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Obituaries

Jules Dassin | Movie director, 96

American director Jules Dassin, 96, whose Greek wife, Melina Mercouri, starred in his hit movie Never on Sunday and six more of his films, died yesterday at an Athens hospital, officials said. The cause of death was not made public. Mr. Dassin, whose more than 20 films also included Topkapi , abandoned Hollywood during the Communist blacklists in 1950. In 1955, he won wide acclaim for Rififi , famous for its long heist sequence that was free of dialogue. The movie won him the best-director prize at the Cannes Film Festival, where he met Mercouri. Mr. Dassin directed his wife in seven films, including 1960's Never on Sunday , in which she gained international notice for her portrayal of a kindhearted prostitute. Mr. Dassin and Mercouri both received Oscar nominations for Never on Sunday . - AP

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American director Jules Dassin, 96, whose Greek wife, Melina Mercouri, starred in his hit movie

Never on Sunday

and six more of his films, died yesterday at an Athens hospital, officials said.

The cause of death was not made public.

Mr. Dassin, whose more than 20 films also included

Topkapi

, abandoned Hollywood during the Communist blacklists in 1950.

In 1955, he won wide acclaim for

Rififi

, famous for its long heist sequence that was free of dialogue. The movie won him the best-director prize at the Cannes Film Festival, where he met Mercouri.

Mr. Dassin directed his wife in seven films, including 1960's

Never on Sunday

, in which she gained international notice for her portrayal of a kindhearted prostitute. Mr. Dassin and Mercouri both received Oscar nominations for

Never on Sunday

.

- AP

    Inquirer