Athan Karras

Athan Karras (September 27, 1927 – February 12, 2010) was a Greek-born American dancer, actor, and instructor whose career spanned Broadway performance, film and television, and decades of work as an educator and cultural advocate.

Karras was born in Thessaloniki, Greece, and immigrated to the United States at approximately age twelve. He served in the United States Coast Guard before completing his secondary education and going on to study theater and dance at New York University. His training and heritage drew him toward Greek performance traditions, and he became a member of both the National Theater of Greece and the Parthenon Dancers, a prominent Greek folk dance company.

His Broadway career extended from 1953 to 1959 and included three productions: the musicals The Most Happy Fella and Pal Joey, and the play A Loss of Roses. Beyond Broadway, Karras appeared in approximately twenty film and television projects over the course of his career.

In the early 1960s, Karras relocated to Los Angeles, where he founded the Intersection Folk Dance Center. He taught Greek culture and dance at Loyola Marymount University for twenty-five years and served as the United States coordinator for Mazoxi, an annual Greek dance conference held on Crete. He also staged Greek-language theatrical productions in Los Angeles and produced folklore programs and events across North America.

Karras died on February 12, 2010, at Providence Tarzana Medical Center in Tarzana, California, from complications following coronary artery bypass surgery. His papers from 1955 to 1963 are held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.