Jules Dassin
Encyclopedia
Julius "Jules" Dassin was an American
film director, with Jewish-Russian origins. He was a subject of the Hollywood blacklist
in the McCarthy
era, and subsequently moved to France where he revived his career.
, Dassin grew up in Harlem and went to Morris High School in the Bronx. He joined the Communist Party USA
in the 1930s and left it after the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
in 1939. He started as a Yiddish actor
with the ARTEF (Yiddish Proletarian Theater) company in New York. He collaborated on a film with Jack Skurnick
that was incomplete because of Skurnick's early death.
In 1933, he married Beatrice Launer with whom he had three children.
In May 1955, he met Melina Mercouri
at the Cannes Film Festival
. At about the same time, he discovered the literary works of Nikos Kazantzakis
. These two elements created a bond with Greece. He divorced Launer in 1962, and married Mercouri in 1966. The couple had to leave Greece after the colonels' coup in 1967. In 1970, they were accused of having financed an attempt to overthrow the dictatorship, but the charges were quickly dropped. Dassin and Mercouri lived in New York City during the 1970s: then, when the general's dictatorship in Greece fell in 1974, they returned to Greece and lived out their lives there. While Mercouri became involved with politics and won a Parliamentary seat, Dassin stayed with moviemaking in Europe, but found time in the U.S. to make another movie, the racial drama Up Tight!
, which would be his last American film.
Brute Force
, The Naked City
, and Thieves' Highway
in the 1940s, which helped him to become "one of the leading American filmmakers of the postwar era."
Dassin's most influential film was Rififi
, an early work in the "heist film" genre
. It inspired later heist films, such as Ocean's Eleven
and Mission: Impossible
. Another piece it inspired was Dassin's own heist film Topkapi
, filmed in France and Istanbul, Turkey with Melina Mercouri and Oscar winner Peter Ustinov
.
in 1948 called him into his office to inform him he would be blacklisted, but he still had enough time to make a movie for Fox.
Dassin was blacklisted in Hollywood during the production of Night and the City
in 1950. He was not allowed on the studio property to edit or oversee the musical score for the film. He also had trouble finding work abroad, as U.S. distribution companies would threaten not to distribute any European film with blacklisted participants. In 1952, after Dassin had been out of work for two years, actress Bette Davis
hired him to direct her in the Broadway revue Two's Company. The show closed early, however, and Dassin left for Europe. Dassin did not work as a film director again until Rififi in 1955 (a French production). Most of Dassin's films in the decades following the blacklist are European productions. His prolific later career in Europe and the affiliation with Greece through his second wife, combined with a common pronunciation of his surname as "Da-SAN" in Europe, as opposed to "DASS-in" in the US led to an assumption that he was Greek or French.
, he opposed the Greek military junta. A major supporter of the return of the Elgin Marbles
to Athens, for which he established the Melina Mercouri Institution in her memory, he missed the opening ceremony of the New Acropolis Museum
by only a few months due to his death at the age of 96. He died from complications from a case of flu, and is survived by his two daughters and grandchildren.
Upon his death, the Greek prime minister, Costas Karamanlis, released a statement: "Greece mourns the loss of a rare human being, a significant artist and true friend. His passion, his relentless creative energy, his fighting spirit and his nobility will remain unforgettable."
, Dassin earned the Best Director award at the Cannes Film Festival
.
His 1960 film Never on Sunday
earned the music Academy Award (Manos Hadjidakis
,(Greek: Τα παιδιά του Πειραιά), Ta Paidia tou Peiraia), and the Cannes Film Festival
best actress award (Melina Mercouri
). In 1982, he was a member of the jury at the 34th Berlin International Film Festival
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
film director, with Jewish-Russian origins. He was a subject of the Hollywood blacklist
Hollywood blacklist
The Hollywood blacklist—as the broader entertainment industry blacklist is generally known—was the mid-twentieth-century list of screenwriters, actors, directors, musicians, and other U.S. entertainment professionals who were denied employment in the field because of their political beliefs or...
in the McCarthy
Joseph McCarthy
Joseph Raymond "Joe" McCarthy was an American politician who served as a Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957...
era, and subsequently moved to France where he revived his career.
Early life
One of eight children of Berthe Vogel and Samuel Dassin, a Russian-Jewish barber in Middletown, ConnecticutMiddletown, Connecticut
Middletown is a city located in Middlesex County, Connecticut, along the Connecticut River, in the central part of the state, 16 miles south of Hartford. In 1650, it was incorporated as a town under its original Indian name, Mattabeseck. It received its present name in 1653. In 1784, the central...
