Melina_Mercouri
Photo: Björn Roos, used with permission [1]
Birth name	Maria Amalia Mercouri
Born	October 18, 1920 Athens, Greece
Died	March 6, 1994, age 73 New York City
Height	1.69 m (5' 6½")
Spouse(s)	Jules Dassin (1966 - 1994) Panos Harokopos (1941 - 1962)
Notable roles	Stella (Stella) Ilya (Never on Sunday)

Melina Mercouri (Μελίνα Μερκούρη, born Maria Amalia Mercouri) (Athens, Greece, October 18, 1920 – New York City, March 6, 1994) was a famous Greek actress, singer, and political activist. Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (977x1500, 243 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Melina Mercouri ... October 18 is the 291st day of the year (292nd in leap years). ... Year 1920 (MCMXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday. ... For other uses, see Athens (disambiguation). ... March 6 is the 65th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (66th in Leap years). ... 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated as the International Year of the Family and the International Year of the Sport and the Olympic Ideal by United Nations. ... Nickname: Big Apple, Gotham Location in the state of New York Coordinates: Country United States State New York Boroughs The Bronx Brooklyn Manhattan Queens Staten Island Settled 1613  - Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R) Area    - City 1,214. ... Jules Dassin (born Julius Dassin on December 18, 1911, in Middletown, Connecticut) is an American film director. ... Stella was a Greek film featuring Melina Mercouri. ... Never on Sunday (also known as Pote Tin Kyriaki (Ποτέ Την Κυριακή)) is a 1960 black-and-white film which tells the story of Ilya, a prostitute who lives in the port of Piraeus in Greece, and Homer, an... For other uses, see Athens (disambiguation). ... October 18 is the 291st day of the year (292nd in leap years). ... Year 1920 (MCMXX) was a leap year starting on Thursday. ... Nickname: Big Apple, Gotham Location in the state of New York Coordinates: Country United States State New York Boroughs The Bronx Brooklyn Manhattan Queens Staten Island Settled 1613  - Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R) Area    - City 1,214. ... March 6 is the 65th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (66th in Leap years). ... 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated as the International Year of the Family and the International Year of the Sport and the Olympic Ideal by United Nations. ...

Early life

The most important person in her early life was her grandfather Spyros Merkouris, who was mayor of Athens for many decades. Her father was a member of Parliament. The marriage of her parents ended when she was a youngster and she lived with her mother. Her uncle was George S. Mercouris, the leader of the Greek National Socialist Party who became during the Axis Occupation of Greece during WWII (1941-1944) the president of the Bank of Greece. George S. Mercouris (1886-December, 1943) was a Greek politician who founded the Greek National Socialist Party Born in Athens, he studied politics and economics there, Paris, and London. ... The Greek National Socialist Party was a minor Nazi party founded in Greece in 1932 by George S. Mercouris, a former Cabinet minister. ... German soldiers raising the Swastika over the Acropolis. ...

Her first lover was a Greek actor surnamed Papas, but she first married, as a teenager, Panos Harokopos. They married during the Second World War, and his wealth helped her to survive the Nazi occupation. She later maintained that although she loved her husband, their marriage was a mistake ^{[citation needed]}. Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ... National Socialism redirects here. ...

Actress

Her first film, the Greek film Stella (1955), was directed by Michael Cacoyannis, the director of Zorba the Greek, and brought her to Cannes, where it was nominated for the Golden Palm. It did not win the prize, but she met there the man of her life, director Jules Dassin. Dassin and Mercouri lived together for the rest of her life. They had no children. Stella was a Greek film featuring Melina Mercouri. ... Michael Cacoyannis (born June 11, 1922 in Limassol, Cyprus, under the name Mikhalis Kakogiannis) is a filmmaker. ... Zorba the Greek is a 1964 movie by Michael Cacoyannis, originally titled Alexis Zorbas, based on the novel by Nikos Kazantzakis. ... Jules Dassin (born Julius Dassin on December 18, 1911, in Middletown, Connecticut) is an American film director. ...

