Melina Mercouri Graffiti wall in Patras

Melina Mercouri was a much-loved Greek actress, singer, and politician. Born on 31 October 1920 in Athens.

One of the great women figures of Greece in the 20th century, Melina Mercouri was graffitied on a 5-storey apartment building in Patras last year. The visual art type depicts Melina Mercouri in front of the Parthenon, complemented by the title of the iconic film starring her “Never on a Sunday” and the song “The Children of Piraeus.” The graffiti was created by Kleomenis Costopoulos.

Melina Mercouri was a much-loved Greek actress, singer, and politician. Born on 31 October 1920 in Athens

When she starred in her first film Stella (1955), under the direction of Michael Cacoyannis, she was 35 years of age. Her real stardom came under the direction of her husband Jules Dassin and the film Never on Sunday (1960) (Never on Sunday (1960))5 years later, when she was 40 years old. The most famous Greek producer Filopoimin Finos had never accepted her as a film star, because of her big mouth. So, when he rejected the opportunity to co-produce Never On Sunday, he lost the big opportunity to expand in the international market. Finos had also rejected her for the main role of Lily of the Harbor (1952), later played by Eleni Hatziargyri, a Karolous Koun student, as Melina was. Her film that came after Never On Sunday, Phaedra (1962) was a modern adaption of Euripides’ classic tragedy named “Ippolytos”.Anthony Perkins and ‘Phaedra (1962)’ were her costars, Mikis Theodorakis wrote the excellent music, Jules Dassin directed her once more. Although the film flopped miserably in USA it was a big hit in many European countries, and it was the reason that Anthony Perkins become a superstar in Europe. She co-starred with the excellent Ellen Burstyn in Jules Dassin’s Traum einer Leidenschaft (1978), but as Melina’s biography by Frida Bioumpi notes Melina did not enjoy her collaboration with the Oscar winner actress. She was nominated for an Oscar for Never on Sunday, but it was Elizabeth Taylor’s year in Hollywood. She won the Cannes Prize, a Prize she happily shared with the famous Jeanne Moreau. She was also nominated for a Cannes prize in 1955 in Cacoyiannis’ Stella. She did not win, as no prize was given to an actress that year. But Isa Miranda one of the judges gave her one prize, named Isa Miranda prize. She asked that her theatrical dressing room in the Greek National Theatrical Museum will be set next to that of her good friend and actress Ellie Lambeti, who had died from cancer few years earlier than Melina.