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Melina Mercouri | |
|---|---|
 Mercouri in 1982 | |
| Minister for Culture | |
| In office 13 October 1993 – 6 March 1994 | |
| Prime Minister | Andreas Papandreou |
| Preceded by | Dora Bakoyanni |
| Succeeded by | Thanos Mikroutsikos |
| In office 21 October 1981 – 2 July 1989 | |
| Prime Minister | Andreas Papandreou |
| Preceded by | Andreas Andrianopoulos |
| Succeeded by | Anna Psarouda-Benaki |
| Member of theHellenic Parliament forPiraeus B | |
| In office 20 November 1977 – 7 May 1985 | |
| Member of theHellenic Parliament forNational list | |
| In office 17 June 1985 – 6 March 1994 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Maria Amalia Mercouri (1920-10-18)18 October 1920 |
| Died | 6 March 1994(1994-03-06) (aged 73) Upper East Side, New York City, U.S. |
| Resting place | First Cemetery of Athens |
| Citizenship |
|
| Party | Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) |
| Spouses | |
| Parents |
|
| Alma mater | National Theatre of Greece Drama School |
| Occupation |
|
Maria Amalia "Melina"Mercouri (Greek:Μαρία Αμαλία "Μελίνα" Μερκούρη, 18 October 1920[a][1] – 6 March 1994) was a Greek actress, singer, activist, and politician. She came from a prominent political family for multiple generations. She received anAcademy Award nomination and won a FrenchCannes Film Festival Best Actress Award for her performance in the filmNever on Sunday (1960) and an ItalianDavid di Donatello forTopkapi. Mercouri was also nominated for oneTony Award, threeGolden Globes, and twoBAFTA Awards in her acting career. In 1987 she was awarded a special prize in the first edition of theEurope Theatre Prize.[2]
Mercouri was a member of theHellenic Parliament, elected as a representative ofPASOK. In October 1981, she became the first femaleMinister of Culture and Sports. She has the longest tenure of any of Greece's Ministers of Culture, having served from 1981 to 1989, and then from 1993 until her death in 1994, during PASOK governments. Mercouri's political activism included her long campaign for the return of theParthenon Marbles.[3] One of her greatest achievements was the establishment of theEuropean Capitals of Culture, with Athens chosen as the first capital in 1985.[4]
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The Mercouri family were anArvanite family fromArgolida who settled inAthens.[5] Its members had fought in theGreek war of independence of 1821. Melina's grandfather,Spyridon Mercouris, had served for many years as mayor ofAthens. Her father,Stamatis Mercouris, was an officer of the cavalry and served as a member of parliament and minister (People's Party,National Radical Party), and for many years he participated in the administration of thePanathinaikos team. During theAxis occupation of Greece, Stamatis Mercouris founded the resistance organisation Rizospastiki Organosis ("Radical Organisation") in January 1942.[citation needed]
Melina's mother, Irene Lappa, was the sister of AdmiralPyrros Lappas, who served as Chief of the Naval Staff, Secretary General of the Olympic Games Committee, and Chief of the Military House ofKing Paul. Melina's uncle,George S. Mercouris, held extreme right-wing political views. He was a founder of theGreek National Socialist Party and a governor of theNational Bank during the occupation. This so angered the Mercouri family that they refused to attend his funeral in 1943.
In September 1938, she was accepted at theDrama School of theNational Theatre with fellow students includingDespo Diamantidou andAlexis Damianos.
During the occupation, Melina became romantically involved with businessman Phidias Yadikiaroglou while still married to Harokopos, although their marital relationship had effectively ended.
Mercouri was later criticized for living in comfort in a 400 square meters apartment at Avenue Akademias 4, much of which had been commandeered by the Germans at a time when the Greek people were starving and for not contributing to the national resistance.[citation needed] Melina had commented on this period of her life, both in her autobiography, "I was born a Greek," and on television asMinister of Culture, taking responsibility for her non-participation in theResistance during the Occupation.
