Μελίνα Μερκούρη Αμαλία Μαρία Μερκούρη
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Melina Mercouri won the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress for her debut film Stella in 1955. She became internationally known for Never on Sunday 1960 and Topkapi 1964, which inspired Mission: Impossible. In 1977 she was elected to the Greek Parliament and in 1981 became the first woman to serve as Minister of Culture. She died of lung cancer in New York City in 1994.
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Melina Mercouri by the numbers — life, work, and family.
Melina Mercouri — early life, career, personal life, and legacy.
Melina Mercouri was born into a prominent political family in Athens on October 18, 1920. Her father, Stamatis Mercouris, was a member of Parliament from a young age, and her grandfather, Spyros Merkouris, served as mayor of Athens.
She trained at the National Theatre of Greece Drama School, and in 1953 she received the Marika Kotopouli award for best female performance in theater.
Melina Mercouri made her film debut in 1955 with Stella, directed by Michael Cacoyannis, and won the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress. She followed with Never on Sunday 1960, directed by Jules Dassin, which earned her an Academy Award nomination and was adapted into the Broadway musical Illya, Darling, for which she was nominated for a Tony Award in 1968. In 1962 she starred in Phaedra opposite Anthony Perkins, and in 1964 she appeared in Topkapi, which inspired the television series Mission: Impossible. During her exile in France from 1967 to 1974, she recorded popular records for Universal and wrote her autobiography I Was Born Greek in 1971. After returning to Greece, she entered politics and was elected to Parliament in 1977, becoming Minister of Culture in 1981.
Melina Mercouri first married Panos Harokopos in 1941; they divorced in 1962. She met Jules Dassin at the Cannes Film Festival during the screening of Stella in 1955. They lived together for nearly ten years before marrying on May 18, 1966. She became stepmother to Dassin’s three children, including famous French singer Joe Dassin. Mercouri died on March 6, 1994, at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan due to complications from lung cancer, following surgery in February of that year.
As Greece’s Minister of Culture from 1981 to 1990, Mercouri founded the European Capital of Culture program and tirelessly campaigned for the return of the Parthenon marbles from the British Museum. She was posthumously honored with a song dedicated to her by Camilo Sesto, and a festival in 2002 celebrated her and Jules Dassin’s films. Often called the last Greek Goddess, she is remembered as both a celebrated actress who won a Cannes Best Actress award and a pioneering politician who broke gender barriers in Greek government.
Browse the complete filmography of Melina Mercouri — every film, TV show, and documentary credit, ranked by popularity.
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Little-known facts about Melina Mercouri — origins, oddities, and behind-the-scenes details from a public life.
Melina Mercouri and Jules Dassin cohabited for almost a decade before their 1966 wedding.
The film Topkapi 1964, starring Mercouri and directed by Dassin, inspired the 1966 television series Mission: Impossible, produced by Desilu. The film was referenced in the 1996 Mission: Impossible movie starring Tom Cruise.
Mercouri’s political ambition was the return of the Parthenon marbles to Greece; they remain in the British Museum.
Mercouri first encountered Jules Dassin at the Cannes Film Festival during a screening of her debut film Stella in 1955.
During her exile in France from 1967 to 1974, Mercouri recorded popular albums for Universal, including Melina Mercouri, L’oeillet rouge, Si Melina m’était contée, and Je suis Grecque, featuring Greek and French songs.
Mercouri was nominated for the 1968 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for Illya, Darling, the Broadway adaptation of Never on Sunday.
In 1990, Mercouri ran for mayor of Athens but was defeated.
Mercouri served as Greece’s Minister of Culture from 1981 to 1990.
Mercouri died from complications of lung cancer at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. She was hospitalized in early February 1994, had surgery on February 23, and her condition deteriorated due to infection on March 5.
The studio proposed a sequel to Never on Sunday titled Illya Goes to New York, but Mercouri and Dassin declined and instead made Phaedra 1962, which was a commercial disappointment.
Mercouri’s father entered Parliament at age 22, and her grandfather served as Mayor of Athens.
In 1953, actress Ellie Lambeti presented Mercouri with the Marika Kotopouli award for best female theater performance.
Mercouri kept a photo of her close friend and Phaedra co-star Anthony Perkins by her bed and once noted that his only quirk was a fondness for milk.
Mercouri was a personal friend of Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou, Nobel-winning poet Odysseas Elytis, Oscar-winning composer Manos Hatzidakis, and authors Terence McNally and Vassilis Vassilikos. She also greatly admired conservative leader Konstantinos Karamanlis.
Mercouri considered 18 her lucky number: Dassin was born on December 18, her grandfather Spyros Merkouris on June 18, and she met Dassin on May 18, 1955.
Mercouri was buried at the First Cemetery of Athens, near her grandfather Spyros Merkouris.
Spanish singer Camilo Sesto dedicated a song titled Melina to her.
Mercouri was stepmother to Jules Dassin’s three children: Julie Dassin, Richelle, and Joe Dassin, a famous French singer who died young.
In 1991, Mercouri received the Women’s International Center Living Legacy Award.
Her records were banned under the Greek military dictatorship but became popular after its fall. She also sang on LPs by Manos Hatzidakis featuring music from her films, and on Mikis Theodorakis’s Phaedra soundtrack with Anthony Perkins.
Mercouri was stepmother to famed French singer Joe Dassin.
When asked whom she would choose to be if not herself, Mercouri replied Greta Garbo or Dolores Ibárruri.
Mercouri was elected to the Greek Parliament in 1977.
On a rare 1982 LP for the film L’Anniversaire by Pierre Jourdan, Mercouri performed two tracks: reciting a poem by Yannis Ritsos on La Paix and singing Giortazo 18 Octovri with lyrics by L. Papadopoulos.
A 2002 festival in Greece honored Mercouri and Dassin, screening their favorite films including Never on Sunday and Topkapi.
As Minister of Culture, Mercouri co-created the European Capital of Culture program, which designates a European city for cultural festivities every four years.
Mercouri was a member of the Panhellenic Socialist Movement.
Mercouri was born at 8 a.m. Eastern European Time.
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