Melina Mercouri on Never on Sunday

Melina Mercouri (Μελίνα Μερκούρη; Athens,October 18, 1920 – New York, March 6, 1994) was a Greek actress and political activist. Born Anna Amalia Mercouri or Maria Amalia Mercouris, she became well-known to international audiences when she starred in the 1960 film Never on Sunday, directed by her husband Jules Dassin. In fact, she had been making movies since 1955, first appearing in the Greek language film Stella. Nominated for an Academy Award for Never on Sunday, she went on to star in such films as Topkapi, Phaedra , and Gaily, Gaily .

During the period of dictatorship in Greece from 1967 to 1974, Mercouri lived in France. When the dictatorship revoked her Greek citizenship, she said, "I was born Greek and I would die Greek. Mr. Pattakos was born a dictator and he will die as a dictator."

When democracy returned to her home country, she returned, and became first a member of the Parliament for PASOK, and then Minister of Culture.

In 1971 she wrote her autobiography, I Was a Greek.