Melina became well-known to international audiences when she starred in the 1960 film Never on Sunday, directed by Jules Dassin. (The couple collaborated on its 1967 musical stage adaptation, Illya Darling, for which she received a Tony Award nomination, as well.) Nominated for an Academy Award for Never on Sunday, she went on to star in such films as Topkapi, Phaedra, and Gaily, Gaily. 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1960 calendar). ... Never on Sunday (also known as Pote Tin Kyriaki (Ποτέ Την Κυριακή)) is a 1960 black-and-white film which tells the story of Ilya, a prostitute who lives in the port of Piraeus in Greece, and Homer, an... Illya Darling is a musical with a book by Jules Dassin, music by Manos Hadjidakis, and lyrics by Joe Darion. ... What is popularly called the Tony Award (formally, the Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre) is an annual award celebrating achievements in live American theater, including musical theater, primarily honoring productions on Broadway in New York. ... The references in this article would be clearer with a different and/or consistent style of citation, footnoting or external linking. ... Ustinov, Schell, Mercouri Topkapi is a 1964 heist film by directed by American Jules Dassin. ... Phaedra was a 1962 motion picture directed by Jules Dassin as a vehicle for his wife Melina Mercouri, after her world-wide hit Never on Sunday. ...

Melina Mercouri on Never on Sunday

Mercouri retired from film acting in 1978. Her last film, A Dream of Passion, was directed, as were most of her films, by her husband Jules Dassin. Her co-star in the film was Ellen Burstyn. In 1980, she starred in the Greek production of Sweet Bird of Youth by Tennessee Williams, in the lead role, which had been originated on Broadway by Geraldine Page. Melina Mercouri in Never on Sunday This is a screenshot of a copyrighted website, video game graphic, computer program graphic, television broadcast, or film. ... Melina Mercouri in Never on Sunday This is a screenshot of a copyrighted website, video game graphic, computer program graphic, television broadcast, or film. ... Jules Dassin (born Julius Dassin on December 18, 1911, in Middletown, Connecticut) is an American film director. ... Ellen Burstyn (born December 7, 1932 as Edna Rae Gillooly in Detroit, Michigan) is an Academy Award-winning American actress. ... Sweet Bird of Youth is a play by Tennessee Williams which tells the story of a drifter, Chance Wayne, who returns to his home town with a faded movie star, Princess Kosmonopolis, hoping she can help him to break into the movies. ... Tennessee Williams (1965) Thomas Lanier Williams III (March 26, 1911–February 25, 1983), better known by the pen name Tennessee Williams, was a major American playwright and one of the prominent playwrights of the twentieth century. ... Geraldine Sue Page (November 22, 1924 - June 13, 1987) was an Academy Award-winning American actress. ...

Singer

One of her first songs was by Manos Hadjidakis and Nikos Gatsos. It was titled Hartino to Fengaraki and was a part of the Greek production of A Streetcar Named Desire in 1949, in which she starred as Blanche DuBois. The first official recording of this, now-legendary song was made by Nana Mouskouri in 1960, although the company Sirius, created by Manos Hadjidakis, issued in 2004 a recording that Melina made for French TV during the 1960s. Manos Hadjidakis (Μάνος Χατζιδάκις) (October 23, 1925–June 15, 1994) was a Greek music composer. ... Nikos Gatsos (Νίκος Γκάτσος) (8 December 1911–12 May 1992) was a Greek writer and poet. ... A Streetcar Named Desire is a famous American play written by Tennessee Williams for which he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1948. ... Vivien Leigh as Blanche DuBois in the film version of A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), with Marlon Brando as Stanley Kowalski Blanche DuBois is the principal character in Tennessee Williams play A Streetcar Named Desire. ... Nana Mouskouri (born Ioanna Mouskouri on October 13, 1934, at 5 AM, in Chania, Crete, Greece) is a singer of Greek origin who over four decades has forged a highly successful international career . ... Manos Hadjidakis (Μάνος Χατζιδάκις) (October 23, 1925–June 15, 1994) was a Greek music composer. ... See TV (disambiguation) for other uses and Television (band) for the rock band European networks National In much of Europe television broadcasting has historically been state dominated, rather than commercially organised, although commercial stations have grown in number recently. ...

