After being blacklisted from Hollywood, Jules Dassin became a successful director in Europe. During the mid-twentieth century, his previous involvement with the American “Communist Party” resulted in him being placed on a Hollywood blacklist. Dassin was forced to leave the United States in 1953, but he had already established a reputation in Hollywood as a director of noir films such as “Thieves Highway,” “The Naked City,” “Brute Force,” and “Night and the City.” He relocated to France and, after a few years of struggle, agreed to make the low-budget picture ‘Rififi,’ which went on to become a great success in France as well as receiving critical praise. The picture earned him the Best Director award at the Cannes Film Festival in 1955, as well as opening doors for him to pursue new projects. ‘Never on Sunday,’ ‘Topkapi,’ ‘He Who Must Die,’ and ‘La Legge,’ among others, were co-productions with Melina Mercouri, a Greek actress who appeared in many of his films and eventually became his better-half. Many of his films featured him as a performer. He directed the Broadway musical “Illya Darling.” It was based on his film “Never on Sunday” and starred Mercouri, who was nominated for a “Tony Award” for her role. With films like ‘Uptight’ and ‘Promise at Dawn,’ Dassin resurrected his Hollywood career in the late 1960s.
Childhood and Adolescence
Julius Samuel Dassin was born on December 18, 1911, in Middletown, Connecticut, to Russian-Jewish immigrants Samuel Dassin and Berthe Vogel, as one of their eight children. His father was a barber, and he grew up in a barbershop.
He was born and raised in Harlem and attended Morris High School in the Bronx, where he graduated in 1929.
He went to Europe for a period to take acting training before returning to New York. From 1934 to 1939, he was a member of the ARTEF Players (Arbeter Teater Farband) in New York, where he usually appeared in Sholom Aleichem’s plays, portraying Yiddish character roles. He eventually changed his career path from acting to writing and directing. He also wrote scripts for ‘The Kate Smith Show’ on the radio.
In the 1930s, Dassin joined the American ‘Communist Party,’ but left in 1939.
Career of Jules Dassin
In 1940, he moved to Hollywood and worked as an associate director at RKO Pictures.
With ‘Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’ Studios Inc (‘MGM’), he made his directing debut in 1941. ‘Nazi Agent’ (1942), ‘Reunion in France’ (1942), ‘Young Ideas’ (1943), ‘The Canterville Ghost’ (1944), ‘A Letter for Evie’ (1945), and ‘Two Smart People’ (1946) were among his B-movies for the studio.
Moving forward, he left ‘MGM’ to join ‘Universal Studios,’ one of Hollywood’s oldest and most prestigious film studios. He shifted his concentration from romantic comedies to more dramatic films while he was there.
He directed the Burt Lancaster-starring film ‘Brute Force’ in 1947. This film marked the start of a sequence of outstanding film noirs that he would give during the postwar period. ‘The Naked City’ (1948) and ‘Thieves’ Highway’ were two of them (1949). He quickly established himself as one of America’s leading filmmakers of the period.
Meanwhile, in 1948, he was notified by Darryl F. Zanuck, an American film producer and studio executive, that he would be on the Hollywood blacklist, but that he would have enough time to work on a film for ’20th Century Fox.’ Dassin began work on the film noir ‘Night and the City,’ which was released in 1950, in this manner. He was blacklisted in Hollywood during the film’s development, preventing him from entering the studio property for editing or any other work on the film. However, the critics hailed this groundbreaking film noir as one of his best in the genre.
Dassin’s career suffered a serious loss as a result of the blacklisting, and he went almost two years without employment before Bette Davis hired him to direct the Broadway musical revue “Two’s Company” in 1952.
He finally left America in 1953 and traveled to France, where he suffered at first due to his lack of fluency in the French language and a lack of relationships.
He decided to helm the 1955 low-budget French crime film ‘Rififi,’ starring Jean Servais, Carl Möhner, and Robert Manuel, in order to survive in a new nation. In the film, he played César le Milanais himself. The half-hour heist sequence, which depicted the crime portion of the film in detail without any music or conversation, was the most stunning and unforgettable aspect of the film. This fictional crime is thought to have been replicated by real-life criminals all around the world for the purpose of perpetrating similar crimes.
‘Rififi’ received positive reviews from both the public and critics in France, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The picture, which was re-released in theaters in 2000 and 2015 and received accolades from contemporary critics, is regarded as one of the masterworks of French film noir.
In May 1955, he met Greek actress Melina Mercouri at the Cannes Film Festival, with whom he worked on several films.
As director and screenwriter, he received two ‘Academy Award’ nods for the 1964 heist film ‘Topkaki.’
‘He Who Must Die’ (1957), ‘Never on Sunday’ (1960), ‘Phaedra’ (1962), ‘Uptight’ (1968), ‘Promise at Dawn’ (1970), and ‘A Dream of Passion’ (1971) were among his other important films (1978).
Personal History and Legacy
In 1937, he married Béatrice Launer, a Jewish-American violinist. The marriage had three children: Joseph Ira Dassin, a son, and Richelle “Rickie” Dassin and Julie Dassin, two daughters. In 1962, Dassin divorced Béatrice.
Joseph Ira Dassin, better known by his stage name Joe Dassin, was a successful French singer in the 1960s and 1970s, with hits like ‘Aux Champs-lysées,’ ‘L’Eté Indien,’ and ‘Bip Bip.’ Julie is an actress-singer and Richelle is a songwriter.
He married Greek actress Melina Mercouri, who was Panos Harokopos’ ex-wife, in 1966. Dassin and Mercouri had no children together.
Dassin was a Philhellene, and he resisted the Greek military dictatorship alongside his wife Melina, who was a staunch anti-fascist. For this, Melina lost her Greek citizenship, and the pair relocated to Manhattan.
After the regime ended in 1974, the couple returned to Greece. Dassin returned to the film industry after Melina entered politics and served as a Member of Parliament and later as a Culture Minister.
In honour of his wife Melina, who died on March 6, 1994, he established the ‘Melina Mercouri Institution’ to lobby for the restoration of the Elgin Marbles to Athens.
He died at the Hygeia Hospital in Athens, Greece, on March 31, 2008, from complications caused by a flu attack.
Jules Dassin Net Worth
Jules is one of the wealthiest directors and one of the most well-known. Jules Dassin’s net worth is estimated to be $1.5 million, according to Wikipedia, Forbes, and Business Insider.