marriage ended in divorce in 1969, the same year that Constantine began his role as a school principal on the ABC television series, Room 222.

He studied acting with such prominent mentors as Howard Da Silva. He was playing character roles on and off Broadway in his mid-twenties, supplementing his income as a night watchman and shooting-gallery barker. In 1959 he appeared in his first film, The Last Mile (1959). He had a small but memorable supporting role in The Hustler (1961). In 1967 he appeared in the first part of "The Judgment," the two-episode conclusion of The Fugitive, starring David Janssen. Constantine play a long-suffering anti-organized-crime agent in Walt Disney's caper film The North Avenue Irregulars (1979), where he appeared alongside Edward Herrmann and Cloris Leachman.

Michael Constantine

Constantine with Lloyd Haynes in Room 222, 1969.

He played Santa Claus in Prancer (1989). In 1993, Constantine appeared in the independent drama Question of Faith, starring Anne Archer and Sam Neill. He played Tadzu Lempke in Stephen King's Thinner in 1996. In 2002, he enjoyed an unexpected comeback as the Windex-toting Gus Portokalos in the hit movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding, a role he reprised in the short-lived television series My Big Fat Greek Life.

Filmography

Film

The Juror - (Judge Weitzel, 1996)
Thinner - (Tadzu Lempke, 1996)
Deadfall - (Frank, 1993)
My Life - (Bill, 1993)
Question of Faith - (1993)
By a Thread - (1991)
Prancer - (Mr Stewart/Santa, 1989)
In the Mood - (Mr Wisecarver, 1987)
Pray For Death - (Newman, 1985)
The Forty Days of Musa Dagh - (Talaat Pasha, 1983)
The North Avenue Irregulars - (Marv, 1979)
Summer of My German Soldier (Harry Bergen, 1978)
Peeper - (Anglich, 1976)
Voyage of the Damned - (1976)
If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium - (Jack Harmon, 1969)
Justine - (Memlik Pasha, 1969)
The Reivers - (Mr Binford, 1969)
In Enemy Country - (Ladislov, 1968)
Skidoo - (Leech, 1968)
Beau Geste - (Rostov, 1966)
Hawaii - (Mason, 1966)
Quick, Before It Melts - (Mikhail Drozhensky, 1964)
Island of Love - (Andy, 1963)
The Hustler - (Big John, 1961)
The Last Mile - (Convict Ed Warner, 1959)

Television

Cold Case (1 episode, 2007)
My Big Fat Greek Life (7 episodes, 2003)
Cosby (1 episode, 1997)
Law & Order (2 episodes, 1992–1994)
Murder, She Wrote (2 episodes, 1985–1988)
Simon & Simon (3 episodes, 1984–1988)
Friday the Thirteenth (1 Episode 1988)
MacGyver (2 episodes, 1985–1987)
Magnum, P.I. (1 episode, 1986)
Remington Steele (3 episodes, 1984–1986)
Highway to Heaven (1 episode, 1985)
Airwolf (1 episode, 1985)
The Love Boat (2 episodes, 1983)
Mama's Family (1 episode, 1983)
The Fall Guy (1 episode, 1983)
Fantasy Island (1 episode, 1980)
Roots: The Next Generations (mini-series, 1979)
Mary Tyler Moore (1 episode, 1971)
Room 222 Series - Seymour Kaufman (1969–1974)
The Streets of San Francisco - Al Davies - in episode "A Wrongful Death" (series, 1973)
Mission: Impossible (1 episode, 1969)
Gunsmoke (2 episodes, 1963–1968)
Hey Landlord (series, 1966–1967)
"I Spy (1965 TV series)" (2 episodes, 1966)
The Fugitive (3 episodes, 1965–1967) (Ernie Svoboda, Ben Wyckoff, Arthur Art Howe)
The Virginian (1 episode 1965)
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea - The Indestructible Man (1 episode 1965)
The Road West in episode "To Light a Candle" (series, 1966)
The Dick Van Dyke Show (1 episode, 1966)
Hogan's Heroes (1 episode, 1966)
The Jean Arthur Show (2 episodes as Carnella, 1966)
Perry Mason (2 episodes, 1964–1965)
The Outer Limits (episode 46 "Counterweight", 1964)
Slattery's People (1964) one episode as Hungerford in "Remember The Dark Sins of Youth?"
The Twilight Zone (1 episode, 1964)
The Eleventh Hour as Dr. Jamison in episode "And God Created Vanity" (1963)
Channing (1 episode, 1963)
The Lloyd Bridges Show (2 episodes, 1962–1963)
The Untouchables (5 episodes, 1961–1963)
Target: The Corruptors! (1 episode), 1961
Brenner (1 episode, 1959)
My Favorite Martian (TV series) (2 episodes, 1965–1966)