Melina Mercouri

Melina Mercouri

Born: October 18, 1920
Died: March 6, 1994
in Athens, Greece
Melina Mercouri (Greek: Μελίνα Μερκούρη), born as Maria Amalia Mercouri (October 18, 1920, Athens, Greece – March 6, 1994, New York City, New York) was a Greek actress, singer and politician.

As an actress she made her film debut in Stella (1955) and met international success with her performances in Never on Sunday, 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, three Golden Globe Awards, and two BAFTA Awards.

A political activist during the Greek military junta of 1967–1974, she became a member of the Hellenic Parliament in 1977 and the first female Minister for Culture of Greece in 1981. Mercouri was the person who, in 1983, conceived and proposed the programme of the European Capital of Culture, which has been established by the European Union since 1985.

She was a strong advocate for the return of the Parthenon Marbles, which were removed from the Parthenon and are now displayed in the British Museum, to Athens.

Description above from the Wikipedia article Melina Mercouri, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Movies for Melina Mercouri...

Melina Stop Frame - In Search of Modern Greekness
Title: Melina Stop Frame - In Search of Modern Greekness
Character: (Archival Footage)
Released: October 20, 2020
Type: Movie
Through thirteen images and an equal number of stories, little Melina-Amalia, the teenager, the woman, the fighter, Blanche, Stella, Ilya, Phaedra, Medea, Clytemnestra, Minister of Culture, the stoic Melina in Memorial Hospital, all aspects of the "last Greek goddess". Shot on the stage of the National Theater Rex - Marika Kotopouli, it captures, balancing between theater and cinema, important historical events that make the myth that surrounds the glamorous protagonist even more powerful and charming.
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Melina's fight for the Parthenon sculptures
Title: Melina's fight for the Parthenon sculptures
Character: Herself (Archive Footage)
Released: March 7, 2017
Type: Movie
The Acropolis Museum, recognizing the enormous contribution of Melina Merkouris in raising awareness of the international community for the reunification of the famous sculptures of the Parthenon which are divided in Athens and London, proceeded to create a 23-minute long video, in which the winding of the Parthenon from Elgin and Melina Merkouri's international campaign.
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Title: Kronen Könner Kavaliere
Character: Self
Released: January 22, 1984
Type: TV
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A Dream of Passion
Title: A Dream of Passion
Character: Maya / Medea
Released: May 21, 1978
Type: Movie
Melina Mercouri plays Maya, a jet-setting Greek actress who returns to her homeland to undertake the role of Medea. Searching for inspiration and clues as to how a mother could kill the children she loves, Maya discovers Brenda (Ellen Burstyn), a bible-spouting American woman serving time in an Athens prison for that very crime.
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Nasty Habits
Title: Nasty Habits
Character: Sister Gertrude
Released: January 28, 1977
Type: Movie
In a Philadelphia convent, two nuns battle it out to be elected to the position of head abbess, and neither is about to let anything stand in the way of getting what she wants.
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Once Is Not Enough
Title: Once Is Not Enough
Character: Karla
Released: June 20, 1975
Type: Movie
An over-the-hill movie producer marries a wealthy, spiteful woman and closeted lesbian just to please his spoiled daughter who then, in an attempt to spite him, seduces both a wealthy playboy and a local screenwriter.
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Songs of fire
Title: Songs of fire
Released: February 10, 1975
Type: Movie
A documentary about the resistance of the people against the millitary Greek junta.
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Title: Les Rendez-vous du dimanche
Character: Self
Released: January 12, 1975
Type: TV
A talk show presented by Michel Drucker
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The Rehearsal
Title: The Rehearsal
Character: Self
Released: January 1, 1974
Type: Movie
An indictment of the Greek military junta of 1967–1974. The film tries to give a reconstruction of the events during the students' uprising in the Athens Polytechnic (November 1973) by documents, rehearsals, interviews, songs and poems.
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Title: Le Grand Échiquier
Character: Self
Released: January 12, 1972
Type: TV
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Title: V.I.P. Schaukel
Character: Self
Released: May 9, 1971
Type: TV
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Title: Samedi soir
Character: Self
Released: January 9, 1971
Type: TV
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Promise at Dawn
Title: Promise at Dawn
Character: Nina Kacewa
Released: November 25, 1970
Type: Movie
A single mother raises her son in impossible circumstances first in Leningrad, then Krakow, and then France, and is over-ambitious about him but never gives in.
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Title: Wünsch dir was
Character: Self
Released: December 20, 1969
Type: TV
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Gaily, Gaily
Title: Gaily, Gaily
Character: Lil
Released: December 16, 1969
Type: Movie
After runaway Ben Young is robbed and left on his own, he is taken in by Lil, the head of a Chicago brothel. Acting as a surrogate mother for Ben, who thinks she runs a boardinghouse, Lil gets him a job with Francis Sullivan at the local newspaper. As Ben is exposed to the workings of the big city, he realizes the extent of government corruption and sets out on the daunting task of reforming Chicago politics, finding several allies along the way.
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Title: À bout portant
Character: Self
Released: December 16, 1968
Type: TV
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10:30 P.M. Summer
Title: 10:30 P.M. Summer
Character: Maria
Released: October 24, 1966
Type: Movie
A female traveling companion seduces a married man and his alcoholic wife.
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A Man Could Get Killed
Title: A Man Could Get Killed
Character: Aurora / Celeste da Costa
Released: March 25, 1966
Type: Movie
An American businessman visiting Lisbon gets mistaken for a British secret agent who stole some diamonds. As a result, he has everybody in Lisbon after him.
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The Uninhibited
Title: The Uninhibited
Character: Jenny
Released: April 21, 1965
Type: Movie
