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Alexis Minotis was a Greek actor and theater director hailing from Chania, Crete. He gained recognition for producing and directing contemporary adaptations of ancient Greek tragedies such as "Hecuba," "Antigone," "The Phoenissae," "Prometheus Bound," and "Oedipus at Colonus."
As a teenager, Minotis was a published poet, with some of his work appearing in the literary magazine "Dionysus." In his early adulthood, he worked at a bank but found the job dull. By 1921, he began acting in amateur theatrical productions and soon committed to a full-time acting career, joining traveling troupes across Greece. His family reportedly disowned him, and he was considered the "black sheep" for many years.
In 1925, Minotis joined the theatrical company of Marika Kotopouli, a prominent actress of the time. He remained there until 1930, earning acclaim as a tragic actor before leaving to join an avant-garde troupe. That same year, he made his film debut in a pastoral romance.
In 1940, Minotis married fellow actress Katina Paxinou. Together, they performed extensively at the National Theatre of Greece in Athens. During World War II, Minotis fled Greece amid the Axis occupation by Germany, Italy, and Bulgaria, spending several years abroad.
In 1946, he appeared as a butler in Alfred Hitchcock's American spy film "Notorious," marking his first English-language role. His later films included the noir "The Chase," the fantasy "Siren of Atlantis" (1949), the historical drama "Land of the Pharaohs" (1955) about Pharaoh Khufu/Cheops, and "Boy on a Dolphin" (1957), the first Hollywood film shot in Greece.
Starting in 1955, Minotis began his celebrated adaptations of Sophocles and Euripides' works, initially staged at the Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus. He soon toured internationally with his company, performing and directing many of these plays for audiences in New York City. In 1958, he directed Luigi Cherubini's French opera "Medea" for the Dallas Civic Opera, a milestone in his directing career.
In 1973, Minotis portrayed Abraham in a play about the Sacrifice of Isaac from the Book of Genesis. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, he acted sporadically in Greek theater seasons while maintaining directorial and administrative roles in various theaters. He revisited the role of Abraham in 1989 for his final stage performances. Minotis passed away the following year at the age of 90.