, Dassin grew up in Harlem and went to Morris High School in the Bronx. He joined the Communist Party USA
Communist Party USA
The Communist Party USA is a Marxist political party in the United States, established in 1919. It has a long, complex history that is closely related to the histories of similar communist parties worldwide and the U.S. labor movement....
in the 1930s and left it after the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, named after the Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov and the German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, was an agreement officially titled the Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Soviet Union and signed in Moscow in the late hours of 23 August 1939...
in 1939. He started as a Yiddish actor
Yiddish theatre
Yiddish theatre consists of plays written and performed primarily by Jews in Yiddish, the language of the Central European Ashkenazi Jewish community. The range of Yiddish theatre is broad: operetta, musical comedy, and satiric or nostalgic revues; melodrama; naturalist drama; expressionist and...
with the ARTEF (Yiddish Proletarian Theater) company in New York. He collaborated on a film with Jack Skurnick
Jack Skurnick
Jack Skurnick was the founder and director of EMS Recordings and publisher and editor of the highly regarded music review, Just Records.-Career:...
that was incomplete because of Skurnick's early death.
In 1933, he married Beatrice Launer with whom he had three children.
In May 1955, he met Melina Mercouri
Melina Mercouri
Melina Mercouri , born as Maria Amalia Mercouri was a Greek actress, singer and politician.As an actress she made her film debut in Stella and met international success with her performances in Never on Sunday, Phaedra, Topkapi and Promise at Dawn...
at the Cannes Film Festival
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...
. At about the same time, he discovered the literary works of Nikos Kazantzakis
Nikos Kazantzakis
Nikos Kazantzakis was a Greek writer and philosopher, celebrated for his novel Zorba the Greek, considered his magnum opus...
. These two elements created a bond with Greece. He divorced Launer in 1962, and married Mercouri in 1966. The couple had to leave Greece after the colonels' coup in 1967. In 1970, they were accused of having financed an attempt to overthrow the dictatorship, but the charges were quickly dropped. Dassin and Mercouri lived in New York City during the 1970s: then, when the general's dictatorship in Greece fell in 1974, they returned to Greece and lived out their lives there. While Mercouri became involved with politics and won a Parliamentary seat, Dassin stayed with moviemaking in Europe, but found time in the U.S. to make another movie, the racial drama Up Tight!
Up Tight!
Up Tight! is a 1968 American drama film directed by Jules Dassin. It was intended as an updated version of John Ford's 1935 film, The Informer, but the setting was transposed from Dublin, Ireland to Cleveland, Ohio, USA. The soundtrack was performed by Booker T...
, which would be his last American film.
Career
Dassin quickly became better known for his noir filmsFilm noir
Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...
Brute Force
Brute Force (1947 film)
Brute Force is a brooding, brutal film noir, starring Burt Lancaster, Hume Cronyn and Charles Bickford. It was directed by Jules Dassin, with a screenplay by Richard Brooks and the cinematography by William H. Daniels....
, The Naked City
The Naked City
The Naked City is a 1948 black-and-white film noir directed by Jules Dassin. The movie, shot partially in documentary style, was filmed on location on the streets of New York City, featuring landmarks such as the Williamsburg Bridge the Whitehall Building and an apartment building on West 83rd...
, and Thieves' Highway
Thieves' Highway
Thieves' Highway is a 1949 film noir directed by Jules Dassin. The screenplay was written by A. I. Bezzerides, based on his novel Thieves' Market.-Plot:...
in the 1940s, which helped him to become "one of the leading American filmmakers of the postwar era."
Dassin's most influential film was Rififi
Rififi
Rififi is a 1955 French crime film adaptation of Auguste le Breton's novel of the same name. Directed by American filmmaker Jules Dassin, the film stars Jean Servais as the aging gangster Tony le Stéphanois, Carl Möhner as Jo le Suédois, Robert Manuel as Mario Farrati, and Jules Dassin as César le...
, an early work in the "heist film" genre
Heist film
A heist film is a film that has an intricate plot woven around a group of people trying to steal something. Versions with dominant or prominent comic elements are often called caper movies. They could be described as the analogues of caper stories in film history...
. It inspired later heist films, such as Ocean's Eleven
Ocean's Eleven (1960 film)
Ocean's 11 is a 1960 heist film directed by Lewis Milestone and starring five Rat Packers: Peter Lawford, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., and Joey Bishop....
and Mission: Impossible
Mission: Impossible
Mission: Impossible is an American television series which was created and initially produced by Bruce Geller. It chronicled the missions of a team of secret American government agents known as the Impossible Missions Force . The leader of the team was Jim Phelps, played by Peter Graves, except in...
