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Jules Dassin was an Academy Award-nominated director, screenwriter and actor best known for his films Rififi (1955), Never on Sunday (1960), and Topkapi (1964).

He was born Julius Samuel Dassin on 18 December 1911, in Middletown, Connecticut, USA. He was one of eight children of Russian-Jewish immigrants, Samuel Dassin and Berthe Vogel. Young Dassin grew up in Harlem, and he attended Morris High School in the Bronx, graduating in 1929. After taking acting classes in Europe, he returned to New York. In 1934, he became and actor with the ARTEF Players (Arbeter Teater Farband), and was a member of the troupe until 1939. Dassin played character roles in Yiddish, mainly in the plays by Sholom Aleichem. But upon discovering "that an actor I was not," he switched to directing and writing. At that time, he joined the Communist Party of the United States, but left the party in 1939, he said, disillusioned after the Soviet Union signed a pact with Adolf Hitler.

Dassin came to Hollywood in 1940, and was an apprentice to directors Alfred Hitchcock and Garson Kanin. In 1941, he made his directorial debut at MGM with adaptation of a story by Edgar Allan Poe. Dassin's best directorial works for Hollywood include such criminal dramas as Brute Force (1947) starring Burt Lancaster; The Naked City (1948), one of the first police dramas shot on the streets of New York; and Night and the City (1950) starring Richard Widmark as a hustler in London who is caught up in his own schemes. While he was assigned by producer Darryl F. Zanuck to make the film, Dassin was accused of affiliation with the Communist Party in his past. Zanuck advised Dassin to "shoot the expensive scenes first, to hook the studio" so the film was finished and released in 1951. Dassin was reported to HUAC in a 1951 testimony by directors Edward Dmytryk and Frank Tuttle. That was enough to sink his career in Hollywood. Dassin was subpoenaed by HUAC in 1952 and eventually became blacklisted after refusing to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee.

He left the United States for France in 1953 and struggled during his first years in Paris. He was not fluent in French, and his connections were limited. However, Dassin's low-budget film, Rififi (1955), famous for its long heist sequence that was free of dialog, won him the Best Director Award at the 1955 Cannes Film Festival. There, he met the Greek actress Melina Mercouri. Later, Dassin co-starred opposite Mercouri in his film Never on Sunday (1960), which won the Best Film Award at Cannes in 1960. At that time, the anti-Communist witch hunt in America was fading, and Dassin was accepted again. He received two Academy Award-nominations for directing and screen-writing for Topkapi (1964), starring Mercouri, Maximilian Schell, and Peter Ustinov. Dassin also served as member of jury at the Cannes and several other international film festivals.

Jules Dassin was married twice. He had three children with his first wife, violinist Beatrice Launer. His son, Joe Dassin, was a popular French singer in the 1960s and '70s, with such hits as "Bip Bip," "L'Eté Indien" and "Aux Champs-Èlysées." In 1966, Jules Dassin married Mercouri, an ardent anti-fascist who lost her Greek citizenship for opposing the junta, and the couple was living in Manhattan, remaining very active in their efforts to restore democracy in Greece during the dictatorship of the Colonels. After 1974, the couple returned to Greece, Mercouri became a member of the Greek Parliament, and Culture Minister of Greece. While living in Athens, Dassin was active in the effort to bring the 2500-year-old Elgin marbles of the Parthenon back to Athens from their current location at the British Museum in London. In this and other humanitarian causes, Dassin followed the last will of his late wife.

Jules Dassin died of complications caused by a flu, on April 1, 2008, at age 96, at Hygeia Hospital in Athens, Greece. He is survived by two daughters and grandchildren.

Mary Tsoni (25 June 1987 - 8 May 2017) was a Greek actress and singer. She was best known for her roles in the films Evil (2005), Dogtooth and Evil: In the Time of Heroes (both 2009). For her role in Dogtooth, she won the award for Best Actress at the Sarajevo Film Festival, and the motion picture itself was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

Born in Athens, Tsoni was also the lead singer of a punk band called Mary and The Boy and, prior to her acting career, a make-up artist. Tsoni was found dead in her apartment in Exarcheia, Athens on 8 May 2017, one month before her 30th birthday.

