Melina Mercouri - biography

“I was born Greek.  I will die Greek.”

“And, of course, it must be asked: is it proper to transact with the Turks for the most reassured of Greek possessions when Greece is under Turkish invasion and subjugation?”

“England and Greece are friends.  English blood was shed on Greek soil in the war against fascism, and Greeks gave their lives to protect English pilots.”

“Read Churchill, he tells you how crucial was the Greek role in your decisive desert victory over Rommel.”

“We say to the British government: you have kept those sculptures for almost two centuries.  You have cared for them as well as you could, for which we thank you.  But now in the name of fairness and morality, please give them back.”

“I once went - my mother insisted.  She came with me.  I decided to lie about everything.  I told him my mother was terrible to me, I’d had an unhappy childhood, my parents fought all the time.  Finally, my mother got so mad, she hit me.  The doctor advised we should both be put away as crazy and dangerous.”

“In the world over, the very name of our country is immediately associated with the Parthenon.”

“Much has been said and continues to be said of what little concern the Turks had for the Acropolis treasures.”

“There are no such things as the Elgin Marbles.”

“We are ready to say that we rule the entire Elgin enterprise as irrelevant to the present.”

“You know, it is said that we Greeks are a fervent and warm blooded breed.  Well, let me tell you something - it is true.”

Melina Mercouri has appeared in the following films:
Celui qui doit mourir (1957)
La Legge (1959)
Never on Sunday (1960)
Il Giudizio universale (1961)
Vive Henri IV... vive l’amour! (1961)
Phaedra (1962)
The Victors (1963)
Topkapi (1964)
Los Pianos mecánicos (1965)
10:30 P.M. Summer (1966)
A Man Could Get Killed (1966)
Gaily, Gaily (1969)
Promise at Dawn (1970)
The Rehearsal (1974)
Jacqueline Susann’s Once Is Not Enough (1975)
Nasty Habits (1977)
Kravgi gynaikon (1978)