‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding’ Star Michael Constantine Captured the Dignity of Immigrant Fathers
Michael Constantine had already won an Emmy more than three decades before he played Kostas “Gus” Portokalos in My Big Fat Greek Wedding. From the moment the precedent-smashing blockbuster debuted, however, the veteran actor would find himself autographing one item over and over again.
Constantine died of natural causes in his Reading, Pennsylvania home on August 31, The New York Times reported Wednesday. The obituary includes a quote from an interview Constantine gave his local newspaper, The Reading Eagle, in 2014: “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve autographed a Windex bottle.”
No actor whose work spans more than 60 years can be reduced to one movie. But for a generation of viewers, Michael Constantine and his My Big Fat Greek Wedding character will still forever be synonymous—and for good reason. The movie might have been marketed as a romantic comedy, but Constantine and Lainie Kazan supply the real emotional depth as lovebird Toula’s parents, who struggle to process her choice to marry outside of the local Greek community.