1. Melina Merkouri 1920-1994
Melina Merkouri (Maria Amalia Merkouri) was born on October 18th,1920. She was the Mayor Spiros Merkouris’ favourite granddaughter and the Minister Stamatis Merkouris’ daughter. She studied theater at Drama School in Athens(1943-1946).Her first role was in ‘’Stella’’, a film directed by Michael Kakoyannis. However , her role in the film ‘’Never on Sunday’’ made her famous all over the world in 1960. In 1965 she got married to the American director, Jule Dassin, who directed the films ‘’Never on Sunday ‘’(1960), ‘’Fedra’’(1962), ‘’Topkapi’’(1964) and ‘’A dream of passion’’(1978). Melina also played important roles of the ancient Greek theatre. She sang songs written by Manos Hatzidakis, Mikis Theodorakis and Stavros Xarhakos.