Melina Mercouri: I Was Born Greek

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Put isn't The film studio interrogation, part one. The questions asked here and later were rehearsed. The answers are Macquarie's. The questions asked here and later were rehearsed. In 1960, Melina Macquarie made a film called Never on Sunday. Acting opposite the director,
Jules Desin, whom she later married, its open expression of her free personality made her a star. The film studio interrogation, part one. The film studio interrogation, part one. The film studio interrogation, part one. The film studio interrogation, part one. The film studio interrogation, part one. The film studio interrogation, part one. The film studio interrogation, part one.
The film studio interrogation, part one. The film studio interrogation, part one. The film studio interrogation, part one. The film studio interrogation, part one. The film studio interrogation, part one. The film studio interrogation, part one.
The film studio interrogation, part one. The film studio interrogation, part one. The film studio interrogation, part one. The film studio interrogation, part one. The film studio interrogation, part one. The film studio interrogation, part one.
The film studio interrogation, part one. The film studio interrogation, part one. The film studio interrogation, part one.
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The film studio interrogation, part one. The film studio interrogation, part one. The film studio interrogation, part one. The film studio interrogation, part one.
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The film studio interrogation, part one. The film studio interrogation, part one. The film studio interrogation, part one. The film studio interrogation.
The film studio interrogation, part one. The film studio interrogation, part one. The film studio interrogation, part one.
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The film studio interrogation. The film studio interrogation. The film studio interrogation. The film studio interrogation.
I have a terrible nostalgia for a Sunday morning in the wintertime when the sun is bright. And I can take four chairs, one to sit, one to put my left arm, my right arm. And I'm forced to put my feet to have a great coffee and to forget that the hands of the clock are moving. The film studio interrogation.
The film studio interrogation. The film studio interrogation. The scene greases her is another story. The scene greases the very wise woman. She has the most beautiful name. She is capricious. She has beautiful colors.
She is like a beautiful woman with thousands of unexpected sounds and surprises everywhere. She opens her hands. She becomes the third sex and every body. Every body feels marvelous to be closing her arms. I adore the night in Greece and the moon when everybody becomes beautiful and has a special color. Well, I will be old enough. My dream will be to be in Greece and special in Greece.
I adore the night in Greece and special in Greece. The crits, the people, the older people are beautiful. The mostly approach, death, they become more and more beautiful. So, death has a great attraction. And as Anzakis, the great writer of Crete has written the most beautiful scenes of death.
Because death is not something ugly, it is not a disease, it is not to become without possibilities to act. You become stronger and stronger and you approach death with songs. Greek have been immigrants for centuries. This bar is in New York. It could be anywhere. I adore the night in Greece and special in Greece.
I adore the night in Greece and special in Greece. I adore the night in Greece and special in Greece. I adore the night in Greece and special in Greece. I adore the night in Greece.
I adore the night in Greece and special in Greece. I adore the night in Greece. In Athens, on April 21, 1967, a military coup d'etat suppressed the elected parliament of Greece. No one voted for them. No one knew them. They came in the night with tanks. They took our rights. They censored our thought.
But these men are in jail. These men are Greek and they are in jail without trial. There is not trial because they committed not trial. I adore the night in Greece and special in Greece. I adore the night in Greece and special in Greece. I adore the night in Greece and special in Greece.
I adore the night in Greece and special in Greece. I adore the night in Greece and special in Greece. I adore the night in Greece and special in Greece. I shout against you.
In May 1967, one month after their coup d'etat, Macquarie spoke against the Colonel's regime. In June, they took her passport, impounded her property, cancelled her citizenship. I am born Greek and I will die Greek. Nobody can take me my citizen to be Greek. Mr. Patakost and the four colonels are born fascists and they will die fascists. If they want to make of me, John of Arc is their own privilege. We are mourning the death of democracy in Greece.
The events in Greece in April 1967 radically altered Macquarie's life. The next year that protest took her to Europe to help organize resistance. We are not going to die in Greece. A deputation will deliver an effort there but the main march will proceed directly to the Greek embassy where you must not stop. London, April 21, the Greek Orthodox Easter and First Anniversary of the coup d'etat.
We are not going to die in Greece. We are not going to die in Greece. We are not going to die in Greece. Let me read to you the mountains, look on Marathon and Marathon, look on the sea and using where and hour alone I dreamed that Greece made yet be free.
We are not going to die in Greece. We are not going to die in Greece. We are not going to die in Greece. We are not going to die in Greece.
We are not going to die in Greece. We are not going to die in Greece. We are not going to die in Greece. We are not going to die in Greece.
We are not going to die in Greece. We are not going to die in Greece. There is only one problem for everyone to be free. We are not going to die in Greece.
We are not going to die in Greece. We are not going to die in Greece. We are not going to die in Greece. We are not going to die in Greece.
We are not going to die in Greece. We are not going to die in Greece. We are not going to die in Greece. We are not going to die in Greece.
