Melina Merkouri the greek spirit in her

Athens, 18 Octomber 1920 – New York, 6 March 1994

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 down. 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, 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 Europin Capital, which has been established by the Europian Union since 1985.She was a strong advocate for the return of the Parthenon Marbels, that were removed from the Parthenon and are now displayed in the British Museum, to Athens.Melina Mercouri died on March 6, 1994, at New York city, from lung cancer, aged 73. She was survived by her husband, Jules Dassin.