Katina Paxinou was born in the year 1900, in the bustling port city of Piraeus, Greece. Her journey in the world of theatre began in 1928, when she first appeared on stage in an Athens production of Henry Bataille's thought-provoking play "La femme nue".
In the early 1930s, she was one of the founding members of the National Theatre of Greece, previously known as the Royal Theatre, and went on to perform several major roles in Sophocles' classic play "Electra", as well as Henrik Ibsen's haunting drama "Ghosts". Often, she co-starred with her husband, the renowned actor Alexis Minotis.
The outbreak of World War II found her in the United Kingdom, but she later managed to make her way to the United States, where she was offered her first film role in 1943 in the epic war drama "For Whom the Bell Tolls". For her outstanding portrayal of the Spanish revolutionary Pilar in this classic film adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's novel, she won a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award and a Golden Globe in 1944.
Paxinou went on to make a few more Hollywood movies before returning to Greece in the early 1950s. During this period, she delivered some of her most remarkable performances, including her iconic portrayal of Jocasta in Sophocles' "Oedipus Rex", which she staged multiple times between 1951 and 1958, including a highly successful production on Broadway.
She also shone in a range of other roles, such as Countess Rosmarin Ostenburg in Christopher Fry's "The Dark Is Light Enough" (1957),Clara Zachanassian in Friedrich Dürrenmatt's "The Visit" (1961),Mary Tyrone in Eugene O'Neill's "Long Day's Journey Into Night" (1965),and in the title roles of Euripides' "Hecuba" (1955) and Bertolt Brecht's "Mother Courage" (1971).
In addition to her work in theatre, Paxinou also appeared in several films, including the critically acclaimed "Rocco and His Brothers" (1960),in which she gave a particularly poignant performance as an Italian matriarch.
Katina Paxinou's life came to a close in 1973, when she passed away from cancer. However, her legacy as the greatest Greek actress of the 20th century remains unchallenged to this day.