Titos Vandis was born on 7 November 1917 in Thessaloniki, Greece. He was an actor and writer, known for Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex * But Were Afraid to Ask (1972), Prosohi, kindynos! (1983) and Dawn on the Third Day (1962). He was married to Nancy Hall, Eleanore Mahlein, Ketty Asprea, Aleka Paizi, Maria Alkaiou and Betty Valassi. He died on 23 February 2003 in Athens, Greece.

Thanasis Vengos was born in 1927 in Neo Faliro, Piraeus, Greece. He made his movie debut in 1952 and played many supporting parts in films of the 1950s, often working as a technician, too. His first really major part was in the anti-war comedy Psila ta heria Hitler (1962); he followed that with a long series of comedies, which made him extremely popular. He created the recognizable persona of the everyday man who keeps running to earn his daily bread. His best roles often have a tragic dimension, as the anti-heroes he played in the commercial and artistic hits Ti ekanes ston polemo Thanasi (1971) and Enas xenoiastos palaviaris (1971).But he was also fine in purely dramatical roles, as in It's a Long Road (1998). He also did some interesting stage work, starring in ancient (Aristophanes' "Peace" and "Acharneis") and modern Greek comedies (Giorgos Lazaridis' "O trellos tou Luna-park").

Andréas Voutsinas was born on 22 August 1930 in Khartoum, Sudan. He was an actor and director, known for The Producers (1967), History of the World: Part I (1981) and The Big Blue (1988). He died on 8 June 2010 in Athens, Greece.

Spiros Focas is one of Greece's most respected and well-known actors. He was discovered by legendary Italian director Luchino Visconti and cast in a lead role in the classic Rocco and His Brothers (1960). He went on to star in many Greek and Italian films throughout the 1960s and '70s, working with such famous directors as Vincente Minnelli and Ferdinando Baldi. His work in Hollywood includes the hit films The Jewel of the Nile (1985) and Rambo III (1988). His most recent work includes the role of Uncle Telly in 3 Nights in Nisyros (2009).

Michael Cacoyannis was born on 11 June 1922 in Limassol, Cyprus. He was a director and writer, known for Zorba the Greek (1964), Electra (1962) and Eroika (1960). He died on 25 July 2011 in Athens, Greece.

Aliki Vougiouklaki was born in 1934 (or 1933, according to some sources), in Maroussi Attikis, Greece. She studied at the Drama School of the Greek National Theater and made her stage debut in a 1953 Athens production of Molière's "Le malade imaginaire". Around the same time she made her movie debut in To pontikaki (1954). The late 1950's was her breakthrough period: she starred in a successful revival of George Bernard Shaw's "Pygmalion" (as Eliza Doolittle) and took the leading part in a very popular movie, Maiden's Cheek (1959). She instantly became Greece's most popular star, created her personal stage group (with a repertory including Aristophanes' "Lysistrata", Tennessee Williams' "Sweet Bird of Youth" and Sophocles' "Antigone") and starred in many films, light comedies and melodramas (in many of them she co-starred with Dimitris Papamichael, who was her husband and theater partner during 1965-1974). Her film Ypolohagos Natassa (1970) has been the biggest moneymaker in the history of Greek cinema.

Katina Paxinou was born in 1900, in Piraeus, Greece. She first appeared on stage in 1928, in an Athens production of Henry Bataille's "La femme nue". In the early 1930's she was one of the founding members of the National Theatre of Greece (previously named Royal Theatre) and performed several major roles in Sophocles' "Electra", Henrik Ibsen's "Ghosts" etc, often co-starring with her husband, Alexis Minotis. The outbreak of the Second World War found her in UK; she later managed to arrive at the US, where she was offered her first film role in 1943 in For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943). For her superb portrayal of the Spanish revolutionary Pilar in this classic film adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's novel, she won a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award and a Golden Globe in 1944. She made a few more Hollywood movies, before returning to Greece in the early 1950's. During 1950 - 1971, some of her great performances were as Jocasta in Sophocles's "Oedipus Rex" (1951, 1952, 1955 and 1958, also staged at that time on Broadway with enormous success), as Countess Rosmarin Ostenburg in Christopher Fry's "The Dark Is Light Enough" (1957), as Clara Zachanassian in Friedrich Dürrenmatt's "The Visit" (1961), as Mary Tyrone in Eugene O'Neill's "Long Day's Journey Into Night" (1965) and in the title roles of Euripides' "Hecuba" (1955) and Bertolt Brecht's "Mother Courage" (1971). She also starred in some other movies; she was particularly touching as the Italian matriarch in the Luchino Visconti masterpiece Rocco and His Brothers (1960). She died of cancer in 1973 and is justly considered as the greatest Greek actress of the 20th century.

