A different kind of blonde: Melina Mercouri in Stella (Michael Cacoyannis, 1955)
This article discusses the blondness of Melina Mercouri: the first Greek blond star and Greece’s most popular cinematic export. Taking as a case study her breakthrough role as Stella in the 1955 film of the same title, the article examines the aesthetic and political significance of Mercouri’s blondness within the historical context from which her star image emerged, namely post-war Greece, and wherein it circulated, that is Euro-American culture. The main aim of the analysis is to shed light on the bold and unconventional kind of blondness Mercouri embodied and promoted.