. Another piece it inspired was Dassin's own heist film Topkapi
Topkapi
Topkapi or Topkapı can mean:* The Topkapı Palace in Istanbul, Turkey* Topkapı, a neighbourhood of Istanbul near the Roman city walls * Topkapi , a 1964 caper movie...
, filmed in France and Istanbul, Turkey with Melina Mercouri and Oscar winner Peter Ustinov
Peter Ustinov
Peter Alexander Ustinov CBE was an English actor, writer and dramatist. He was also renowned as a filmmaker, theatre and opera director, stage designer, author, screenwriter, comedian, humourist, newspaper and magazine columnist, radio broadcaster and television presenter...
.
Hollywood Blacklist
Dassin said Darryl F. ZanuckDarryl F. Zanuck
Darryl Francis Zanuck was an American producer, writer, actor, director and studio executive who played a major part in the Hollywood studio system as one of its longest survivors...
in 1948 called him into his office to inform him he would be blacklisted, but he still had enough time to make a movie for Fox.
Dassin was blacklisted in Hollywood during the production of Night and the City
Night and the City
Night and the City is a film noir based on the novel by Gerald Kersh, directed by Jules Dassin, and starring Richard Widmark and Gene Tierney. Shot on location in London, the plot evolves around an ambitious hustler whose plans keep going wrong....
in 1950. He was not allowed on the studio property to edit or oversee the musical score for the film. He also had trouble finding work abroad, as U.S. distribution companies would threaten not to distribute any European film with blacklisted participants. In 1952, after Dassin had been out of work for two years, actress Bette Davis
Bette Davis
Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis was an American actress of film, television and theater. Noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic characters, she was highly regarded for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional...
hired him to direct her in the Broadway revue Two's Company. The show closed early, however, and Dassin left for Europe. Dassin did not work as a film director again until Rififi in 1955 (a French production). Most of Dassin's films in the decades following the blacklist are European productions. His prolific later career in Europe and the affiliation with Greece through his second wife, combined with a common pronunciation of his surname as "Da-SAN" in Europe, as opposed to "DASS-in" in the US led to an assumption that he was Greek or French.
Personal life
Jules Dassin was married twice:- Béatrice Launer, a New-York-born, Jewish-American violinist (aka Beatrice Launer-Dassin; 1913–2005), a graduate of the Juilliard School of Music. They married in 1933 and divorced in 1962. Their children were: Joseph Ira DassinJoe DassinJoseph Ira Dassin , more commonly known as Joe Dassin, was an American singer-songwriter best known for his French songs of the 1960s and 1970s.-Biography:...
(1938–1980), a popular French singer in the 1970s, songwriter Richelle "Rickie" Dassin (born 1940), and actress-singer Julie Dassin (born 1944; also known as Julie D.).
- Melina MercouriMelina MercouriMelina Mercouri , born as Maria Amalia Mercouri was a Greek actress, singer and politician.As an actress she made her film debut in Stella and met international success with her performances in Never on Sunday, Phaedra, Topkapi and Promise at Dawn...
, Greek actress and former wife of Panos Harokopos; they married in 1966 and remained married until Mercouri's death in 1994.
Affiliation with Greece
He was considered a major Philhellene to the point of Greek officials describing him as a "first generation Greek". Along with his last wife, Melina MercouriMelina Mercouri
Melina Mercouri , born as Maria Amalia Mercouri was a Greek actress, singer and politician.As an actress she made her film debut in Stella and met international success with her performances in Never on Sunday, Phaedra, Topkapi and Promise at Dawn...
, he opposed the Greek military junta. A major supporter of the return of the Elgin Marbles
Elgin Marbles
The Parthenon Marbles, forming a part of the collection known as the Elgin Marbles , are a collection of classical Greek marble sculptures , inscriptions and architectural members that originally were part of the Parthenon and other buildings on the Acropolis of Athens...
to Athens, for which he established the Melina Mercouri Institution in her memory, he missed the opening ceremony of the New Acropolis Museum
New Acropolis Museum
The Acropolis Museum is an archaeological museum focused on the findings of the archaeological site of the Acropolis of Athens. The museum was built to house every artifact found on the rock and on its feet, from the Greek Bronze Age to Roman and Byzantine Greece...
by only a few months due to his death at the age of 96. He died from complications from a case of flu, and is survived by his two daughters and grandchildren.
Upon his death, the Greek prime minister, Costas Karamanlis, released a statement: "Greece mourns the loss of a rare human being, a significant artist and true friend. His passion, his relentless creative energy, his fighting spirit and his nobility will remain unforgettable."