Lycurgos Kallergis, a member ofEAM and the Left during the Occupation, said: "Although I was and am a left-winger, the issue of the opulence in which she lived did not bother me. After all, Melina was hosting people, feeding people, helping friends.[...] "[citation needed]The great Greek writerAlkis Zei also agrees with this view, stating that during the period of occupation, Melina was hiding left-wingers and giving them money.[citation needed]
At the same time, her brother, Spyros Mercouris, had joined the Resistance as a member of theEPON. Many times, according to testimonies,[citation needed] Melina would secretly take Yadikiaroglou's money and give it to her brother for the Resistance, hiding both him and his comrades in the organization while helping her impoverished colleagues. It was known that during the occupation, despite her then-husband's objections, Melina's house, on her own instruction, was always open and welcoming to many people in need, providing them with food and shelter.
Despite occasional criticisms, her dislike of the Nazi occupiers is demonstrated by an incident during the occupation where she disobeyedSS men while at a bar, despite the threat of being shot.[citation needed]
A number of people with strong resistance activities during the occupation became close friends of hers, including writerIakovos Kambanellis (who wrote 'Stella with the Red Gloves' especially for her), actress Olympia Papadouka, actorManos Katrakis, actor and secretary of the EAM theatre Dimitris Myrat, writer Alkis Zei, directorNikos Koundouros, andManolis Glezos.
During the civil war, although Melina Mercouri lived inKolonaki, which was controlled by the British, she visited her friends and colleagues who had been arrested for their political beliefs. Years later, Aleka Paizi gratefully recounted Melina's visit to the prison where she was being held, to support her.[citation needed]
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After her graduation, Mercouri joined theNational Theatre of Greece and played the role ofElectra inEugene O'Neill's playMourning Becomes Electra in 1945. In 1949, she had her first major success in the theatre playingBlanche DuBois inA Streetcar Named Desire, staged byKarolos Koun's Art Theatre.
After 1950, she moved toParis, where she appeared in boulevard plays byJacques Deval andMarcel Achard, and met French playwrights and novelists such asJean Cocteau,Jean-Paul Sartre,Colette andFrançoise Sagan. In 1953, Mercouri received theMarika Kotopouli Prize. Mercouri returned to Greece in 1955. At the Kotopouli-Rex Theatre, Mercouri starred inMacbeth byWilliam Shakespeare andL'Alouette byJean Anouilh.[6]
Mercouri's first film was theGreek language filmStella (1955), directed byMichael Cacoyannis, later known forZorba the Greek (1964). The motion picture received special praise at the1956 Cannes Film Festival, where she met expatriate Americanfilm directorJules Dassin, with whom she would share not only her career but also her life. Their first professional pairing wasHe Who Must Die (1957). Other films by Dassin and featuring Mercouri followed, such asThe Law (1959).
She garnered international acclaim when she starred inNever on Sunday (1960), of which Dassin was the director and co-star. For this film, she earned theBest Actress Award at the1960 Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for theAcademy Award for Best Actress and theBAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role.[7]
After this, she starred inPhaedra (1962), for which she was nominated again for Best Actress in theBAFTA andGolden Globe nominations. Her role inTopkapi (1964) garnered her a nomination for theGolden Globe Award for Best Actress in Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. The directors with whom Mercouri worked includedJoseph Losey,Vittorio De Sica,Ronald Neame,Carl Foreman, andNorman Jewison. She starred in theSpanish language filmThe Uninhibited (1965) byJuan Antonio Bardem.
On June 11, 1967, Mercouri appeared on one of the final episodes ofWhat's My Line (the venerable panel show would leave the air that fall, after eighteen years).[8]
Mercouri continued her stage career in the Greek production ofTennessee Williams'sSweet Bird of Youth (1960), under the direction ofKarolos Koun. In 1967, she played the leading role inIllya Darling (from 11 April 1967 to 13 January 1968) onBroadway,[9] for which she was nominated for theTony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical. Mercouri's performance inPromise at Dawn (1970) earned her anotherGolden Globe Award nomination.
Mercouri concentrated on her stage career in the following years, playing in the Greek productions ofThe Threepenny Opera and, for a second time,Sweet Bird of Youth, in addition to theancient GreektragediesMedea andOresteia. She retired from film acting after making her last film,A Dream of Passion (1978), directed by her husband,Jules Dassin.
