Melina Mercouri
Zanneio Experimental High School of Piraeus
Melina Mercouri (Greek: Μελίνα Μερκούρη, born as Maria Amalia Mercouri,18 October 1920 – 6 March 1994), was a Greek actress, singer and politician
Birth and Early Years She was born in Athens(Greece) on October 18st, 1920) and she came from a politically prominent family.
When she completed her secondary education, she attended the National Theatre's Drama School.
She graduated in 1944.
Actress Theatre Her first major role, at the age of 25,was Lavinia in Eugene O’Neill’s Mourning Becomes Electra in 1945. In 1949, she had her first major success in the theatre playing Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire, written by Tennessee Williams. Until 1950, she also worked in the same theatre in other plays by Aldous Huxley, Arthur Miller and André Roussin. In 1953, she received the Marika Kotopouli Prize and returned to Greece two years later. At the Kotopouli-Rex Theatre, Melina starred in plays like Macbeth by William Shakespeare and L'Alouette by Jean Anouilh. She then moved to Paris, where she appeared in boulevard plays by Jacques Deval and Marcel Achard, and met famous French playwrights and novelists such as Jean Cocteau, Jean-Paul Sartre, Colette and Françoise Sagan.
Actress Filmography She made her film debut in ‘’Stella’’ (1955)and met international success with her performances in ‘’Never on Sunday’’(1960),Phaedra, Topkapi, and Promise at Dawn.
She won the award for Best Actress at the 1960 Cannes Film Festival, and she was also nominated for an Academy Award, a Tony Award, three Golden Globe Awards and two BAFTA Awards.
Singer
One of her first songs was by Manos Hadjidakis and Nikos Gatsos. It was titled Hartino to Fengaraki ("Papermoon") 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 in 1960, although the company Sirius, created by Manos Hadjidakis, issued, in 2004, a recording Melina had made for French television during the 1960s. Her recordings of "Athenes, ma Ville", a collaboration with Vangelis, and "Melinaki", were popular in France. Her recording of "Feggari mou, Agapi mou" (Phaedra) was quite popular.
Political Activist She became a political activist during the Greek military junta of 1967–1974. Her involvement in politics was triggered by her indignation over the military coup that brought a handful of army colonels to power in Greece in 1967.
She was abroad when the coup occurred. She dedicated herself to stimulating opposition against the junta in Europe and the United States, to the extent that she was deprived of her Greek citizenship by the colonels’ regime. After the collapse of the dictatorship in 1974, she returned to Greece.
Politician After the collapse of the dictatorship in 1974, she returned to Greece and promptly joined Andreas Papandreou’s Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK). She ran unsuccessfully that year for deputy from the same Piraeus district that had made her famous in Never on Sunday, but she was elected when she ran a second time, in 1977. Reelected in 1981 when Pasok won a general election ,she was appointed by Papandreou to be his minister of culture.
Minister for Culture She became the first female Minister for Culture of Greece in 1981. When her political part won the elections of 1981, Melina was appointed Minister for Culture of Greece, being the first female in that post. She would serve in that position for two terms until 1989. As Minister for Culture, Melina took advantage of her fame abroad and got in contact with great European leaders in order to promote Greece.
The European Capital of Culture
One of her greatest achievements was the establishment of the institution of the European Capital of Culture within the framework of cultural policy of the European Union, that she had conceived and proposed in 1983, with Athens inaugurating this institution being the first title-holder in 1985, while she was a devoted supporter of the Athens bid to host the Centennial Olympic Games.
Melina and Parthenon Marbles She was a strong advocate for the return to Athens of the Parthenon Marbles, which were removed from the Parthenon, and are now displayed in the British Museum. In anticipation of the return of the marbles, she held an international competition for the construction of the New Acropolis Museum, designated to display them and finally established in 2008. Melina have said: ÂŤIf I will have died before
Parthenon's marbles come back I will be reborn to see ParthenonÂť
Death Melina died on 6 March 1994 in New York, from lung cancer, aged 73. She was survived by her husband, Jules Dassin. She had no children. She received a state funeral with Prime Minister's honors at the First Cemetery of Athens four days later. The Melina Mercouri Foundation was founded by her widower.
‘’If I will have died before Parthenon's marbles come back I will be reborn to see Parthenon’’ (Melina Mercouri)