A Book of Hours

Katina Paxinou

In 1960, Huw Wheldon visited Epidaurus and Athens to meet the Greek star of stage and screen Katina Paxinou. Having initially trained as an opera singer, she moved into acting, helping to re-establish the National Theatre of Greece in 1932. Due to the outbreak of World War Two, she found herself unable to return to Greece, and so emigrated to the US, soon securing the role of Pilar in For Whom the Bell Tolls - which won her an Academy Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture. She returned to Greece in 1950 to resume her stage career, and alongside her husband, the actor and director Alexis Minotis, the pair achieved their dream of interpreting the Ancient Greek plays for a modern audience.