In 1987, the jury of theEurope Theatre Prize awarded her a special prize of the presidency with the motivation: "For the devotion and the commitment of an artist who joins her own theatrical experience with the political belief and the ideal of European culture."[10]
Mercouri's last performance on stage was in the operaPylades at theAthens Concert Hall in 1992, portrayingClytemnestra.
One of her first songs was byManos Hadjidakis andNikos Gatsos. It was titled "Hartino to Fengaraki" ("Papermoon")[11] and was a part of the Greek production ofA Streetcar Named Desire in 1949, in which she starred asBlanche DuBois. The first official recording of this song was made byNana Mouskouri in 1960, although the company Sirius, created by Hadjidakis, issued a recording Mercouri made forFrench television during the 1960s in 2004.
Her recordings of "Athenes, ma Ville", a collaboration withVangelis,[12] and "Melinaki", were popular in France. Her recording of "Feggari mou, Agapi mou" (Phaedra) was later covered byMarinella in 1965.
At the time of thecoup d'état inGreece by a group of colonels of theGreek military on 21 April 1967, she was in theUnited States, playing inIllya Darling on Broadway. She immediately joined the struggle against theGreek military junta and started an international campaign, travelling worldwide to inform the public and contribute to the isolation and fall of the colonels. As a result, the dictatorial regime revoked herGreek citizenship and confiscated her property.[13]
When her Greek citizenship was revoked, she said: "I was born aGreek and I will die a Greek. Those bastards were born fascists and they will die fascists".[14][15][16][17][18] In London, she worked withAmalia Fleming andHelen Vlachos ofKathimerini against the junta of the colonels.[19]
After the fall of the Junta and during themetapolitefsi in 1974, Mercouri settled in Greece and was one of the founding members of thePanhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK), acentre-leftpolitical party. She was a member of the party's Central Committee and a rapporteur for the Culture Section while being involved in the women's movement as well.[20]
In theGreek legislative elections of 1974, she was a PASOK candidate in thePiraeus Bconstituency, but the 7,500 votes were not enough to secure a seat for her in theHellenic Parliament (she needed 33 more votes), but she was successful in theelections of 1977, after conducting a grass-roots campaign.[21]
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When PASOK won the elections of 1981, Mercouri was appointedMinister for Culture of Greece, being the first woman in the post. She would serve in that position for two terms until 1989, when PASOK lost the elections andNew Democracy formed a cabinet.
As Minister for Culture, Mercouri took advantage of her earlier career to promote Greece to other European leaders. She strongly advocated the return toAthens of theParthenon Marbles that were removed fromParthenon and other buildings on theAcropolis of Athens byThomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin, and are now part of theBritish Museum collection inLondon.
In 1983, she engaged in a televised debate with the then director of the British Museum,David M. Wilson, which was interpreted by many as a public relations disaster for the British Museum.[22] In anticipation of the return of the marbles, she held an international competition for the construction of theNew Acropolis Museum, designated to display them and finally established in 2009.[23]
One of her greatest achievements was the establishment of the institution of theEuropean Capital of Culture within the framework of cultural policy of theEuropean Union. She had conceived and proposed the idea in 1983, with Athens being the first title-holder in 1985. She was also a devoted supporter of theAthens bid to host theCentennial Olympic Games.
In 1983, during the first Greekpresidency of the Council of the European Union, Mercouri invited the Ministers for Culture of the other ninemember states of the European Union atZappeion, in order to increase the people's cultural awareness, since there was not any reference to cultural questions in theTreaty of Rome, which led to the establishment of formal sessions between the Ministers of Culture of the European Union.
