The last international Greek woman of cinema and theater has not been with us since yesterday morning. She took her last breath at the age of 96 at her home in Plaka after a long battle with Alzheimer’s. Her indefatigable spirit, her characteristic intense gaze, habitual self-deprecating humor, everything that ideally complemented the unsurpassed, almost archaic beauty that glorified her throughout the world, gradually left her in the last difficult decade of her life, forcing her to finally retire from all creative and social activities. .

But yesterday’s emigration reminded us of all that for which Irini Papa will go down in history as one of the most important and most recognizable Greek women of the 20th century abroad. These are not only roles that have gone down in history or won awards at domestic and major international festivals, these are not legendary films or the way she left her indelible mark on the film adaptations of iconic works of ancient Greek literature, these are not great directors who believed and adored her, even an endless list of her famous co-stars who starred with her, from Marlon Brando and Anthony Quinn up to Yves Montand as well as Katharine Hepburn· It was the profile and eyes, height and Mediterranean soul that traveled Irini Papa to the ends of the earth, a modern version of the primitive form, radiating beauty, inner strength and an aura of mystery, which contributed to one of the strongest and truly Greek female myths of the last century.

“I don’t know if I’m a naughty or an independent spirit, I only know that I’m trying to get along with myself,” Papa told Irini K.

She herself preferred to appear unaffected by her charm and personal radiance. “Are you really the independent, rebellious spirit that the ‘myth’ wants?” he asked her in 2003 Vassilis Angelicopoulos on behalf of “TO”. “I don’t know what “myth” means! I’m inside the plane, I’m not outside to describe it. Sometimes it seems to me that I follow myself, doing something that little Irineula doesn’t want. And I think: “ Now why doesn’t she want this?” You see, division, schizophrenia, human, which we all have inside, just like we have an investigator inside, a prosecutor, a controller of ourselves … Well, I don’t know, a Rebel or an independent spirit, “I know I try to be kind to myself. As much as I can. Love me, appreciate me, don’t give a damn about me.”

First steps

The charismatic, dynamic and independent nature of Irini Papa (born September 3, 1926 in Chiliomodi, Corinthia, her paternal surname was Leleku) took her life into her own hands from a very early age. Her decision to become an actress and above all to marry writer Alka Papas at the age of 18 brought her into conflict with her mother. A student of Rodiris and Paxinos in the theater studio of the National Theatre, she decides that the type of acting in ancient tragedies that prevailed at that time does not suit her, and turns to the commercial theater. But it was her starring role in 1951 in Frixos Iliadis’ The Dead State that traveled to the Cannes Film Festival and introduced her to an international audience. This paves the way for a unique career that includes major foreign productions, privileged relationships with great directors (among them Michalis Cacoyannis and Franco Zeffirelli) and a special connection with Italy, where he spends one or more of his free time. time. Her second homeland honored her in many ways: she received an honorary award from the President of the Italian Republic, Giorgio Napolitano, she was also awarded the Prix de Rome at the ancient theater of Ostia Antica in 2008, and the Golden Lion of Venice. Theater Biennale in 2009. In this environment, Irini Papa never lost touch with life in Greece. The goal of life was the plan to create an international theater training center on Piraeus Street. And in 1995, the then President of the Hellenic Republic, Kostis Stephanopoulos, honored her with the Order of the Phoenix; once Greek, forever Greek.