We are not going to die in Greece. We are not going to die in Greece. We are not going to die in Greece. We are not going to die in Greece.
We are not going to die in Greece. We are not going to die in Greece. We are not going to die in Greece. We are not going to die in Greece.
We are not going to die in Greece. We are not going to die in Greece. We are not going to die in Greece. We are not going to die in Greece.
We are not going to die in Greece. We are not going to die in Greece. We are not going to die in Greece. We are not going to die in Greece.
We are not going to die in Greece. Sweden has stood for the principles of democracy for centuries. Mokkuri led a demonstration against the suppression of those principles in other countries. The only practical politics that is workable today is morality.
The moral man knows that when a Greek is tortured or far away barren the island, it diminishes him in Stockholm. Heitret is contagious, tyranny is not a local matter. We are not going to die in Greece.
Thank you very much. We are not going to die in Greece. We are not going to die in Greece. We are not going to die in Greece.
We are not going to die in Greece. You are an enemy of the country. You are doing that for your own publicity. Thanks God I have publicity to fight against you. I want to thank you for being here. You know why you are here and I know why you are here.
I will be always grateful to you because you are here for the cause, for restoration, for democracy, a real democracy in Greece. We will be free again. We are not going to die in Greece. We are not going to die in Greece.
We will be free again. We will be free again. We will be free again. We will be free again.
We will be free again. We will be free again. We will be free again. We will be free again.
We will be free again. We will be free again. We will be free again. We will be free again.
We will be free again. We will be free again. We will be free again. We will be free again.
We will be free again. We will be free again. We will be free again. We will be free again.
We will be free again. We will be free again.
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This record is featured in “National Educational Television.”
Series
Fanfare
Series
NET Festival
Episode Number
111
Episode Number
23
Episode
Melina Mercouri: I Was Born Greek
Producing Organization
Allan King Associates
Contributing Organization
Library of Congress (Washington, District of Columbia)
AAPB ID
cpb-aacip-516-nc5s757j3c
NOLA Code
FANF
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Description
Episode Description
1 hour piece, produced by Allan King Associates and initially distributed by NET in 1970. It was originally shot in color.
Episode Description
"Greek actress Melina Mercouri is one of the most exciting women alive and also one of the most dedicated to the cause of democracy. In an outstanding documentary, these qualities have been brilliantly captured on film." These were the words of Win Fanning of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The film captures the dual life of Miss Mercouri, as a versatile performer and a protestor against the current Greek regime. She has been deprived of her citizenship since 1967, when she spoke out boldly against the coup: "I was born Greek, and I shall die Greek. They were born fascist; they will die fascist." In the film she is seen at freedom rallies and benefit concerts in the United States and in Europe. There is also a dramatic sequence in which she "is interrogated" on her political views. She is also seen in performance: singing a Greek song in Stockholm while tears run down her cheeks; dancing and singing at a concert in Boston; and responding to a Greek song in a New York restaurant. These moments recall the verve of her performance in "Never on Sunday." During the course of the episode these songs are included: Romiossini by Mikis Theodorakis Zorba the Greek by Mikis Theodorakis "Mi Milas Agape" by Savopoulous Zorba the Greek by Mikis Theodorakis Kaimoss by Savopoulous Neighborhood of Angels by Savopoulous Untitled by Savopoulous Satirical improvisation of "Never on Sunday" by Savopoulous Metapo by Mikis Theodorakis Unidentified by Mikis Theodorakis Kaimoss by Mikis Theodorakis Romiossini by Mikis Theodorakis The International by Mikis Theodorakis Metapo by Mikis Theodorakis "Open a Little the Window" by Mikis Theodorakis Metapo by Mikis Theodorakis "Melina Mercouri - I was Born Greek" is an NET presentation. Produced by Allan King Associates for London Weekend Television, in association with NDR Television and Canadian CTV. This aired as NET Festival episode 111 on March 10, 1970 and as Fanfare episode 23 on March 14, 1971. (Description adapted from documents in the NET Microfiche)
Series Description
Fanfare is an anthology series of performing arts programming.
Broadcast Date
1971-03-14
Broadcast Date
1970-03-10
Asset type
Episode
Topics
Music
Global Affairs
Media type
Moving Image
Duration
00:59:40.144
Credits
Composer: Theodorakis, Mikis
Performer: Mercouri, Melina
Producing Organization: Allan King Associates
AAPB Contributor Holdings
Library of Congress
Identifier: cpb-aacip-48b9f5b53d7 (Filename)
Format: 2 inch videotape
Generation: Master
Color: Color
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Citations
Chicago: “Melina Mercouri: I Was Born Greek,” 1971-03-14, Library of Congress, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC, accessed August 2, 2025, http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-516-nc5s757j3c.
MLA: “Melina Mercouri: I Was Born Greek.” 1971-03-14. Library of Congress, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Web. August 2, 2025. <http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-516-nc5s757j3c>.
APA: Melina Mercouri: I Was Born Greek. Boston, MA: Library of Congress, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-516-nc5s757j3c