Nicolas Gage (Gatzoyiannis) is a journalist and writer (famous for his book “Eleni”). Gage was born in 1939 in Lia, Epirus, Greece.
Gage is most known for two books of autobiographical memoirs. The best-selling Eleni (1983) and A Place for Us (1989). Eleni describes the life of his family in Greece during the Second World War and the Greek Civil War. Eleni was Gage’s mother, who was executed by Greek communist guerillas for arranging the escape of her children from their communist-occupied village. Eleni was eventually made into a film in 1985, starring John Malkovich as Gage. “Eleni” was also cited by the American president Ronald Reagan in 1987 as an inspiration for his summit meetings to end the arms race with the Soviet Union. Gage’s “Eleni” has been awarded the first prize by the Royal Society of Literature of Great Britain and has been translated into 32 languages.
Decades later Gage went back to Greece in an effort to find the people responsible for his mother’s death. His book “A Place for Us” describes the experiences of the Gage family as immigrants in 1950s America in the city of Worcester, Massachusetts.
Gage first achieved fame as an investigative reporter for The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. His acclaimed coverage of the Mafia led to two best-selling books: The Mafia Is Not An Equal Opportunity Employer and Mafia, U.S.A.
Gage was also at the forefront in exposing corruption in the past of Vice President Spiro Agnew, which led to Agnew’s resignation. In addition to this, Gage was the first reporter to hear the Nixon tapes during the Watergate scandal. His experiences as a reporter during this time were the basis for the 1977 CBS television show The Andros Targets.
Gage co-wrote an early draft of the Godfather III script with Mario Puzo, and he was an Executive Producer of The Godfather Part III movie. The movie was a huge success and was nominated for seven Golden Globe Awards and seven Academy Awards.
“When buffalo battle in the marsh,
it’s the frogs that pay.” – Nicholas Gage, Eleni
His most recent book is Greek Fire: The Story of Maria Callas and Aristotle Onassis, an account of the relationship between Aristotle Onassis and opera singer Maria Callas, which was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 2000.
Gage is the recipient of The International Center in New York’s Award of Excellence. He continues to speak throughout the world and writes for several publicatons including The New York Times and Vanity Fair. He’s also still very much involved with the Greek community and he is the honorary President of the World of Epirotes.
