Actress and writer Despoina Tomazani, the unforgettable Sofia of “Sweet Gang”, dies at 81

Greek actress and writer Despoina Tomazani died on the morning of Saturday, September 26, 2026, after a two-day hospitalization in an Athens hospital, following pulmonary edema. She was 81.

Born in Chios on June 1, 1945, of descent from Ayvalik (Asia Minor) and Kotyora (Ordu), Tomazani studied theater in Athens, film and theater at Stockholm University, as well as dance and pantomime at the Stockholm Ballet Academy. She began her acting career at 18 in Greek and French theaters, later appearing in Greek, Swedish, American and French films.

Her most famous role remains Sofia in Nikos Nikolaidis’s historic film “Γλυκιά Συμμορία” (Sweet Gang) — Tomazani is the fourth member of the main cast to die, after Takis Spyridakis, Takis Moschos and Konstantinos Tzoumas. She played the lead role in Tazeem Louisi’s “L’ombre de la terre”, for which she was named Best Actress at the 1st Mediterranean Film Festival, and appeared in the films “Μουντζουρά (Αντίσταση)” and “Ντον Ζουάν”, as well as the Swedish film “Με λένε Στέλιο”, for which she co-wrote the dialogue and screenplay — a film that won the Critics’ Prize in Venice in 1973. On television she appeared in the series “Μέντιουμ”, while on stage she performed “Ηλέκτρα” at the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, at New York’s Town Hall and in Tokyo.

Tomazani was also an acclaimed writer of poetry, theater, stories and novels, translated into French, German, Turkish, English and Italian. Her latest book, “Το βιβλίο που δεν γράφτηκε” (Apopeira, 2026), is a historical narrative set in Chios, dedicated to the revolutionary hero Antonis Bournias.

The source article gives no details on the funeral ceremony or reactions, as ProtoThema reports.