Greek actress Irene Papas, famous for her spirited appearances in internationally acclaimed films like The Cannons of Navarone and Zorba the Greekdied at the age of 93, the Greek Ministry of Culture announced on Wednesday September 14.
Sixty films
Irene Papas”personified Greek beauty on screen and on stage“, said in a press release the Minister of Culture Lina Mendoni. According to the Greek state news agency ANA, Irene Papas died earlier in the day on Wednesday. The cause of her death was not known in the press. Irene Papas’ health had been fragile for some time.
Irène Papas in an excerpt from the film “Zorba the Greek” (1964)
One of the best-known Greek actresses abroad alongside Mélina Mercouri, Irène Papas starred in some sixty films during her career, which spanned six decades, and in particular in the adaptations of ancient tragedies (Antigone, Electra, Iphignenia…)
She toured with filmmakers like Costa Gavras (Z), Michel Cacoyannis (Zorba the Greek), Francesco Rosi (Christ stopped at Eboli), John Landis (Black series for an all-nighter) and Manoel de Oliveira (Party, Worry…) and she shared the bill with renowned comedians like Richard Burton, Kirk Douglas, James Cagney and Jon Voigt.
In the fight against the dictatorship
Committed politically, in particular against the dictatorship of the colonels in Greece, Irène Papas was forced into exile (in Italy then in the United States) when the military junta took power in her country in 1967, and returned there at the fall of the dictatorship in 1974. A member of the Greek Communist Party, banned until 1974, she was also close to the Social Democrat Andreas Papandreou, founder of the PASOK party.
Irène Papas has received numerous awards, including Best Actress in 1961 at the Berlin Film Festival and a Golden Lion in Venice in 2009 for her entire career. She was popular in Italy, where she appeared regularly in films and television series, including her last role in 2004.