During the second presidency of Greece in 1988, she supported the cooperation betweenEastern Europe and the European Union, which was finally implemented one year later with the celebration of the Month of Culture in Eastern countries.[24]
Mercouri commissioned a study to integrate all the archaeological sites of Athens to create a traffic-free archaeological park to promote theGreek culture. She introduced free access to museums and archaeological sites for Greek citizens, organized a series of exhibitions of Greek cultural heritage andmodern Greek art worldwide, supported the restoration of buildings of special architectural interest and the completion of theAthens Concert Hall, and backed the establishment of theMuseum of Byzantine culture inThessaloniki.[25]
In June 1986, Melina Mercouri spoke at theOxford Union, the debating society, on the matter of the Parthenon Marbles and whether they should remain in London or be returned to Greece. She argued passionately for the Marbles' reunification. She said the Marbles are more to Greece than just works of art: they are an essential element of Greek heritage, which ties directly into cultural identity. She said: "You must understand what the Parthenon Marbles mean to us. They are our pride. They are our sacrifices. They are our noblest symbol of excellence. They are a tribute to the democratic philosophy. They are our aspirations and our name. They are the essence of Greekness."[26]
In thelegislative elections of November 1989, PASOK lost and Mercouri was elected a member of the Hellenic Parliament and remained a member of the party's Executive Bureau. In 1990, she was a candidate forMayor of Athens but she was defeated byAntonis Tritsis.[27]
After PASOK's win in theelection of 1993, she was reappointed to the Ministry for Culture.[28] Her major goals in this brief second term in office were: to create a cultural park in theAegean Sea in order to protect and enhance the environment and civilization of theAegean Islands, and to link culture with education at alleducation levels, introducing a system of post-training of teachers.
In the winter of 1939 she married an older wealthy landowner Panagis Harokopos.[citation needed] She travelled as Melina Harokopou or Melina Charocopou.
In the late 1940s, Melina metPyrros Spyromilios, whom she was with for seven years. He was alleged to be the great love of her life before she metJules Dassin. Pyrros Spyromilios was a naval officer and a hero of the Albanian front. He died in March 1961 due toheart hypertrophy, which devastated Melina, even though five years had passed since their separation.[citation needed]
In 1955, she starred in her first feature film,Stella. The film competed at theCannes Film Festival, and during its screening, she met and fell in love with Jules Dassin. She was married to him until the end of her life.[29]
Mercouri died on 6 March 1994 atMemorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center,New York City, fromlung cancer.[30]
Her sole immediate survivor was her husband, Jules Dassin. The couple had no children. She received astate funeral withPrime Minister's honours. She was buried at theFirst Cemetery of Athens four days later.
The Melina Mercouri Foundation was founded by her widower. After her death,UNESCO established the Melina Mercouri International Prize for the Safeguarding and Management of Cultural Landscapes (UNESCO-Greece) which rewards outstanding examples of action to safeguard and enhance the world's major cultural landscapes.[28][31]
The song "Melina" byCamilo Sesto (from the 1975 albumAmor libre) is dedicated to Melína Merkoúri.[33][34]
On 18 October 2015,Google Doodle commemorated her 95th birthday.[35]
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Und über diese andere Melina, diese politische Powerfrau, wissen wir eigentlich noch immer zu wenig. Wie keine Frau vor ihr hat sie, ihre Prominenz einsetzend, in der griechischen MachoMännerwelt ein Zeichen gesetzt. Dabei half ihr auch ihr arvanitiko kefali, der sprichwörtliche Dickschädel der Arvaniten, stammt sie doch aus einer Familie albanischen Ursprungs.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)Greek word for honey (rneli), but there was acid in her throaty voice last week as vibrant Melina Mercouri condemned Brig. Gen. Stylianos Pattakos, strong man of the Greek revolutionary junta which had just stripped her of citizenship and property ... Those bastards were born Fascists; they will die Fascists", said the passionate performer who until the recent coup did as ...
"I was born a Greek; I will die a Greek. Mr. Pattakos was born a Fascist; he will die a Fascist", said the passionate performer who until the recent coup did as much to spur Greek tourism as all the ancient ruins combined. ...
When asked if she had any comment on this she replied: 'I was born Greek. I shall die Greek. Those bastards were born fascists and they will die fascists.
No wonder the talented actress Melina Mercouri, after being stripped of her Greek citizenship in absentia, said of junta member Colonel Pattakos : "I was born a Greek and I will die a Greek. Pattakos was born a Fascist and will die a Fascist.
He repeated it. And my answer came like water from a fountain: 'I was born a Greek, I will die a Greek; Pattakos was born Fascist, he will die Fascist . . .' "And now what will happen, Melina?" I am asked. Now there will be a trial at some ...
... Patakos was born a fascist and will die a fascist," Miss Mercouri said at a press conference she called shortly after hearing that her citizenship had been ...
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Andreas Andrianopoulos | Minister for Culture of Greece 1981–1989 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister for Culture of Greece 1993–1994 | Succeeded by |