Papas, whose last name was also occasionally transliterated as Pappas, was born as Eirini (Irene) Lelekou on Sept. 3, 1926, in the village of Chiliomodi near Corinth, but grew up largely in Athens. By the time she was a teenager, she had begun studying drama. In a career that lasted some 50 years, Papas made over 70 films in her native Greece and internationally.
