Jules Dassin
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Jules Dassin (born Julius Dassin on December 18, 1911, in Middletown, Connecticut) is an American film director. He is most known for his films Night and the City (1950) and Du Rififi Chez les Hommes (American title: Rififi) (1955), and as a survivor of the Hollywood blacklist of that time.
One of eight children of a Russian-Jewish barber, Dassin became well-known for his film noir films Brute Force, The Naked City and Thieves' Highway in the 1940s. Just as Dassin was about to be brought before the House Unamerican Activities Committee, producer Darryl F. Zanuck gave him the book that Night and the City was based on, and sent him to London, to begin production on the film. Filming was completed in England. After time of the film's release, European producers were told that their films would not be allowed to be released in the United States if Dassin were involved in their production.
Dassin met and became romantically involved with Greek actress Melina Mercouri, whom he married. The couple made Pote tin Kyriaki (Never on Sunday) in 1960, marking Dassin's return to film-making. The film earned Dassin a nomination for the Academy Award for Directing and the Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay. Dassin and Mercouri went on to make Topkapi and Phaedra.
His son, Joe Dassin, was a popular French singer until his death in 1980. His daughter is actress Julie Dassin.