Katina Paxinou Biography

Fast Facts

• Won a New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress for "For Whom the Bell Tolls" in 1943
• Studied music and singing at conservatories in Geneva, Vienna, and Berlin
• Started out as an opera singer and first appeared in the 1920 production of "Sister Beatrice․"
• Later became a stage actress and appeared in several ancient Greek dramas as characters like Medea, Electra, and Hecuba
• Made her London debut in the title role of Sophocles' "Electra" in 1939 and then spent several years performing in the U․S․ during World War II
• Best known for her role as Pilar in the 1943 film "For Whom the Bell Tolls․"
• Formed the Royal Theatre of Athens with her husband, Alexis Minotis, in 1950
• Translated several modern plays into Greek, including those by American playwright Eugene O'Neill