Tribute to actress Eleni Papadaki
Eleni Papadaki was born on 4 November 1903 in Athens to an affluent family, she studied philology at Athens University, phonetics, music and piano at the Great Conservatory of Athens, but began an acting career at the age of twenty-two in 1925, in Luigi Pirandello's Six Characters in Search of an Author. The theatre critic for the Demokratia newspaper greeted her performance with the comment that "today the stage has acquired a great actress". At the same time, she also performed in Oscar Wilde's Salome. Her most successful performances during the last part of her career was in ancient Greek tragedies. During the Axis occupation of Greece she has been accused of being the mistress of the collaborationist prime minister Ioannis Rallis including right-wing newspapers of the Greek Resistance. Eleni Papadaki was executed in Athens on 22 December 1944, during the "Dekemvriana" events, by communists of the OPLA. Listen to the podcast as we try to understand & restore the dignity and spirit of this amazing actress whose short life ended so tragically:
