18 Facts About Nico Mastorakis

Nico Mastorakis is a Greek filmmaker and radio producer.

Nico Mastorakis is probably best known for writing and directing the widely notorious exploitation horror film Island of Death in 1975.

Nico Mastorakis used a Minox camera hidden behind the strings of his guitar to take photos but was discovered by Ted Kennedy's security men and, although managing to fly out of Skorpios with his negatives intact, he was later arrested by the junta's secret police and detained for the night while his negatives were discovered and confiscated.

Nico Mastorakis was already a radio personality since the late 1950s, as Mastorakis was considered by many to be the DJ who brought international pop to Greek radio.

Nico Mastorakis was instrumental in the creation of Greek television in the late 1960s.

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Nico Mastorakis produced local versions of many international formats and worked for both YENED and ERT, the country's national TV network.

One of the highlights of that show was when Nico Mastorakis brought John Lennon and Yoko Ono into the military TV's two-camera studio.

Nico Mastorakis wrote, produced and directed dramatic series and variety shows as well as the short-lived breakthrough sci-fi episodic Invasion From Another Planet, the first on Greek TV to be shot on film.

Nico Mastorakis claimed that he had guarantees from Minister of Press Spyridon Zournatzis that the interview would not be censored and that the students would not be prosecuted for speaking freely.

Nico Mastorakis himself claimed that he had been coerced into making the show, but his popularity had evaporated, and the new management of the Greek TV stations wanted nothing to do with him.

Unable to work in public television after the junta, Nico Mastorakis turned to commercials and features and eventually left the country in 1975 to pursue his career as a B-movie-maker overseas.

Nico Mastorakis had already made two low budget movies, one of which later became a cult classic and while living in London he wrote the screenplay for The Greek Tycoon, a roman a clef based on his encounters with Aristotle Onassis.

Nico Mastorakis landed a two-year contract with Paramount but he turned independent with Blood Tide which he wrote and produced.

Nico Mastorakis has since written, produced and directed 17 features, mainly low budget but with awards attached and distribution by major studios and mainstream TV networks.

Nico Mastorakis wrote two published novels with Barnaby Conrad and was instrumental in the careers of Hans Zimmer, Kirstie Alley, Valeria Golino and award-winning composer Vangelis, with whom Mastorakis wrote a bundle of Greek pop top hits in the sixties.

Nico Mastorakis returned to Greece in late 1989 to launch Antenna TV which he managed for three years.

Nico Mastorakis left in 1993 to create a new independent TV network, Star Channel.

Nico Mastorakis wrote and directed sitcoms including Goodnight, Mom and Divorced With Children, and the politically incorrect satirical show Not the ANT1 News.