Director Michael Cacoyannis dies in Athens at age 89
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Michael Cacoyannis, the Cyprus-born filmmaker who directed Zorba the
Greek, has died at an Athens hospital at the age of 89.
The Associated Press reports that he died early Monday of
complications from a heart attack.
Zorba The Greek (1964) was his most famous work, garnering three Oscar
nominations for the adaptation of Nikos Kazantzakis’ book about Alexis
Zorbas, played by Anthony Quinn. He had further foreign-language film
Oscar nominations for Electra and Iphigenia.
Many of his films played in Cannes competition.
He was born Mikhalis Kakogiannis in June 1921 in Limassol, Cyprus. He
studied and acted in London before making his first film, Windfall in
Athens, in Greece in 1954. This was quickly followed by Stella
starring Melina Mercouri.
Other films included 1956’s A Girl In Black, 1987’s Sweet Country and
1971’s The Trojan Women; his last film was 1999’s The Cherry Orchard.
Cacoyannis was also a theatre veteran (he worked on the 1983 Broadway
revival of the musical based on Zorba).
He set up the non-profit Michael Cacoyannis Foundation in 2003, which
has established a cultural centre for theatre, film and other
activities, in southern Athens.
Cacoyannis was awarded the Order of the Golden Phoenix (Greece), the
Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres (France), the Grand Cross / Order
of Makarios 3rd (Cyprus) and the Special Grand Prix of the Americas
(Montreal). He has been honoured by the Greek Academy with its highest
award for national services and with Lifetime Achievement Award by the
Salonica, Jerusalem and Cairo Film Festivals, as well as the American
Hellenic Institute in Washington. He has been declared an Honorary
Citizen of Limassol, Montpellier and Dallas, and has received Honory
Doctorates from Columbia College (Chicago), Athens University, Cyprus
University, and the Aristotelio University of Salonica.