One of the best known Greek actresses abroad alongside Melina Mercouri, she played in around sixty films. She was 93 years old.
Le Monde with AFP
The Greek actress Irène Papas, famous for her fiery appearances in internationally renowned films, like the cannons of Navarone (1961) and Zorba Le Greek (1964), died at the age of 93, announced , Wednesday September 14, the Greek Ministry of Culture.
irène papas “personified Greek beauty on the screen and on stage”, reacted in a press release the Minister of Greek culture, Lina Mendoni.
According to the Greek state news agency Ana, the actress died earlier on Wednesday. The cause of his death was not immediately known. Irene Papas’ health has been fragile for some time. 2>
very popular in Italy
She was one of the best known Greek actresses abroad alongside Melina Mercouri. She played in around sixty films during her career, which spanned six decades. Irene Papas notably shared the poster with renowned actors, such as Richard Burton, Kirk Douglas, James Cagney and Jon Voight.
Irène Papas has received numerous prizes, such as that of best actress, in 1961, at the Berlin Festival, and a golden lion, in Venice, in 2009, rewarding all of her career.
The actress had also expressed her opposition to the military regime of Athens. In 1967, during a press conference in Rome, she declared that she had refused to shoot a film in Greece with Orson Welles to protest against the ban on the representation of certain works of Sophocles, Aristophanes and Euripides during the Ancient tragedy festival. According to the actress, the official ban was justified by the fact that the author of the music was Mikis Theodorakis, a left intellectual.
She was very popular in Italy, where she appeared regularly in movies and television series, including for her latest role, in 2002, in Short Cuts.