Irene Papas or Irene Pappas was a Greek actress and singer who starred in over 70 films in a career spanning more than 50 years. She gained international recognition through such popular award-winning films as The Guns of Navarone (1961), Zorba the Greek (1964) and Z (1969). She was a powerful protagonist in films including The Trojan Women (1971) and Iphigenia (1977). She played the title roles in Antigone (1961) and Electra (1962). She had a fine singing voice, on display in the 1968 recording Songs of Theodorakis.
Papas in 1956
Papas made her name playing powerful women in films of Greek tragedy, such as Clytemnestra in Euripides's play Iphigenia in Aulis. Painting of Clytemnestra by John Collier, 1882
Scholars have noted that Papas was often photographed in profile alongside Hellenic sculptures to present her as the "quintessential idea of Greek beauty".
Papas in a publicity still for The Trojan Women (1971), where she played Helen of Troy
The Guns of Navarone (film)
The Guns of Navarone is a 1961 action adventure war film directed by J. Lee Thompson from a screenplay by Carl Foreman, based on Alistair MacLean's 1957 novel of the same name. Foreman also produced the film. The film stars Gregory Peck, David Niven and Anthony Quinn, along with Stanley Baker, Anthony Quayle, Irene Papas, Gia Scala, Richard Harris and James Darren. The book and the film share a plot: the efforts of an Allied commando unit to destroy a seemingly impregnable German fortress that threatens Allied naval ships in the Aegean Sea.
Theatrical release poster
Cliffs of ‘Navarone’, showing how the openings to gun positions were portrayed in the film by marble quarries on the island of Palmaria, off the west coast of Italy