Vincent is recovering from a nervous breakdown in a seaside village on the Costa Brava. He enters into an affair with nightclub owner Jenny, but their relationship changes when she falls for alcoholic author Pascal Regnier, who is struggling to resume his writing career. Vincent eventually returns home, leaving Jenny to stay on with Pascal and his young son Daniel.
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Title: Dim Dam Dom
Character: Self
Released: March 7, 1965
Type: TV
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Topkapi
Title: Topkapi
Character: Elizabeth Lipp
Released: September 2, 1964
Type: Movie
Arthur Simon Simpson is a small-time crook biding his time in Greece. One of his potential victims turns out to be a gentleman thief planning to steal the emerald-encrusted dagger of the Mehmed II from Istanbul's Topkapi Museum.
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Title: Die Drehscheibe
Character: Self
Released: April 1, 1964
Type: TV
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The Victors
Title: The Victors
Character: Magda
Released: November 22, 1963
Type: Movie
Intercutting dramatic vignettes with newsreel footage, the story follows the characters from an infantry squad as they make their way from Sicily to Germany during the end of World War II.
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38-24-36
Title: 38-24-36
Character: Self
Released: March 31, 1963
Type: Movie
The film is a rundown of the songs sung by the stars of the time, chained to various shows such as strip and comic caricatures.
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Title: The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
Character: Self
Released: October 1, 1962
Type: TV
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson is a talk show hosted by Johnny Carson under The Tonight Show franchise from 1962 to 1992. It originally aired during late-night. For its first ten years, Carson's Tonight Show was based in New York City with occasional trips to Burbank, California; in May 1972, the show moved permanently to Burbank, California. In 2002, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson was ranked #12 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.
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Title: The Merv Griffin Show
Character: Self
Released: October 1, 1962
Type: TV
The Merv Griffin Show is an American television talk show, starring Merv Griffin. The series ran from October 1, 1962 to March 29, 1963 on NBC, September 20, 1965 to August 15, 1969 in first-run syndication, from August 18, 1969 to February 11, 1972 at 11:30 PM ET weeknights on CBS and again in first-run syndication from February 14, 1972 to September 5, 1986.
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Phaedra
Title: Phaedra
Character: Phaedra Kyrilis
Released: May 25, 1962
Type: Movie
A retelling of the Greek myth of Phaedra. In modern Greece, Alexis's father, an extremely wealthy shipping magnate, is married to the younger, fiery Phaedra. When Alexis meets his stepmother, sparks fly and the two begin an affair. What will the Fates bring this family? Alexis's roadster and the music of Bach figure in the conclusion.
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The Last Judgment
Title: The Last Judgment
Character: Foreign lady
Released: October 26, 1961
Type: Movie
The Last Judgement (Italian: Il giudizio universale) is a 1961 commedia all'italiana film by Italian director Vittorio De Sica. It was coproduced with France. It has an all-star Italian and international cast, including Americans Jack Palance, Ernest Borgnine; Greek Melina Mercouri and French Fernandel, Anouk Aimée and Lino Ventura. The film was a huge flop, massacred by critics and audiences when it was released. It was filmed in black and white, but the last sequence, the dance at theatre, is in color.
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Long Live Henry IV... Long Live Love!
Title: Long Live Henry IV... Long Live Love!
Character: Marie de Médicis
Released: April 4, 1961
Type: Movie
Henri IV falls in love with the young Charlotte de Montmorency, 40 years his junior. The king decided to marry her off to his nephew, Henri de Condé, so that he could later make her his mistress.
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Never on Sunday
Title: Never on Sunday
Character: Ilya
Released: May 24, 1960
Type: Movie
An American scholar in Greece sets about improving the prostitute with whom he is infatuated.
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Title: Discorama
Character: Self
Released: February 4, 1959
Type: TV
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The Law
Title: The Law
Character: Donna Lucrezia
Released: January 25, 1959
Type: Movie
A gorgeous housekeeper turns the tables on the men in a small Mediterranean coastal town by using their own vicious drinking game.
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The Gypsy and the Gentleman
Title: The Gypsy and the Gentleman
Character: Belle
Released: January 15, 1958
Type: Movie
A lusty Gypsy gold digger marries a Regency aristocrat, then learns he has no money.
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He Who Must Die
Title: He Who Must Die
Character: Katerina
Released: May 3, 1957
Type: Movie
Greece, in the 1920s, is occupied by the Turks. The country is in turmoil with entire villages uprooted. The site of the movie is a Greek village that conducts a passion play each year. The leading citizens of the town, under the auspices of the Patriarch, choose those that will play the parts in the Passion. A stuttering shepherd is chosen to play Jesus. The town butcher (who wanted to be Jesus) is chosen as Judas. The town prostitute is chosen as Mary Magdalene. The rest of the disciples are also chosen. As the movie unfolds, the Passion Play becomes a reality. A group of villagers, uprooted by the war and impoverished, arrive at the village led by their priest. The wealthier citizens of the town want nothing with these people and manipulate a massacre. In the context of the 1920s, each of the characters plays out their biblical role in actuality.
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Title: Cinépanorama
Character: Self
Released: February 4, 1956
Type: TV
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Stella
Title: Stella
Character: Stella
Released: April 4, 1955
Type: Movie
The story of a young, wild woman who doesn't want to compromise and settle down. Stella is a restless, rebellious Greek woman who plays with men and enjoys her life as much as she can. But when she meets a young footballer, things get mixed up. She loves him but she loves her freedom too. So it's about time she made an important choice.
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Title: What's My Line?
Character: Self - Mystery Guest
Released: February 2, 1950
Type: TV
Four panelists must determine guests' occupations - and, in the case of famous guests, while blindfolded, their identity - by asking only "yes" or "no" questions.