Eleni Papadaki left childhood with the conviction that he had reached the world to serve the theater. He was born in Athens on November 4, 1908. The only concern of that Doric-profile creature must be to find a good husband, but she dynamite the trousseau of family pretensions and announces her desire to be an actress. Neither the father's heart attack nor the mother's tears will stop her. He had learned classical Greek to trace the blood to the source of his vocation. In 1925, with 17 years, debuted in Six characters in search of author . A thunderous success. "If I were Pirandello, I would run to the dressing room to thank her," says the critic.

In 1930 the National Theater is created in Athens. Among its founders is Catina Paxinú, the most celebrated actress of the time. At the inauguration of the theater, it plays Clitemnestra in the Agamemnon of Esquilo. Papadaki - who became part of the National two years later - ignores that in the verses of that tragedy, burned by the Paxinú, it resonates already at its own end.

From the first moment the rivalry between the two women flashes. The Papadaki looks for the eclipse of the predecessor star, but the artistic direction of the theater embodies its claims. The press fuels the fire: "Why do they insist on hiding Papadaki's talent by confining her in minor roles?"

In 1935 a plebiscite ends with the Second Greek Republic and King George II regains the throne. A year later, he accepts that General Metaxás establish the dictatorship. The Papadaki, after almost a decade of waiting, feels that its time has finally come. In 1938 he plays Regana, daughter of King Lear , the Desdemona of Othello and the Electra of Sophocles. Among the sacred stones of Epidaurus, he spits all the rage at his mother Clitemnestra, embodied again by Paxinú. On stage the two explode the powder magazine of their pending accounts.

History returns to inflame in Greece. Despite the fascist policies of Metaxás, the territorial demands of Italy tip Greece on the side of the Allies. The Greeks slow down the Italian invasion, but nothing can against Germany. In Athens, the swastika flutters in the Parthenon , while the population suffers terrible famines.

Everything rushes. The outbreak of World War II surprises Paxinú in London ; The actress will not return to the country until 1950. The Papadaki has a free track and does not waste the opportunity. Your star shines now more than ever. Rumors suggest that he is a lover of Ioanis Ralis, 23 years old, the third and last collaborationist prime minister. She uses her influence to get some colleagues out of jail l. He does not understand the price of dealing with criminals, even to cross out some names of his death note.

The press claims that Ralis "has given him a diamond belt while people starve to death." She makes fun of these gossip. It entrenches itself in its condition of loose verse. It does not frequent the taverns to which the actors go after the functions. He drives his car on the outskirts of the city, to the sea. There he tries to mislead his demons, his eagerness for perfectionism. His love is known to be delivered to both men and women. And a little more.

The occupation ends in April 1944. The Union of Actors expels seven actors for collaborators, among which is Papadaki. Listen to the cries of "death to the whore." Now, he does not run away, even when he sees his name in the newspapers under the heading THE TRAITING ACTORS.

She is arrested on the 21st of that month, accused of «horizontal collaborationism» . She is calm, thinks that she goes to an interrogation from which she will go free, because those who judge her "luckily are not actors and do not have the poison of envy." They execute her that same night, by order of a captain of the National Militia called Orestes (until the end the shadow of the Atridas). His body was rescued from a mass grave days later.

The poet Sikelianós wrote his epitaph : «Merciful Lord, the sword of the murderer shone / and the god of tragedy appeared./ Merciful Lord, at that very moment / the nine muses bowed down to put on the crown of eternity». In his grave we receive a statue of the actress dressed for eternity as Regana, daughter of King Lear.

His whole life had the dark glow that precedes the tragedy. Once he was predicted a violent death by reading the coffee grounds. She said: «I am not afraid. What is a good actress? A woman who knows about the art of dying. But I don't want to do it until my dreams come true ».

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