Awards and honors
For his 1956 film RififiRififi
Rififi is a 1955 French crime film adaptation of Auguste le Breton's novel of the same name. Directed by American filmmaker Jules Dassin, the film stars Jean Servais as the aging gangster Tony le Stéphanois, Carl Möhner as Jo le Suédois, Robert Manuel as Mario Farrati, and Jules Dassin as César le...
, Dassin earned the Best Director award at the Cannes Film Festival
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...
.
His 1960 film Never on Sunday
Never on Sunday
Never on Sunday is a 1960 Greek black-and-white film which tells the story of Ilya, a prostitute who lives in the port of Piraeus in Greece, and Homer, an American tourist from Middletown, Connecticut — a classical scholar enamored with all things Greek. Ilya is a character close to the...
earned the music Academy Award (Manos Hadjidakis
Manos Hadjidakis
Manos Hatzidakis was a Greek composer and theorist of the Greek music. He was also one of the main prime movers of the "Éntekhno" song ....
,(Greek: Τα παιδιά του Πειραιά), Ta Paidia tou Peiraia), and the Cannes Film Festival
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...
best actress award (Melina Mercouri
Melina Mercouri
Melina Mercouri , born as Maria Amalia Mercouri was a Greek actress, singer and politician.As an actress she made her film debut in Stella and met international success with her performances in Never on Sunday, Phaedra, Topkapi and Promise at Dawn...
). In 1982, he was a member of the jury at the 34th Berlin International Film Festival
34th Berlin International Film Festival
The 34th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from February 17 to February 28, 1984.-Jury:* Liv Ullmann * Jules Dassin* Edward Bennett* Manuela Cernat-Gheorghiu* Lana Gogoberidze* Tullio Kezich* Steffen Kuchenreuther...
.
Filmography
| Year | Film | Credited as | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Director Film director A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:... |
Producer Film producer A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The... |
Writer Screenwriter Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:... |
Actor Actor An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity... |
Role | ||
| 1941 | The Tell-Tale Heart The Tell-Tale Heart (1941 film) The Tell-Tale Heart is a 1941 American drama film directed by Jules Dassin. The screenplay by Doane R. Hoag is based on the 1843 short story of the same title by Edgar Allan Poe.... |
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| 1942 | Nazi Agent Nazi Agent Nazi Agent is a 1942 spy film directed by Jules Dassin. It stars Conrad Veidt playing identical twins, one loyal to the United States , the other a dedicated German Nazi.... |
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| The Affairs of Martha The Affairs of Martha The Affairs of Martha is a 1942 romantic comedy film directed by Jules Dassin. A young maid, Marsha Hunt, falls in love with Jeff Sommerfield and the two marry on impulse before he leaves for an anthropological trip. Before he leaves, he asks her to get the marriage annulled, but she does not do so... |
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| Reunion in France Reunion in France Reunion in France is a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer feature film starring Joan Crawford, Phillip Dorn, and John Wayne in a story about a woman who, suspecting her well-heeled lover has Nazi connections, aids a downed American flyer. The screenplay by Jan Lustig, Marvin Borowsky and Marc Connelly was based... |
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| 1943 | Young Ideas Young Ideas Young Ideas is a 1943 American romantic comedy film directed by Jules Dassin and starring Susan Peters, Herbert Marshall, Mary Astor and Elliott Reid.-Plot:... |
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| 1944 | The Canterville Ghost The Canterville Ghost (1944 film) The Canterville Ghost is a 1944 fantasy/comedy film directed by Jules Dassin, loosely based on the short story of the same title by Oscar Wilde... |
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| 1946 | Two Smart People Two Smart People Two Smart People is a film starring Lucille Ball and John Hodiak, and directed by Jules Dassin.-Cast:* Lucille Ball - Ricki Woodner* John Hodiak - Ace Connors* Lloyd Nolan - Bob Simms* Hugo Haas - Seïnor Rodriquez, Dept. of Agriculture... |
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| A Letter for Evie A Letter for Evie -Plot:This film is a Cyrano type love story with a wartime setting. A soldier , answers a letter intended for his more handsome and wolfish buddy .-Cast:* Marsha Hunt - Evie O'Connor* John Carroll - Edgar 'Wolf' Larson... |
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| 1947 | Brute Force Brute Force (1947 film) Brute Force is a brooding, brutal film noir, starring Burt Lancaster, Hume Cronyn and Charles Bickford. It was directed by Jules Dassin, with a screenplay by Richard Brooks and the cinematography by William H. Daniels.... |