Studied at Konstantinos Michailidis Drama School

He became really famous during the 80's with many films he participated with actress and very close friend, Kaiti Finou.

Since March 14, 2017 he was hospitalized in "Aghios Savvas" hospital diagnosed with cancer, and since Easter Sunday he had been intubated in the intensive care unit of that hospital, having deteriorated. He passed away at the age of 66, on April 21, 2017 at 14:25. Close to him remained his second wife Christina Psalti and his daughter from the first marriage.

Nikos Nikolaidis was born on 25 October 1939 in Athens, Greece. He was a writer and director, known for Morning Patrol (1987), Ta kourelia tragoudane akoma... (1979) and O hamenos ta pairnei ola (2002). He died on 5 September 2007 in Athens, Greece.

Mikis Theodorakis was born in the Greek island of Chios, in 1925. It was the same year that the other great composer of Greece was born in Xanthi, Manos Hatzidakis. He fought during the 2nd World War, and was captured at the city of Tripoli. He was tortured, but when he was set free, he joined the partisan army of Greece named EAM, which means National Liberating Movement. He took part in the civil war in Greece which occurred during 1945-1949, always with the left parties of Greece. He was exiled for the first time in the island of Ikaria in 1947, he was transferred to the island of Makronisos in 1948.

He married Myrto Altinoglou, five years later in 1953, and one year later he moved in Paris in order to continue his studies in music. He composed continuously during the following years using some of the most wonderful poems in order to express the people of Greece. After Lamprakis, a Parliamentary representative was murdered, Theodorakis became a member of the Parliament and the number one enemy of the Right parties of Greece.

The great composer didn't not stop expressing his need and hope for democracy even when military dictator Georgios Papadopoulos took power in Greece in 1967. Some months later the military dictatorship decides that he is not 'welcome' in his own country, he was exiled for one more time. Great personalities express their support to this great composer, like Leonard Bernstein, Arthur Miller etc.

He became internationally famous when he composed the music for the film Zorba the Greek (1964), directed by Michael Cacoyannis and starring Anthony Quinn. But he was becoming very popular even before that film, when he was composing music for the Jules Dassin film Phaedra (1962) starring Melina Mercouri, Anthony Perkins, Raf Vallone, and Kakogiannis' Electra (1962) starring Irene Papas, Aleka Katselli. He even composed music for such acclaimed films like Z (1969) by Costa-Gavras starring Yves Montand and Papas, and Serpico (1973) by Sidney Lumet starring Al Pacino. He came back in 1974, but he stayed only for 6 years. Theodorakis was dissatisfied and went back in Paris and finished his third big work, Canto General, which together with the music from the film Zorba the Greek (1964) and "Axion Esti," a piece of work based on the poems of the Nobel winner poet Odysseas Elitis.

During the '80s, he became for one more time member of the Parliament and issue of controversy in the beginning of the 90s, when he collaborated with the right party's prime minister Konstantinos Mitsotakis. In 1992, he composed the Canto Olympico for the Olympic Games of Barcelona.

His opera Ilektra gained very good reviews, in Luxemburg, the Capital City Of Europe in 1995. He composed also another opera of Lysistrati for the Olympic Games of Athens in 2004. Although, he created controversies with his actions during the last decades, 1980-1990, Mikis Theodorakis was one of the greatest composers of Greece, and created the modern music of Greece together with Manos Hadjidakis.

Stelios Kazantzidis was born on 29 August 1931 in Athens, Greece. He was an actor and composer, known for Sapila kai aristokratia (1967), Eisai to tairi mou! (2001) and The Wire (2002). He was married to Marinella. He died on 14 September 2001 in Athens, Greece.

