MELINA MERCOURI
A FEMALE LEGEND

“I was born a Greek, I will die a Greek” famed actress and Culture Minister Melina Mercouri once said, with that sultry voice and searing eyes that could pierce a bank safe or a man’s heart. She was so disarming…

 

Yet, Melina wasn’t mythical. She was an actress and politician. She is world famous for her leading role as a flamboyant prostitute in the 1960 film “Never on Sunday”, but most favourably for her combative spirit against the military junta of 1967-1974 and her desire for Greece to thrive through its cultural heritage.

Melina (the diminutive of her two names Amalia – Maria) Mercouri was born in Athens on 18 October 1920. She comes from a family of politicians and was the beloved granddaughter of Spyros Mercouris – one of the most successful and popular mayors of Athens, for more than 30 years – and the daughter of Stamatis Mercouris, a deputy of EDA (Party of the Greek Democratic Left) former Minister of Public Order and Public Works. A little after she had completed her secondary education, she was admitted to the National Theatre’s Drama School after reciting a poem by Karyotakis. She studied with the great teacher Dimitris Rondiris and graduated in 1944. Her first big success in the theatre was the role of Blanche Dubois in Tennessee William’s “A Streetcar Named Desire”, staged by Karolos Koun’s Art Theatre in 1949.

 

She then appeared in Paris, in boulevard plays by Jacques Deval and Marcel Achard with whom she had a very good collaboration. While in Paris she met Jean Cocteau, Jean-Paul Sartre, Colette, Francoise Sagan. She was fascinated and her metamorphosis began. In 1953 she received the Marika Kotopouli prize. After 1955 she returns to Greece and stars at the Kotopouli-Rex theatre in many of the plays of the classical repertoire, like Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” and Anouilh’s “L’Alouette”.

 

She had a long happy marriage with Hollywood blacklisted director Jules Dassin. “Never on Sunday” was their biggest success story with five Oscar nominations and the winner of the Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival. Melina and Jules couldn’t have children, but she would joke about it saying that every time she was on stage, she was giving birth to another person. In 1956, Melina was beginning to tame Hollywood when “Stella” won the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture Foreign Language. Her name started appearing next to Sophia Loren, Brigitte Bardot and Lina Lollobrigida. Melina also had the opportunity to meet with all the prominent men of her time: Bobby Kennedy, Marlon Brando, Salvador Dali, Charlie Chaplin and Tennessee Williams.

For Melina, art and politics went together. When the junta collapsed in 1974, Melina returned to Greece, and in 1981 she was appointed the Minister of Culture transforming for eight years a prior marginal ministry into a place of discussion, action and enthusiasm. During her service, Melina launched the institution of Cultural Capitals of Europe, and in 1985, Athens was named the first Cultural Capital. But Melina’s apotheosis was her campaign for the return of the Parthenon Marbles (or the Elgin Marbles as they are known in the UK) from the British Museum.

The Melina Mercouri Foundation, which was founded by her husband Jules Dassin after her death, keeps Melina Mercouri’s visions alive. Melina Mercouri, cherished and passionately loved by the Greek people, died on March 6^th, 1994.