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Jules Dassin
Born	Julius Dassin December 18, 1911(1911-12-18) Middletown, Connecticut, United States
Died	March 31, 2008 (aged 96) Athens, Greece
Spouse(s)	Beatrice Launer (1933–1962) Melina Mercouri (1966–1994)

Jules Dassin (December 18, 1911 – March 31, 2008), born Julius Dassin, was an American film director. He was a subject of the Hollywood blacklist in the McCarthy era, and subsequently moved to France where he revived his career.

Early life

One of eight children of a Russian-Jewish barber in Middletown, Connecticut, Dassin 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.

Career

Dassin quickly became better known for his noir films 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."^[1]

Dassin's most influential film was the heist movie Rififi, which inspired a genre of movies including Ocean's Eleven and Mission: Impossible.^[1]

Personal life

Jules Dassin was married to:

• Béatrice Launer, a Hungarian-born violinist (aka Beatrice Launer-Dassin). They married in 1933 and divorced in 1962. Their children were: Joseph Ira Dassin (1938–1980), a popular French singer in the 1970s, songwriter Richelle "Rickie" Dassin (born 1940), and actress-singer Julie Dassin (born 1944 and also known as Julie D.).[1]

• Melina Mercouri, Greek actress and former wife of Panos Harokopos. They married in 1966.

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 Mercouri, 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.^[2]

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."^[1]

Awards and honors

For his 1956 film Rififi, Dassin earned the Best Director award at the Cannes Film Festival.^[1] His 1960 film Never on Sunday earned the music Academy Award (Manos Hadjidakis, Ta Paidia tou Peiraia), and the Cannes Film Festival best actress award (Melina Mercouri).^[2][3]

Filmography

References

External links

• Jules Dassin at the Internet Movie Database
• Family photos (French)
• New York Times obituary