Rialda Kadric was born on 14 June 1963 in Belgrade, Serbia, Yugoslavia. She was an actress, known for Lude godine (1977), Ljubi, ljubi, al' glavu ne gubi (1981) and Doslo doba da se ljubav proba (1980). She died on 25 January 2021 in Athens, Greece.

Vicky Mosholiou was born on 17 May 1943 in Athens, Greece. She was an actress, known for I Blame the People (1966), Kapote klaine kai oi dynatoi (1967) and To mystiko mias miteras (1966). She was married to Mimis Domazos. She died on 16 August 2005 in Athens, Greece.

Mary Chronopoulou was born in 1933, in Athens, Greece. She studied at the Drama School of the Greek National Theater, where she made her stage debut in 1953 as a member of the Chorus in Euripides' "Hippolytus". She had a fruitful theatrical career, appearing in many plays, like Lillian Hellmann's "The Little Foxes" (as Regina), Tennesse Williams' "The Fugitive Kind" (as Carol), John Osborne's "Look Back in Anger" (as Alison Porter)and Maxim Gorky's "The Enemies" (as Tatiana Bartin). She was very active in films, too, playing a wide variety of parts in comedies, musicals, melodramas and film noirs. She also sang in some of her plays and movies; some of the songs she performed in 1960's musicals are still popular today in Greece.

Artemios "Demis" Ventouris-Roussos was a Greek Egyptian then his family migrated to Greece and he became a Greek vocalist and performer who had an internationally acclaimed career, as a single recording artist and bandleader. As a band member he is best remembered for his work in the progressive rock music act Aphrodite's Child, but as a vocal soloist, his repertoire included hit songs like ''Goodbye, My Love, Goodbye'', ''From Souvenirs to Souvenirs'' and ''Forever and Ever''.

Sotiris Moustakas was a Greek-Cypriot actor, widely regarded as one of Greece's greatest comedic performers. He remained active in theater, film, and television throughout his life, earning recognition for his contributions to Greek revue theater. Born in Cyprus, he moved to Athens to pursue acting despite initial family objections. He studied at the National Theatre Drama School and also attended the Athens University of Economics and Business. His career spanned over four decades, with standout performances in comedy and satire. He was known for his expressive style and ability to bring humor to a wide range of roles. He received multiple awards, including the Panathinaia Award for his performance in Hamlet, the Papadoukas Award from the Hellenic Playwrights' Society, and the Karolos Koun Acting Award for his contributions to Greek revue. Passionate about acting, Moustakas often spoke about his craft, emphasizing the constant journey of self-improvement in theater and the importance of authenticity in performance.

Labros Konstadaras (13 March 1913 - 28 June 1985) was one of the greatest actors of Greek theatre and cinema, excellent both in comedy and drama, with ancestry from Istanbul. He was the brother of actress Mitsi Konstadaras and father of former New Democracy MP Dimitris Konstadaras who gave him two grandchildren, Pavlina in 1974 and Labros in 1979. He was born in Kolonaki Athens and died at "Asklepieion" hospital of Voula Athens. Earlier (1978 and 1983) he had suffered two strokes.

In 1930 he joined, after his family's insistence and without his own will, the non-commissioned Navy School in Corfu, from where he eventually escaped by swimming. He was spared the Court-martial after his family's actions. In 1934 he went to Paris to study goldsmith, in order to take on the family jewelry shop in downtown Athens. He abandoned his studies and did various jobs, until he was discovered by the French Director Louis Zoybe when he played a bit part in a theatrical performance. He studied actor at the theatre "Atene" and in the summer of 1938, he returned to Greece, starting his career.

He served the Greek theatre for 40 years, acting in 191 plays and people still enjoy him through his films (more than 75, mostly comedies). He excelled in roles of the mature, rich and womanizer or "father" of several well-known stars of the era in movies such as "My Daughter, the Socialist", "Some Weary Lads", "A Matter of Earnestness", "Alice in the Navy".

He married in first wedlock actress Julie Georgopoulou in 1945 and in the second Filio Kekatou in 1971. He spent his last years in Varkiza Athens. He is buried in the first cemetery of Athens.

