She embodies the beauty and character of Greek women , very good actress.
Greek-born actor Irene Papas, famous for her fiery appearances in the internationally acclaimed "The Guns of Navarone" and "Zorba the Greek", died Wednesday at the age of 93.
Greece's Culture Minister Lina Mendoni in a statement said Papas was "majestic" and "the personification of Greek beauty on the cinema screen and theatre stage".
Her cause of death was not immediately known, but the actor had Alzheimer's Disease and had been frail for some time.
One of Greece's most renowned actors, Papas appeared in over 60 films in a career spanning nearly six decades.
On screen and stage she starred with A-list partners, including Richard Burton, Kirk Douglas and Jon Voight.
"Ordinary actors have trouble sharing the screen with her," the late film critic Roger Ebert wrote in 1969.
Widely known as Pappas but personally preferring a single 'p' in her surname, the actor was born Irene Lelekou in 1929 in the village of Chiliomodi near Corinth, into a family of schoolteachers.
Gifted with a deep voice, piercing eyes and a chiselled face likened to the Caryatid statues of ancient Greece, Papas began performing at the age of 15 in local cultural events before studying drama in Athens.
She made her cinema debut in the 1948 Greek drama "Fallen Angels", and later broke onto the international scene with "Dead City", the first Greek movie shown at the Cannes Film Festival in 1952.
"The Guns of Navarone" in 1961, in which she starred alongside Gregory Peck and Anthony Quinn, as a brooding Greek guerrilla fighter, was a landmark role in Papas's career.
She would again partner up with Quinn in 1964's "Zorba the Greek", another timeless classic.
"I left Greece to discover where the best acting was. I wanted to learn. I was not looking for a career," she told state TV ERT in 2002.
"If you do your job well, a career comes on its own."
In 1969, she played the widow of a murdered lawmaker in Costa-G
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Greek-born actor Irene Papas, famous for her fiery appearances in the internationally acclaimed "The Guns of Navarone" and "Zorba the Greek", died Wednesday at the age of 93.
Greece's Culture Minister Lina Mendoni in a statement said Papas was "majestic" and "the personification of Greek beauty on the cinema screen and theatre stage".
Her cause of death was not immediately known, but the actor had Alzheimer's Disease and had been frail for some time.
One of Greece's most renowned actors, Papas appeared in over 60 films in a career spanning nearly six decades.
On screen and stage she starred with A-list partners, including Richard Burton, Kirk Douglas and Jon Voight.
"Ordinary actors have trouble sharing the screen with her," the late film critic Roger Ebert wrote in 1969.
Widely known as Pappas but personally preferring a single 'p' in her surname, the actor was born Irene Lelekou in 1929 in the village of Chiliomodi near Corinth, into a family of schoolteachers.
Gifted with a deep voice, piercing eyes and a chiselled face likened to the Caryatid statues of ancient Greece, Papas began performing at the age of 15 in local cultural events before studying drama in Athens.
She made her cinema debut in the 1948 Greek drama "Fallen Angels", and later broke onto the international scene with "Dead City", the first Greek movie shown at the Cannes Film Festival in 1952.
"The Guns of Navarone" in 1961, in which she starred alongside Gregory Peck and Anthony Quinn, as a brooding Greek guerrilla fighter, was a landmark role in Papas's career.
She would again partner up with Quinn in 1964's "Zorba the Greek", another timeless classic.
"I left Greece to discover where the best acting was. I wanted to learn. I was not looking for a career," she told state TV ERT in 2002.
"If you do your job well, a career comes on its own."
In 1969, she played the widow of a murdered lawmaker in Costa-G
'Majestic' Greek 'Zorba' star Irene Papas dies at 93
Greek-born actor Irene Papas, famous for her fiery appearances in the internationally acclaimed "The Guns of Navarone" and "Zorba the Greek", died Wednesday at the age of 93.
