R.I.P. Michael Constantine, star of ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding’ who appeared all over classic television
He played Principal Kaufman in Room 222 and guest starred in Perry Mason, Gunsmoke, The Twilight Zone, The Fugitive, Hogan’s Heroes and The Dick Van Dyke Show – just to name a few.
He was not on the list.
Michael Constantine will be known to many as Gus Portokalos, the eccentric father in the 2002 film My Big Fat Greek Wedding who could find the Greek root of any word and steadfastly believed Windex could cure any ailment.
While his role in one of the highest grossing comedies of all time was certainly memorable, it came at the tail end of a long and varied career.
Michael Constantine, born Constantine Joanides in Reading, Pennsylvania, began his career in show business performing on Broadway in the 1950s. He was part of the original 1959 cast of The Miracle Worker on stage and co-starred with Mickey Rooney in the dramatic prison film The Last Mile that same year. Constantine then played Big John in the Paul Newman poolhall classic The Hustler before appearing all over 1960s television.
Constantine played a doctor in one episode of Dr. Kildare and a sheriff in the memorable Twilight Zone episode “I am the Night – Color Me Black” alongside Paul Fix, George Lindsay and Ivan Dixon.
His TV credits only proliferated from there, appearing in Hogan’s Heroes, The Dick Van Dyke Show, My Favorite Martian, The Fugitive, Gunsmoke, Mission: Impossible, The Invaders and two episodes of Perry Mason.
In 1968, Constantine played Leech in the psychedelic hippie comedy Skidoo. The film boasted an all-star cast, including Jackie Gleason, Carol Channing, Frankie Avalon, Burgess Meredith, Cesar Romero, and Groucho Marx.
The 1970s saw Constantine reteaming with Rod Serling in an episode of Night Gallery, guest-starring in The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Kojack, and playing his most famous role up to that point — Principal Seymour Kaufman in the poignant high-school series Room 222. Constantine won an Emmy for his performance as Kaufman in 1970 and was nominated again the following year.
Constantine got his own show in 1976 called Sirota's Court. He played Judge Matthew Sirota, a night court judge dealing with the zany antics of defendants and the equally funny passion of prosecutor H.R. "Bud" Nugent, played by Fred Willard. Though canceled after just 13 episodes, Night Court would later prove just few years later that the premise was TV gold.
Constantine continued his constant TV work in the 1980s, appearing in The Love Boat, Mama's Family, Remington Steele and MacGyver, among many others.
Constantine played Gus again for the long-awaited sequel My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 in 2016. The patriarch had an even more important role this time around as the one getting married after it’s discovered he and his wife never officially tied the knot. It was Constantine's final role.
Whether as a guest star in some of the best shows of the 1960s, in his Emmy-winning part of Principal Kaufman or as the lovable Gus Portokalos, Michael Constantine will be fondly remembered for his many onscreen contributions. He was 94.
The son of Greek immigrants, Constantine is warmly remembered for his turn as Gus Portokalos, the husband of Lainie Kazan’s Maria Portokalos, in the unlikely box office smash My Big Fat Greek Wedding and its 2016 sequel. The first installment, made for $5 million and released in 2002, grossed nearly $370 million worldwide.
“I had to audition for the part,” he recalled in a 2016 interview. “Before that, I asked to read the script, because I was very leery. I didn’t know Nia then [she also penned the screenplay], and I was anxious about someone writing some Greek thing. Was it going to be baloney or was it going to be something by somebody who really knows Greeks? So I read the script and I said, ‘Yes, this person obviously knows Greeks.'”
The know-it-all Gus was famous for thinking that Windex would cure just about any ailment. “I’m actually sick of Windex,” he said. “There must have been hundreds of bottles sent to me, and then there were all those people who asked me to autograph their Windex bottles.”
He played the father of Nia Vardalos’ character. On Wednesday, Vardalos paid tribute to the man who played her boisterous Greek father on Twitter, writing: “Michael Constantine, the dad to our cast-family, a gift to the written word, and always a friend. Acting with him came with a rush of love and fun. I will treasure this man who brought Gus to life. He gave us so much laughter and deserves a rest now. We love you Michael.”
