Jules Dassin

Julius "Jules" Dassin ( DASS-in, dass-IN; December 18, 1911 – March 31, 2008) was an American film and theatre director, producer, writer and actor. A subject of the Hollywood blacklist, he subsequently moved to France, and later Greece, where he continued his career. He was best-known for his noir and crime films, though he also worked in other genres. He won the Best Director Award at the 1955 Cannes Film Festival for his pioneering heist film Rififi, and received Academy Award nominations for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay for Never on Sunday (1960). He adapted Never on Sunday into the stage musical Illya Darling, earning Tony nominations for Best Musical and Best Direction of a Musical. Dassin's other notable films included Brute Force (1947), The Naked City (1948), Thieves' Highway (1949), Night and the City (1950), Topkapi (1964), and Uptight (1968). Dassin was the husband of Greek actress and activist Melina Mercouri, and the father of singer-songwriter Joe Dassin. He was a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Directors Guild of America.