Katina Paxinou Movies and Career Information

Katina Paxinou (December 17, 1900 – February 22, 1973) was a Greek film and theatre actress. Born Aikaterini (Catherine) Konstantopoulou in Piraeus, Greece, she trained as an opera singer but changed career and joined the Greek Royal Theater in 1929. Paxinou distinguished herself on the stage. When World War II broke out, she was performing in London. Unable to return to Greece, she emigrated to the United States. She was selected to play "Pilar" in the 1943 film For Whom the Bell Tolls, winning an Oscar and a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture. She continued appearing in Hollywood films until 1949. She made one British film as well, the 1947 film version of Uncle Silas, starring Jean Simmons. She played mother to Tyrone Power in Prince of Foxes in 1949. After 1949, Paxinou returned to Hollywood only once more, to play, again, a gypsy woman, this time in the 1959 Technicolor religious epic, The Miracle. In 1950, Paxinou resumed her stage career. In her native Greece, she formed the Royal Theatre of Athens with Alexis Minotis, her principal director and her husband Ioannis Paxinos, since 1940. Paxinou made several appearances on the Broadway stage and