Phedon Papamichael was born in 1922 in Thessaloniki, Greece. He was an art director and production designer, known for A Woman Under the Influence (1974), The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976) and Seven Hours to Judgment (1988). He died on 16 July 2008 in Athens, Greece.

He studied painting and sculpture at the Athens School of Fine Arts from which he graduated in 1948.

Because of his left-wing political beliefs, he was exiled in Makronisos Island after the end of World War II

He started his career, as a director, at the age of 28, on 1954, with the film "Maghiki Polis" (Enchanted City) that was influenced by neorealism. With his second film "Dracos" (Dragon) in 1956 came his national and international recognition for his cinematography.

Lately he was hospitalized because of respiratory problems

He passed away around 16:00 on the afternoon of February 22, 2017 at his home in Athens, close to his family, at the age of 91.

Martha Karagianni was born in 1939, in Athens, Greece. She studied ballet and made her first screen appearance in Madame X (1956). Three years later, in 1957, she made her stage debut. She alternated theater and cinema for the next few years, but her real breakthrough came in the early 1960s, when she started appearing in a series of films directed by her screen mentor Giannis Dalianidis; all of them were musicals and comedies and made her extremely popular. Her stage work includes Mikis Theodorakis "Omorphi poli", Joe Masteroff's "Cabaret" (as Sally Bowles), Nell Dunn's "Steaming" and many Greek comedies. She also starred in some TV series.

Yannis Voglis was born in 1937, in Athens, Greece. He studied acting at the Pellos Katselis' Drama School and made his stage debut in 1961 in Bertolt Brecht's "The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui" directed by Karolos Koun. Among others, his prolific work includes significant Greek stage plays, Maxim Gorky's "Enemies" and the title roles in Henrik Ibsen's "Peer Gynt", William Shakespeare's "Coriolanus" and Sophocles's "Philoctetes" together with memorable performances in his international screen work such as in Vasilis Georgiadis' Blood on the Land (1965) and Koritsia ston ilio (1968), Jules Dassin's Kravgi gynaikon (1978) and Peter and Paul (1981).

Elena Nathanael was born in Athens, the daughter of a well-off textile designer and manufacturer. Her impressive good looks got her noticed by producers and directors of the, then-blooming, Greek commercial cinema of the mid-sixties. After studying drama at the Pellos Katselis' Drama School, Elena got her first screen part in the 1963 movie Kati na kaiei (Something burning), directed by Yiannis Dalianides. Her second screen role came in 1965 in the German movie Walsungenblunt, directed by Rolf Thiele and based on a Thomas Mann novel. A few more parts followed in Greek movies of the late sixties, usually in the Athenian spoilt rich girl mould. In 1968 she got a best actress award at the Salonica film festival for her part in the movie Randevou me mia agnosti (Rendez-vous with a stranger). In the early seventies she established her screen persona (that of a free-spirited, beautiful young woman) and became something of a fashion icon but with the abrupt decline of the Greek commercial cinema in 1973 her career came to a halt. After a seven year absence she made a comeback of sorts with a number of straight-to-video movies, usually light comedies. Her last role worthy of her beauty and acting abilities was that of Julia in the hugely successful Thornbirds spin-off TV soap, Aggigma psyhis, in 1998.

Nikos Kourkoulos was born in 1934, in Athens, Greece. He studied acting at the Drama School of the Greek National Theater and made his stage debut in a 1958 Athens production of Alexandre Dumas fils's "La dame aux camélias", opposite Ellie Lambeti and Dimitris Horn. He was one of the founders of the prestigious stage group Proskinio and appeared in the 1967 Broadway musical "Ilya Darling", with Melina Mercouri. He created his personal group in the early 1970's, with a repertory which included, among others, Franz Kafka's "The Trial", Arthur Miller's "View from the Bridge" and Bertolt Brecht's "The Beggar's Opera". His last stage appearance to date was in the title role of Sophocles' "Philoktitis" (1991); he then became artistic director of the Greek National Theater. His film career has been equally successful: he starred in many films from the late 1950's until the early 1980's. His most commercial films have been melodramas with a social background, like Oratotis miden (1970).