Jules Dassin

Director

About

Also Known As

Perlo Vita, Julius Dassin

Birth Place

Middletown, Connecticut, USA

Born

December 18, 1911

Died

March 31, 2008

Biography

Filmography

Circle of Two (1981)

Director

A Dream of Passion (1978)

Director

The Rehearsal (1974)

Director

Promise at Dawn (1970)

Photos & Videos

View All

Night And The City (1950) -- (Movie Clip) They're Hand-Dipped

Thieves' Highway (1949) -- (Movie Clip) I'm The Friendly Type

Family & Companions

Beatrice Launer

Wife

Former concert violinist. Married in 1933; divorced in 1962.

Melina Mercouri

Wife

Actor, politician. Born c. 1923; Greek; together from 1959; married from 1966 until her death on March 6, 1994.

Notes

"It's more important for me to be with Melina than to make a movie." --Jules Dassin quoted in Vanity Fair, February 1991.

Biography

Gained experience in theater and radio in New York before going to work in Hollywood in 1940, first with RKO (as assistant director) and then with MGM. Dassin hit his stride in the late 1940s with such dynamic (and still well-regarded) film noir melodramas as "Brute Force" (1947) and "The Naked City" (1948). After being blacklisted he moved to Europe, where he scored his greatest international successes with the French-produced "Rififi" (1955) and the then-scandalous "Never on Sunday" (1959), starring his second wife Melina Mercouri. For the most part, his later films--like "Up Tight" (1968), an ill-conceived black remake of John Ford's 1935 classic "The Informer"--have been disappointing and inconclusive.

Filmography

Life Events

1936

First role with the ARTEF (Yiddish Proletarian Theater) company in New York City

1941

Directed first short film, "The Tell-Tale Heart"

1942

Feature directing debut, "Nazi Agent/Salute to Courage"

1947

Helmed the brutal film noir, "Brute Force" starring Burt Lancaster and Hume Cronyn

1948

Directed the black-and-white film noir "The Naked City"

1950

Filmed "Night and the City" in London to avoid being brought before the House Un-American Activities Committee

1955

Returned to directing with the French language noir classic "Rififi"

1960

Directed (also scripted) future wife, Melina Mercouri in "Never on Sunday"; earned Academy Award nominations for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay

1962

Once again directed Melina Mercouri in "Phaedra"

1964

Directed the heist film, "Topkapi" starring Melina Mercouri and Peter Ustinov

1967

Directed "Illya Darling" the Broadway musical adaptation of his film, "Never on Sunday"

1968

Wrote and directed "Up Tight!" starring Ruby Dee and Roscoe Lee Browne

1970

Directed (also wrote and produced) his wife, Melina Mercouri in "Promise at Dawn"

1974

Directed and co-starred with (also wrote) Olympia Dukakis, Arthur Miller and Melina Mercouri in "The Rehearsal"

1978

Wrote and directed "Kravgi gynaikon"; earned a Golden Globe nomination for Best Foreign Film

1980

Directed his final feature, "Circle of Two" starring Richard Burton as a 60-year old artist who falls in love with a fifteen-year-old (Tatum O'Neal)

Photo Collections

Thieves' Highway - Movie Posters

The Canterville Ghost - Movie Poster

Here is the American one-sheet movie poster for MGM's The Canterville Ghost (1944), starring Charles Laughton and Margaret O'Brien. One-sheets measured 27x41 inches, and were the poster style most commonly used in theaters.

Never on Sunday - Movie Poster

Here is the American-release One-Sheet Movie Poster from the Greek film Never on Sunday (1960), by Jules Dassin. One-sheets measured 27x41 inches, and were the poster style most commonly used in theaters.