Irene Papas

Papas was born as Irini Lelekou (Ειρήνη Λελέκου) in the village of Chiliomodi, outside Corinth, Greece. Her mother, Eleni Prevezanou (Ελένη Πρεβεζάνου), was a schoolteacher, and her father, Stavros Lelekos (Σταύρος Λελέκος), taught classical drama at the Sofikós school in Corinth. She was educated at the Royal School of Dramatic Art in Athens, taking classes in dance and singing.[4] In 1947 she married the film director Alkis Papas; they divorced in 1951.[5][6]

Papas began her acting career in variety and traditional theatre, in plays by Ibsen, Shakespeare, and classical Greek tragedy, before moving into film in 1951.[4] Later in her career, she took the title role in Medea in a 1973 production of Euripides's play. Reviewing the production in The New York Times, Clive Barnes described her as a "very fine, controlled Medea", smouldering with a "carefully dampened passion", constantly fierce.[7] Walter Kerr also praised Papas's Medea; both Barnes and Kerr saw in her portrayal what Barnes called "her unrelenting determination and unwavering desire for justice".[8] Albert Bermel considered Papas's rendering of Medea as a sympathetic woman a triumph of acting.[8]

Papas was discovered by Elia Kazan in Greece, where she achieved widespread fame.[4][9] Her first film work was a small part in Nikos Tsiforos's 1948 Fallen Angels (Greek, "Hamenoi angeloi").[10] She began to attract attention, however, with her role in Frixos Iliasis's 1952 film Dead City (Greek, "Nekri Politeia"). The film was shown at the Cannes Film Festival, where Papas was welcomed by the international press, and photographed spending time with the wealthy Aga Khan. The publicity launched her as a film star, leading to larger roles in the 1954 films Attila and Theodora, Slave Empress; many other films followed, both in Greece and internationally.[6][9][11]

Papas in a publicity still for The Trojan Women (1971)

She was a leading figure in cinematic transcriptions of ancient tragedy, playing the title roles in George Tzavellas's Antigone (1961) and Michael Cacoyannis's Electra (1962), where her portrayal of the "doomed heroine" is described as "outstanding". She portrayed Helen in Cacoyannis's The Trojan Women (1971) opposite Katharine Hepburn, and Clytemnestra in his Iphigenia (1977).[6][9][12]

Papas debuted in American film with a bit part in the B-movie The Man from Cairo (1953); her next American film was a much larger role as Jocasta Constantine, alongside James Cagney, in the Western Tribute to a Bad Man (1956).[13] She then starred in films such as The Guns of Navarone (1961) and Cacoyannis's Zorba the Greek (1964), set to Mikis Theodorakis's music. She played leading roles in critically acclaimed films such as Z (1969), where her political activist's widow has been called "indelible".[14] She appeared as Catherine of Aragon in Anne of the Thousand Days, opposite Richard Burton and Geneviève Bujold in 1969. In 1976, she starred in Mohammad, Messenger of God about the origin of Islam. In 1982, she appeared in Lion of the Desert, together with Anthony Quinn, Oliver Reed, Rod Steiger, and John Gielgud. One of her last film appearances was in Captain Corelli's Mandolin in 2001.[4][15]

The Enciclopedia Italiana describes Papas as a typical Mediterranean beauty, with a lovely voice both in singing and acting, greatly talented and with an adventurous spirit.[4]

In the view of film critic Philip Kemp,[6]

From the opening shot of Michael Cacoyannis's Electra, as the proud, implacable face emerges from encroaching shadows, it becomes impossible to imagine anyone else as Euripides's heroine. Erect, immutably dignified, dark eyes burning fiercely beneath heavy black brows, Irene Papas visibly embodies the sublimity of classical Greece, tragic yet serene.[6]

Kemp described Papas as an awe-inspiring presence, which paradoxically limited her career. He admired her roles in Cacoyannis's films, including the defiant Helen of Troy in The Trojan Women; the vengeful, grief-stricken Clytemnestra in Iphigenia; and "memorably"[6][9] as the cool but sensual widow in Zorba the Greek.[9] David Thomson, in his Biographical Dictionary of Film, called Papas's manner in Iphigenia "blatant declaiming".[16]

The film critic Roger Ebert observed that there were many "pretty girls" in cinema "but not many women", and called Papas a great actress. Ebert noted her uphill struggle, her height limiting the leading men she could play alongside, her accent limiting the roles she could take, and that "her unusual beauty is not the sort that superstar actresses like to compete with."[17] Ordinary actors, he suggested, had trouble sharing the screen with Papas. All the same, her presence in many well-known movies, wrote Ebert, inspired "something of a cult".[17]

The scholar of Greek Gerasimus Katsan calls her the most recognizable and best-known Greek film star, with "range, power, and subtlety", stating that her work made her a kind of national hero. She acted strong women with "beauty and sensuality, but also fierce independence and spirit".[18]

In 1968, Papas released a solo album of songs by Mikis Theodorakis.

In 1969, the RCA label released Papas' vinyl LP, Songs of Theodorakis (INTS 1033). This has 11 folk songs sung in Greek, conducted by Harry Lemonopoulos and produced by Andy Wiswell, with sleeve notes in English by Michael Cacoyannis. It was released on CD in 2005 (FM 1680).[19] Papas knew Mikis Theodorakis from working with him on Zorba the Greek[9] as early as 1964.

In 1972, she appeared on the album 666 by the Greek rock group Aphrodite's Child on the track "∞" (infinity). She chants "I was, I am, I am to come" repeatedly and wildly over a percussive backing, causing controversy with her "graphic orgasm".[20][21]

In 1979, Polydor released her solo album of eight Greek folk songs entitled Odes, with electronic music performed (and partly composed) by Vangelis Papathanassiou.[22] The lyrics were co-written by Arianna Stassinopoulos.[23] They collaborated again in 1986 for Rapsodies, an electronic rendition of seven Byzantine liturgy hymns, also on Polydor.[24]

Papas was a member of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), and in 1967 called for a "cultural boycott" against the "Fourth Reich", meaning the military government of Greece at that time.[25] Her opposition to the regime sent her, and other artists such as Theodorakis whose songs she sang, into exile when the military junta came to power in Greece in 1967; she moved to Italy.[6][26][27]

In 1954 she met the actor Marlon Brando and they had a long and "secret love affair".[28] She married the film producer Jose Kohn in 1957; that marriage was later annulled.[5] She is the aunt of the film director Manousos Manousakis and the actor Aias Manthopoulos.[29]

In 2003 she served on the board of directors of the Anna-Marie Foundation, a fund which provided assistance to people in rural areas of Greece.[30] In 2018 it was announced that she had been suffering from Alzheimer's for five years.[31]