Politician

During the period of dictatorship in Greece from 1967 to 1974, Mercouri lived in France. When the dictatorship revoked her Greek citizenship, she said, "I was born a Greek and I will die a Greek. Mr. Pattakos was born a fascist and he will die a fascist." During those years she recorded four records in France, one with Greek lyrics and the other three with French lyrics, all created by Greek musicians. They were highly popular, and they are still critically acclaimed and remastered. Her husky and unusual voice made her the perfect performer of some great Greek songs which are known classics and performed by hundreds of singers. 1967 (MCMLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar (the link is to a full 1967 calendar). ... 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday. ... Left to right: Stylianos Pattakos, Georgios Papadopoulos and Nikolaos Makarezos Stylianos Pattakos (Greek: Στυλιανός Παττακός) was a Greek military man and one of the masterminds of the Greek military junta of 1967-1974 that overthrew the government of Panagiotis Kanellopoulos in a coup détat on April 21, 1967. ...

When democracy returned to her home country, she returned, and became first a member of Parliament for PASOK, and then Minister of Culture. In 1971, she wrote her autobiography, I Was Born Greek. Party logo The Panhellenic Socialist Movement, better known as PASOK (Greek: Πανελλήνιο Σοσιαλιστικό Κίνημα, Panellinio Sosialistiko Kinima, ΠΑΣΟΚ), is a Greek social democratic political party. ...

Bust of Melina Mercouri, Athens

As Minister of Culture, she proposed the Cultural Capital of Europe ideal within the framework of cultural policy of the European Community. Athens inaugurated this institution in 1986. She advocated the return of the Parthenon Marbles, now a part of the British Museum collection, that Lord Elgin removed from the Acropolis. In anticipation of the return of the marbles a new museum has been created under the Parthenon to host the collection and other pieces from the monument that are being removed and restored. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1280x960, 201 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Melina Mercouri User:Adam Carr/My archive of original photographic contributions Metadata This file contains additional information, probably... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1280x960, 201 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Melina Mercouri User:Adam Carr/My archive of original photographic contributions Metadata This file contains additional information, probably... The European Capital of Culture is a city designated by the European Union for a period of one year during which it is given a chance to showcase its cultural life and cultural development. ... Metope from the Parthenon marbles depicting a Centaur and a Lapith fighting The Elgin Marbles is the popular term for the Parthenon Marbles, a large collection of marble sculptures brought to Britain between 1801 and 1805 by Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin, the official British resident in Ottoman Athens... Acropolis of Athens from the south-west with the Propylaea and the Temple of Nike (left centre) and the theatre of Herodes Atticus (below left) Acropolis (Gr. ... The Parthenon seen from the hill of the Pnyx to the west. ...

Death

Melina Mercouri died in 1994 in a New York hospital at the age of 73 from lung cancer, survived by her husband, Dassin. She had been a heavy smoker and when she died, hundreds of Greek citizens left her favourite brand of cigarettes as a memorial at her shrine. Lung cancer is a cancer of the lungs characterized by the presence of malignant tumours. ... The cigarette is the most common method of smoking tobacco. ...

Her body was returned to Athens and she received a state funeral equivalent to that of a Prime Minister. Nickname: City of Athena or Cradle of Democracy Location of the city of Athens (red dot) within the Prefecture of Athens and Periphery of Attica Coordinates: Country Greece Peripheries Attica Prefecture Athens Founded circa 2000 BC Mayor Nikitas Kaklamanis Area    - City 38. ...

External links

• Melina Mercouri at the Internet Movie Database
• Melina Mercouri (Hellenic Ministry of Culture)
• The Melina Mercouri Foundation
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10qALQY6hoA (Never On A Sunday)