Filmography
Film
Year Title Role Notes
1959 The Last Mile Ed Warner, Convict
1961 The Hustler John 'Big John'
1963 Island of Love Andy
1964 Quick, Before It Melts Mikhail Drozhensky
1964 Profiles in Courage Future U.S. Senator From Georgia, Tom Watson
1966 Hawaii Mason
1966 Beau Geste Rostov
1968 Skidoo 'Leech'
1968 In Enemy Country Ladislov
1969 Justine Memlik Pasha
1969 If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium Jack Harmon
1969 Don't Drink the Water Commissar Krojack
1969 The Reivers Mr. Binford
1972 Deadly Harvest Stefan Groza TV movie
1975 The Night That Panicked America Jess Wingate TV movie
1976 Voyage of the Damned Luis Clasing
1976 Peeper Anglich
1978 Summer of My German Soldier Harry Bergen TV movie
1978 The Pirate Yashir TV movie
1979 The North Avenue Irregulars Marvin 'Marv' Fogleman
1979 Crisis in Mid-Air Frank Piovano TV movie
1983 The Forty Days of Musa Dagh Talaat Pasha
1985 Pray for Death Newman
1987 In the Mood Mr. Wisecarver
1989 Prancer Mr. Stewart
1991 By a Thread Unknown
1993 Question of Faith Unknown
1993 My Life Bill
1993 Deadfall Frank
1996 The Juror Judge Weitzel
1996 Thinner Tadzu Lempke
2002 My Big Fat Greek Wedding Gus Portokalos Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture
Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
Nominated—Teen Choice Award for Choice Movie Hissy Fit
2016 My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 Gus Portokalos Final film role
Television
Constantine was cast as the historical John Chisum in the 1965 episode, "Paid in Full", on the syndicated television anthology series, Death Valley Days, hosted by Ronald Reagan. Keith Andes portrayed Rob Hunter, a former Confederate colonel who visits Kathy McLennan (Aneta Corsaut), the wife of a soldier who had been killed while serving under Hunter in the American Civil War. He discovers that McLennan and her neighboring ranchers have been defrauded by Chisum, who issued legally unclaimable IOUs when he purchased their stock. Hunter works to recover the money owed to the ranchers. He also appeared in another 1965 Death Valley Days episode, "The Great Turkey War", with Parley Baer cast as journalist Horace Greeley.
Constantine's other television appearances include:
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 13th: The Series ("Pipe Dream" 1988)
Probe ("Plan 10 From Outer Space", 1988)
MacGyver (2 episodes, 1985–1987) – Inspector Jan Messic
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)
Amanda's (1 episode, 1983)
Mama's Family (1 episode, 1983)
The Fall Guy (1 episode, 1983)
Quincy, M.E. (4 episodes) (1981 Dr Arthur Clotti – in season 6, episode 14 "Seldom Silent, Never Heard") ( 1983 Season 8 Episode 3 "Give Me Your Weak") (1979 Season 4 Episodes 14 & 15 "Walk Softly Through the Night" Parts 1 and 2)
Fantasy Island (1 episode, 1980)
Roots: The Next Generations (miniseries, 1979)
79 Park Avenue (miniseries, 1977)
The Krofft Supershow: Electra Woman and Dyna Girl (4 episodes, 1976) as The Sorcerer
Sirota's Court (13 episodes, 1976–1977 series)
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) (Nikor Janos)
Gunsmoke (2 episodes, 1963–1968)
Combat! (as Jacques Patron, episode "Entombed", 1967)
The Invaders (1 episode, 1968)
Hey Landlord (series, 1966–1967)
The Odd Couple (series, 1970–1975)
Dundee and the Culhane (1 episode, 1967 series)
I Spy (2 episodes, 1966)
12 O'Clock High (1 episode, 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) as Heinrich -episode- "It Takes a Thief...Sometimes"
The Jean Arthur Show (2 episodes as Carnella, 1966)
Perry Mason (2 episodes, 1964–1965)
The Outer Limits (episode 46 "Counterweight", 1964)
Bonanza (as a new settler whose greedy neighbor refuses him piped water for irrigation)
Slattery's People (1964) one episode as Hungerford in "Remember The Dark Sins of Youth?"
The Twilight Zone (1 episode, 1964) as Sheriff Koch in "I Am the Night Color Me Black"
The Eleventh Hour as Dr. Jamison in episode "And God Created Vanity" (1963)
The Dakotas as Marshak in "Trouble at French Creek" (1963)
Channing (1 episode, 1963) as Nick in "No Wild Games for Sophie" (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)
