Greek Goddesses: 4.Irene Papas

Irene Papas is like the Doric* ideal incarnate: solid, austere lines, drama in attitude, fortitude in distress. Beauty in the face of tragedy. And in tragedies she played indeed, with great aplomb.

Irene Papas in Antigone, 1961

[*of the Dorians, but also of the doric column style aesthetics]

She has said: "I never wanted to play sensational parts, or those of desirable women. I wanted to play me... the independent fighter...".


Zorba the Greek, 1964, by Michael Cacoyannis. Based on a novel by Nikos Kazantzakis. Shot on the island of Crete, Greece.

Scenes from The Trojan Women in which Irene Papas plays Helen of Troy. Song Asma Asmaton/ Song of Songs lyrics set to music by Vangelis. 

Irene Papas in A ciascuno il suo

Irene Papas in Z by Kostas Gavras

Born as Irene Lelekou in 1926. She looks amazing for her age, with absolutely no "work" done.

photo taken a few years ago

photos via mlahanas.de, hotinsights.blogspot.com, icollector.com, thegoldenyears.org

Greek Goddesses: 3.Sofia Vempo

"The singer of victory" she was nicknamed, for her patriotic and satirical songs that inspirited a whole nation during the Italo-Greek War, just before the plunderous Nazi occupation winter of 1941-1942. But Sofia Vempo (1910-1978) was so much more. "The voice of Greece", some said after the War.
A wonderful, memorable mezzo voice at any rate and a spirited actress retaining her integrity till the end.

Her debut? Anecdotal, as were many things in those old singers' lives. Living (after involuntary extritation of her family from Constaninople/Istanbul in 1914) in Volos and homesick of her brother Georgie who was studying in Salonica and hadn't written in a long time, in September 1933 she boarded the passengers' ship Cephallonia with her guitar and started singing to pass the time en route. Within minutes, the whole ship was around her, clapping and urging on, delighted in her voice.

She looked rather plain, compared to other beauties of the time, but her very feminine wiles, her generosity of spirit and her "brio" made her a very attractive woman.


"If only for a little while", 1943 slow foxtrot
Music by L.Rapitis, lyrics by M.Traiforos



Mysirlou (original version, sung by Sofia Vempo)
Music & Lyrics by Nick Rubanis


"It's the 13th of the month (accursed day)" a Zeibek dance
(Music by Manos Hadjidakis, from the 1955 film Stella by Michalis Cacoyiannis)
"They think I'm superstitious,
but fate wanted it that way,
that I'd remain an orphan on the 13th,
on the 13th to remain a widow as well..."

Her husband (and longtime musical partner) Mimis Traiforos wrote on her tombstone:
"My unbreakable Sofia, your glory is such that it cannot go any further.
And your soul has levered itself so high off your body, that you're sky, of earth made no longer."

Greek Goddesses: 2.Elli Lambeti

Probably the most sensuous and sensitive actress of the Greek cinema & stage: Her gaze was a sigh.







Clip from the film The Counterfeit Coin, 1955, by Yorgos Javellas. Elli Lambeti says "I love you" to Dimitris Horn.


Clip from the film Woman in Black, 1956, by Michalis Kakoyiannis.

Greek Goddesses: 1.Melina Merkouri

Personality personified. Everything she did, she did with passion, a distinctly Greek trait. Even when misguided, petty things slided off her like water slides off a swan's feathers. Her grace and natural elegance were juxtaposed to a certain je m'en fous attitude and her adherence to who she was.



To the manor born and a prominent actress of international fame, when she was participating in the socialist governemnt of A.Papandreou during the 1980s she was advised to tone down her appearence when going to give a talk in poorer districts of Athens. Melina, defiant and true to herself, refused to get out of the YSL saying "this is who I am, I would be an imposter to don a chinz to go and pretend I'm something I'm not".



Loved and despised like few people have been, she never let anyone indifferent. Isn't that the very essence of being interesting?



The Greeks will be eternally grateful to her for championing the cause of the Elgin Marbles; the missing parts of the sculptures of the Parthenon up on the Acropolis, which were smuggled off the country during the Turkish occupation and the upheaval of the National Revolution by Lord Elgin and were deposited in the British Museum where they remain to this day.



"I flirted down to the last minute of my life", she's quoted to say. The cigarette that was perennially hanging off her lips cut the thread of her life. It was well spent. Opa!