Melina Mercouri
Birth : 1920-10-18, Athens, Greece
Death : 1994-03-06
History
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.
(Archival Footage)
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.
Herself (Archive Footage)
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.
Maya / Medea
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.
Sister Gertrude
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.
Karla
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.
A documentary about the resistance of the people against the millitary Greek junta.
Producer
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.
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.
Nina Kacewa
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.
Lil
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.
Maria
A female traveling companion seduces a married man and his alcoholic wife.
Aurora / Celeste da Costa
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.
Jenny
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.
Elizabeth Lipp
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.
Magda
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.
Self
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.
Phaedra
A retelling of the Greek myth of Phaedra. In modern Greece, Alexis's father, an extremely wealthy shipping magnate, marries 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.
Foreign lady
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.
Marie de Médicis
Ilya
An American scholar in Greece sets about improving the prostitute with whom he is infatuated.
Donna Lucrezia
A gorgeous housekeeper turns the tables on the men in a small Mediterranean coastal town by using their own vicious drinking game.
Belle
About to enter a marriage he wants no part of, rich nobleman Mitchell takes up with gypsy Mecouri. They marry, but she soon discovers he's deeply in debt. (TCM)
Katerina
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.
Stella
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 football player, things get mixed up. She loves him but she loves her freedom too. So it's about time she made an important choice.
