Michael Cacoyannis
Michael Cacoyannis (Greek Μιχάλης Κακογιάννης Michalis Kakogiannis; born June 11, 1922 in Limassol, Cyprus, † July 25, 2011 in Athens), was a Cypriot- Greek film director, screenwriter and producer.
Life and work
Michael Cacoyannis studied law in Athens and London and worked as a lawyer. During the Second World War he produced Greek -language programs for the BBC. After the war he was on the jurisprudence and worked at the Old Vic Theatre in London as an actor and director. When it became difficult for him to find a secure job as a director in the British film industry, he returned to Greece and turned there in 1954 with Windfall in Athens his first film. Cacoyannis has pioneered the career of the Greek superstars Melina Mercouri, he gave the lead role in the award-winning production of Stella 1955. His first international success was Elektra from 1962, which was awarded at the Cannes Film Festival in 1962.
He became famous worldwide but only in 1964 with the film adaptation of the novel by Nikos Kazantzakis Zorba with Anthony Quinn in the title role. With the background music by Mikis Theodorakis Sirtaki was lifted out of the way of baptism. The film was nominated for seven Academy Awards ( including Best Director Cacoyannis and Quinn for Best Actor ) and won in three categories. But got his next film, The day on which the fish came ( The Day the Fish Came Out) from 1967 with Tom Courtenay, an artistic and financial fiasco. But he could rehabilitate in 1971 with the highly acclaimed film critics in particular historical drama The Trojan Women with Katharine Hepburn and Vanessa Redgrave. 1978 his adaptation of Euripides' Iphigenia with Tatiana Papamoschou and Irene Papas was nominated for an Oscar again in the lead roles. After a long abstinence Cacoyannis turned the 1987 film Sweet Country, which was spurned at the premiere of the criticism, but is gaining recognition over the years. In 1993 he turned the comedy Up, Down and Sideways.
In 1999, his last film, a realized in Bulgaria, English-language film adaptation of the play The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov with Alan Bates and Charlotte Rampling in the lead roles.
On a concept of Cacoyannis the installed since 2004, new lighting of the Acropolis in Athens goes back.
2009 was opened in Athens, the Michael Cacoyannis Foundation.
On July 25, 2011 Cacoyannis was admitted with cardiac and respiratory problems in an Athens hospital, where he died a short time later.
Filmography (selection)
Documentary
- My Life and Times - Michael Cacoyannis ( 2009). ( Μια ζωή μια εποχή - Μ Κακογιάννης. ). Director Lydia Karra ( Λυδία Καρρά )