Irene Papas, perhaps the most famous female Greek actress of her time, has died, the Greek Culture Ministry announced.
Papas, an actress and singer was born in Chiliomodi near Corinth in 1926 and achieved a career spanning more than 50 years and appeared in over 70 films.
Her mother was a teacher, and her father taught classical drama. Papas was so fascinated with acting that she began to perform as a child actor.
When her family relocated to Athens when she was seven, she started playing in classics the likes of Ibsen, Shakespeare, and ancient Greek tragedies marked some of her first forays into the professional world of acting.
Although her first American film, The Man from Cairo, was underwhelming, she quickly moved up the ranks in terms of productions. In Tribute to a Bad Man (1956), she played the female lead, Jocasta Constantine, alongside James Cagney.
Papas quickly gained international recognition through films such as The Guns of Navarone and Zorba the Greek. Unfortunately, despite the commercial success of films that Papas was involved in, she was consistently underpaid and was often unemployed; for Zorba the Greek, she was paid $10,000, and she could not find a role for eighteen months following her appearance in the movie.
She attracted the attention of important American filmmakers, sowing the seed for her future as one of the most influential Greek actresses of all time. Papas was most known for her show-stopping performances in Greek tragedy-based films such as Antigone, Electra, and Iphigenia.
Her personal life remained quiet throughout her life. At 21, she married film director Alkis Papas but they soon divorced just four years later in 1951.
In 1954, Papas met the love of her life, Marlon Brando.
“I have never since loved a man as I loved Marlon. He was the great passion of my life, absolutely the man I cared about the most and also the one I esteemed most, two things that generally are difficult to reconcile,” said Papas of the legendary actor of films such as The Godfather.
Papas was widely known for her liberal political views that during the Greek Junta of 1967 was sent into exile.
She lived in Italy and New York during the Greek military dictatorship before being able to return to Greece in 1974.
Her final cinema appearance was in the 2003 Portuguese film A Talking Picture.
In 2018, it was announced that Papas had been suffering from Alzheimer’s.