Alexis Minotis

Alexis Minotis, born Alexandros Minotakis on 8 August 1900 in Crete and died 11 November 1990, was a Greek actor and director whose career spanned stage, screen, and opera across multiple continents. His earliest stage work took place in his native Crete, where he performed as Chorus Leader and later as Messenger in Sophocles' Oedipus Tyrannus.

From 1925 to 1930, Minotis worked in close collaboration with the Greek actress Marika Kotopouli at her theatre, during which time he took on major Shakespearean roles including parts in The Merchant of Venice, King Lear, and Macbeth. He also played the title role in Hamlet during this period, marking the first staging of that play in Greece. His classical work extended to Henrik Ibsen's Ghosts and Peer Gynt. In 1930, the National Theatre of Greece was founded in Athens under Minister of Education Georgios Papandreou, and Minotis became associated with the company, later appearing in numerous productions there alongside the actress Katina Paxinou, whom he married in 1940.

Minotis made his Broadway debut in 1930–31, appearing in Electra with the Marika Kotopouli company, and returned to Broadway in 1952 with the National Theatre of Greece in Oedipus Tyrannus. His directing work encompassed ancient Greek tragedies including Hecuba, Antigone, The Phoenissae, Prometheus Bound, and Oedipus at Colonus, as well as Seán O'Casey's Juno and the Paycock, August Strindberg's The Father, and Brecht's Mother Courage. In 1955, he both starred in and directed Oedipus Rex at the Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus, and also directed Paxinou in Euripides' Hecuba for the National Theatre of Greece at the same venue. His 1956 appearance in Oedipus at Colonus earned significant acclaim and led to an extended international tour with the company.

Minotis also pursued a film career in Hollywood. In 1946, he appeared in Alfred Hitchcock's Notorious alongside Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, and Claude Rains, and that same year appeared with Robert Cummings and Michèle Morgan in The Chase. Subsequent film appearances included Siren of Atlantis (1949) with Maria Montez, Land of the Pharaohs (1955) with Joan Collins, and Boy on a Dolphin (1957) with Sophia Loren.

In opera, Minotis directed Maria Callas in a production of Medea in Dallas in 1958, a production that subsequently transferred to Covent Garden, Teatro alla Scala, and Epidaurus. He also directed the Greek National Opera production of Norma with Callas at Epidaurus in 1960.