Panos Stathakopoulos Recalls Embarrassing Moment During Drama School

In an interview on the ERT program ‘Proina se eidon’ aired on March 26, 2025, actor Panos Stathakopoulos recounted a memorable and embarrassing incident from his drama school days in Kalavryta. In 1987, while participating in a commemorative event for the Nazi massacre of December 13, 1943, Stathakopoulos was tasked with holding one of three doves to be released during the national anthem. The plan was to keep the dove hidden until the right moment. However, when he released his dove, it soared high only to plummet straight down onto the concrete. Stathakopoulos described feeling so humiliated that he wished the earth would swallow him up. A teacher rushed to revive the bird, which fortunately survived. Another teacher, who had lost a child, saw symbolic meaning in the incident, linking it to her own personal memorial. Stathakopoulos characterized the experience as pure torment.