Jules Dassin Biography

American director
Died: March 31, 2008
Best Known as: American director, screenwriter, and actor who was blacklisted in the United States

Deathplace: Athens, Greece

Jules Dassin was a film director, screenwriter, and actor who became successful in Europe after being blacklisted from Hollywood in the 1950s. Dassin is well-known for his films such as "Never on Sunday" (1960), "Topkapi" (1964), and "Riffi" (1954). He left Hollywood for France in 1953 because as a former Communist Party member (1930-1939), he was blacklisted. He won a best-director award in the 1955 Cannes Film Festival for "Riffi," the first film he made in France. Dassin had a successful career abroad, and directed again in the United States in the late 1960s.