Friday 3 February 2012

Annabelle meets her Greek shepherd after 45 years!

Read this post in Swedish: Annabelle möter sin grekiske fåraherde efter 45 år!

Last night I was watching "Pame Paketo" (program which finds friends and relatives for people that have lost the contact with their loved ones)as usual with Vicky Hatzivasileiou. The one "package" (it's usually 2 in each program = 2 stories) was from a very famous Greek actor, Γιάννης Βόγλης - Giannis Vóglis, who very much wished to see his co-star from the movie "Κορίτσια στον ήλιο"(Koritsia ston ilio = Girls in the Sun), with premiere in 1968.
The role of a tourist from England was played by the Swedish-American Anne Lönnberg (Lonnberg). The 17 year old Lönnberg got the role by coincidence!

The film is about a young girl who meets a shepherd (Giannis Voglis) when on vacation in Greece. In the beginning she is afraid of him and is running as fast as she can when he wants to give her some almonds he has in his pocket. The shepherd is screaming "Στάσου, αμύγδαλα!" (Stásou, amígdala! = Wait, almonds!) as he is running after her, and this has become a familiar expression in Greece! (Do you wish to see this scene? About 5 minutes: Στάσου, αμύγδαλα!)

The shepherd, being misunderstood, goes to jail, accused of rape. Everything is getting solved.

They fall in love, but the day arrives when Annabelle has to go back home...

The movie became very loved and they still show it quite often at TV, probably a lot because of the good music, and especially the song "Ένα Πρωινό" (Ena proinó = One morning) or "Annabelle" like it's often called after the character of Lönnberg.

Here is the beautiful song with the lyrics written in Greek (lyrics: Georgos Papastefanoú, music: Stavros Ksarchakos) in a videoclip with the singer Maria Dimitriadi and with a few scenes from the film:

Pame Paketo found Anne Lönnberg. She told us that yesterday on the plane the man sitting next to her started a conversation with her and she told him that many years ago she was playing in the movie "Koritsia ston ilio"...Then he just screamed: - Annabelle!!!

I really enjoyed this reunion so I filmed just when Giannis Voglis and Anne Lönnberg met in the studio:


Links might of interest:
About Giannis Voglis at Wikipedia: Giannis Voglis (In both English and Greek)
About Anne Lönnberg in Greek: Anne Lonnberg
Short biography in English: Anne Lonnberg
(Half Swedish Anne has actually played a small role in the James Bond movie "Moonraker" and she also has been playing in a Woody Allen film.)
Here I found a song written and composed by Anne Lönnberg: Mister Me Too

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