Moustapha al Akkad was a Syrian-American film producer and director, best known for producing the original series of Halloween films and directing The Message and Lion of the Desert. He was killed along with his daughter Rima Al Akkad Monla in the 2005 Amman bombings.
Zorba the Greek is a 1964 drama film written, produced, edited, and directed by Greek Cypriot filmmaker Michael Cacoyannis. It stars Anthony Quinn as Zorba, an earthy and boisterous Cretan peasant, and Alan Bates as the buttoned-up young intellectual he befriends. The cast also includes Lila Kedrova, Irene Papas, and Sotiris Moustakas. The musical score was composed by Mikis Theodorakis. The film is based on the 1946 novel The Life And Times Of Alexis Zorba by Nikos Kazantzakis. Though the film has elements of comedy, and Kazatzakis's anti-hero Zorba has been generally understood as a 'life-affirming' personality. It features a gruesome femicide, and Zorba's cynical, egotistical and manipulative personality combined with his determined optimism is explicitly shown to be a response to, and in defiance of, the cruelties and vicissitudes of life.
Z is a 1969 political thriller film directed by Costa-Gavras, from a screenplay he co-wrote with Jorge Semprún, adapted from the 1967 novel of the same name by Vassilis Vassilikos. The film presents a thinly fictionalized account of the events surrounding the assassination of the democratic Greek politician Grigoris Lambrakis in 1963. With its dark view of Greek politics and its downbeat ending, the film captures the director's outrage about the junta that then ruled Greece. The title refers to a popular Greek protest slogan meaning "he lives," in reference to Lambrakis.
The Matchmaker is a 1954 Broadway play by Thornton Wilder, a rewritten version of his 1938 play The Merchant of Yonkers.
Morgan – A Suitable Case for Treatment is a 1966 comedy film directed by Karel Reisz and starring David Warner, Vanessa Redgrave, and Robert Stephens, with Irene Handl and Bernard Bresslaw. It was made by British Lion and produced by Leon Clore from a screenplay by David Mercer, adapted from his BBC television play A Suitable Case for Treatment (1962), in which the leading role was played by Ian Hendry. A film poster for the film is prominently shown in High-Rise (2015).
Barry Sonnenfeld is an American filmmaker and television director. He originally worked as a cinematographer for the Coen brothers before directing films such as The Addams Family (1991) and its sequel Addams Family Values (1993), Get Shorty (1995), the Men in Black trilogy (1997–2012), and Wild Wild West (1999).
Inger Stevens was a Swedish-American film, stage and Golden Globe-winning television actress.
Irene Papas or Irene Pappas was a Greek actress and singer who starred in over 70 films in a career spanning more than 50 years. She gained international recognition through such popular award-winning films as The Guns of Navarone (1961), Zorba the Greek (1964) and Z (1969). She was a powerful protagonist in films including The Trojan Women (1971) and Iphigenia (1977). She played the title roles in Antigone (1961) and Electra (1962). She had a fine singing voice, on display in the 1968 recording Songs of Theodorakis.
Electra is a 1962 Greek film based on the play Electra, written by Euripides. It was directed by Michael Cacoyannis, as the first installment of his "Greek tragedy" trilogy, followed by The Trojan Women in 1971 and Iphigenia in 1977. It starred Irene Papas in the lead role as Elektra, and Giannis Fertis as Orestis.
Radames Pera is an American actor best known for his role as "Grasshopper," the student Kwai Chang Caine in the 1972–1975 television series Kung Fu.
Smart Money is a 1931 American pre-Code drama film produced and distributed by Warner Bros., directed by Alfred E. Green, and starring Edward G. Robinson and James Cagney. It is the only occasion Robinson and Cagney appeared in a film together, despite being the two leading actors, mainly portraying gangsters, at Warner Bros. studios throughout the 1930s. Smart Money was shot after Robinson's signature film Little Caesar had been released and during the filming of Cagney's breakthrough performance in The Public Enemy, which is how Cagney came to play a supporting role.
I'll See You in My Dreams is a 1951 musical film directed by Michael Curtiz and starring Doris Day and Danny Thomas.
The Guns of Navarone is a 1961 action adventure war film directed by J. Lee Thompson from a screenplay by Carl Foreman, based on Alistair MacLean's 1957 novel of the same name. Foreman also produced the film. The film stars Gregory Peck, David Niven and Anthony Quinn, along with Stanley Baker, Anthony Quayle, Irene Papas, Gia Scala, Richard Harris and James Darren. The book and the film share a plot: the efforts of an Allied commando unit to destroy a seemingly impregnable German fortress that threatens Allied naval ships in the Aegean Sea.
The Brotherhood is a 1968 Technicolor mafia crime film, directed by Martin Ritt. It stars Kirk Douglas, Irene Papas, Alex Cord, and Luther Adler. The script was by Lewis John Carlino. Released by Paramount Pictures, while the film received mixed to positive reviews, the film bombed at the box office, with Paramount deciding not to produce another gangster film until it made The Godfather four years later.
Three Men on a Horse is a 1936 American comedy film directed and produced by Mervyn LeRoy, adapted from the Broadway play of the same name written by George Abbott and John Cecil Holm. A mild-mannered greeting card poet has the uncanny ability to pick winners in horse races.
The Trojan Women is a 1971 American-British-Greek drama film directed by Michael Cacoyannis and starring Katharine Hepburn, Vanessa Redgrave, Geneviève Bujold and Irene Papas. The film was made with the minimum of changes to Edith Hamilton's translation of Euripides' original play, save for the omission of deities, as Cacoyannis said they were "hard to film and make realistic".
Harry Mark Petrakis was an American novelist and writer of short stories. He was best known for depicting the life of Greek-American immigrants in the Greektown neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. He died at his home near Chesterton, Indiana, in February 2021, at the age of 97.
Expensive Women is a 1931 American pre-Code film drama. It was produced by First National Pictures and distributed through their parent company Warner Bros. The film was directed by silent film veteran Hobart Henley and stars Dolores Costello. It was Costello's final film as a leading lady and star for Warners, which she had been since 1925. She retired to be the wife of John Barrymore and to raise their family. Costello would return to films five years later after a long hiatus and the end of her marriage to Barrymore, but never regained the luster she enjoyed as a Warners star.
The Wife Who Wasn't Wanted is a 1925 American silent drama film directed by James Flood and written by Bess Meredyth. It is based on the 1923 novel The Wife Who Wasn't Wanted by Gertie Wentworth-James. The film stars Irene Rich, Huntley Gordon, John Harron, Gayne Whitman, June Marlowe, and Don Alvarado. The film was released by Warner Bros. on September 12, 1925.
