Jules Dassin, who directed the very recently deceased Richard Widmark in The Naked City, passed away yesterday in Greece- he was 96 years old.
Mr. Dassin direct many notable films, but as readers of this blog would expect, we are indebted to him for a string of brilliant films noir he directed from the mid-1940's through the mid-1950's: Brute Force, The Naked City, Thieves' Highway, Night and the City, and the French classic Du rififi chez les hommes (Riffi).
Among the actors he worked with were Joan Crawford, John Wayne, Mary Astor, Conrad Veidt, Charles Laughton, Lucille Ball, Burt Lancaster, Gina Lollabrigida, Yves Montand, Marcello Mastroianni, Anthony Perkins, Peter Ustinov, Laurence Olivier, Richard Burton, and the aforementioned Richard Widmark.
In addition to being a gifted director, Dassin was a Greek patriot (despite being born in Middletown, CT- this author's hometown) who opposed the military regime that ruled that country from 1967-1974.
Sadly, like many of the better directors of his era, Mr. Dassin was also a target of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)- one of the main reasons that he began to work in France and lived in Europe during most of his later life.
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