Greek singer and actress Irene Papas passed away on September 14, 2022, at the age of 93.
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She appeared in around 70 movies during her career and won awards for her work in The Guns of Navarone, Zorba the Greek, The Trojan Women, Iphigenia, and other movies. The statement was made by the Greek Ministry of Culture and Culture Minister Lina Mendon.
“Irene Papas was the ideal of Greek beauty on cinema and stage, a worldwide leading actress who emanated Greekness. She was magnificent, majestic, and energetic.”
It is unknown if Irene Papas’ Alzheimer’s, which she had since 2013, played a role in her passing. The details of her funeral will be made known as soon as feasible.
The entertainment industry’s involvement with Irene Papas
When Irene Papas was seven years old, her family relocated to Athens, where she attended the Royal School of Dramatic Art to study singing and dancing.
Before breaking into the film industry in 1951, Irene started her career in variety and traditional theater, where she appeared in several plays. Her performance in plays like The Idiot, Iphigenia in Aulis, Medea, The Bacchae, and others received positive reviews from critics.
After a brief cameo in Fallen Angels in 1948, Papas made her feature debut in Dead City in 1952. She eventually obtained a contract with Lux Film in Italy and appeared in movies like Attila and Theodora and Slave Express, where she gained popularity with the public. After that, she appeared in movies like Iphigenia, Electra, The Trojan Women, and Antigone.
She started speaking Italian fluently after and used it in the bulk of her movies. Irene Papas appeared in the B-movie The Man from Cairo in 1953 to make her Hollywood debut. She then starred in Tribute to a Bad Man, The Guns of Navarone, and Zorba the Greek.
In subsequent years, she appeared in movies including Z, Anne of the Thousand Days, Mohammad, Messenger of God, Lion of the Desert, and Captain Corelli’s Mandolin as a leading lady. Irene Papas also had a successful singing career. The record company RCA issued Songs of Theodorakis in 1969. Then, in 1972, she appeared on Aphrodite’s Child album 666. In 1979, she released her album Odes.
When a military junta assumed power in Greece in 1967, Papas and many others were sent into exile because of their resistance to the dictatorship. In 1976, she advocated for a cultural boycott of the Third Reich. The Papas were compelled to go to New York and Italy.
She went back to Greece after the dictatorship ended in 1974, continuing to work in Rome while traveling to Athens and her family’s country home in Chiliomodi.
Twitter users express gratitude
Irene Papas rose to fame during her career as a result of her flawless performances in plays and movies. Following the news of her passing, mourners expressed their sorrow on Twitter:
In 1947, Papas wed filmmaker Alkis Papas; however, the pair later got divorced. Irene and actor Marlon Brando had a covert love affair when they first met in 1954. She wed movie producer Jose Kohn in 1957, but the union was later declared null and void.
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