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| 1948 | The Naked City The Naked City The Naked City is a 1948 black-and-white film noir directed by Jules Dassin. The movie, shot partially in documentary style, was filmed on location on the streets of New York City, featuring landmarks such as the Williamsburg Bridge the Whitehall Building and an apartment building on West 83rd... |
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| 1949 | Thieves' Highway Thieves' Highway Thieves' Highway is a 1949 film noir directed by Jules Dassin. The screenplay was written by A. I. Bezzerides, based on his novel Thieves' Market.-Plot:... |
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| 1950 | Night and the City Night and the City Night and the City is a film noir based on the novel by Gerald Kersh, directed by Jules Dassin, and starring Richard Widmark and Gene Tierney. Shot on location in London, the plot evolves around an ambitious hustler whose plans keep going wrong.... |
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| 1955 | Rififi Rififi Rififi is a 1955 French crime film adaptation of Auguste le Breton's novel of the same name. Directed by American filmmaker Jules Dassin, the film stars Jean Servais as the aging gangster Tony le Stéphanois, Carl Möhner as Jo le Suédois, Robert Manuel as Mario Farrati, and Jules Dassin as César le... |
Cesar le Milanais | ||||
| 1957 | He Who Must Die He Who Must Die He Who Must Die , is a 1957 French film directed by Jules Dassin. It is based on the novel Christ Recrucified by Nikos Kazantzakis. It was entered into the 1957 Cannes Film Festival.-Cast:* Jean Servais - Photis* Carl Möhner - Agha... |
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| 1959 | The Law The Law (1959 film) The Law is a 1959 Italian film directed by Jules Dassin.-Cast:* Gina Lollobrigida - Marietta* Pierre Brasseur - Don Cesare* Marcello Mastroianni - Enrico Tosso, the Engineer* Melina Mercouri - Donna Lucrezia* Yves Montand - Matteo Brigante... |
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| 1960 | Never on Sunday Never on Sunday Never on Sunday is a 1960 Greek black-and-white film which tells the story of Ilya, a prostitute who lives in the port of Piraeus in Greece, and Homer, an American tourist from Middletown, Connecticut — a classical scholar enamored with all things Greek. Ilya is a character close to the... |
Homer Thrace | ||||
| 1962 | Phaedra Phaedra (film) Phaedra was a 1962 motion picture directed by Jules Dassin as a vehicle for his wife Melina Mercouri, after her world-wide hit Never on Sunday.The film was the fourth collaboration between Dassin and Mercouri, who took the title role... |
Christo | ||||
| 1964 | Topkapi Topkapi (film) Topkapi is a heist film made by Filmways Pictures and distributed by United Artists. It was produced and directed by the emigre American film director, Jules Dassin... |
Turkish cop | ||||
| 1966 | 10:30 P.M. Summer 10:30 P.M. Summer 10:30 P.M. Summer is a 1966 American drama film directed by Jules Dassin, husband of star Melina Mercouri.-Plot:Maria and Paul, a couple in their forties, travel through Spain with a new friend, Claire , a younger woman. The couple's daughter is also part of the trip... |
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| 1968 | Survival 1967 | |||||
| Up Tight! Up Tight! Up Tight! is a 1968 American drama film directed by Jules Dassin. It was intended as an updated version of John Ford's 1935 film, The Informer, but the setting was transposed from Dublin, Ireland to Cleveland, Ohio, USA. The soundtrack was performed by Booker T... |
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| 1970 | Promise at Dawn Promise at Dawn Promise at Dawn is a 1970 drama film directed by Jules Dassin. It is based on the 1960 novel Promise at Dawn by Romain Gary.-Cast:* Melina Mercouri - Nina Kacew* Assi Dayan - Romain age 25* Didier Haudepin - Romain age 15... |
Ivan Mozzhukhin | ||||
| 1974 | The Rehearsal The Rehearsal (film) The Rehearsal is a 1974 film produced by Jules Dassin that is a cinemagraphic indictment of the Greek military junta of 1967–1974.-Cast:*Jules Dassin*Olympia Dukakis*Stathis Giallelis*Lillian Hellman*Melina Mercouri... |
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| 1978 | A Dream of Passion A Dream of Passion A Dream of Passion is a 1978 Greek drama film directed by Jules Dassin. The story follows Melina Mercouri as an actress playing Medea who seeks out a mother, portrayed by Ellen Burstyn, in jail for murdering her own children.-Awards:... |
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| 1980 | Circle of Two Circle of Two Circle of Two is a 1980 Canadian film. It starred Richard Burton as a 60-year old artist who falls in love with a sixteen-year-old played by Tatum O'Neal. It was the last film directed by acclaimed film noir director Jules Dassin.... |
External links
- Family photos (French)
- Jules Dassin at The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
Movies - New York Times obituary