This first critical biography of radio broadcaster, stage director, and auteur filmmaker Michael Cacoyannis examines his prolific body of work within the socio-political context of his times. Best known as a bold modernist for triple-Oscar-winner ‘Zorba the Greek’, Michael likewise was hailed as an astute classicist for his inventive interpretations of Euripides. Working across several continents and languages, he forwarded feminist, humanist, and pacifist agendas, as he further innovated crafty LGBT narratives of unprecedented artistry and complexity. Despite intense persecution during the Cold War red scare and lavender scare, his casts and crews of frugal cosmopolitans critiqued racism, militarism, sexism, homophobia, and transphobia. Avoiding censorship, job loss, and jail, Michael thereby laid foundations for the 1990s new queer cinema and set the stage for empowering dramas of socio-economic justice in the third millennium. Over his long life and productive career, Michael exposed and espoused the vital truths up his sleeve.

Esta primera biografía crítica del locutor de radio y director teatral y de cine de autor Michael Cacoyannis examina su prolífica obra contextualizándola en la realidad sociopolítica de su época. Considerado un innovador por el film ‘Zorba, el griego’, ganadora de tres Oscar, y aclamado por sus originales e inteligentes adaptaciones de Eurípides, cultivó temáticas feministas, humanistas y pacifistas, y se le considera un agudo innovador de las narrativas LGTB, a las que aportó una complejidad artística sin precedentes. En sus obras criticó el racismo, el militarismo, el sexismo, la homofobia y la transfobia, y evitaría la censura, la pérdida de trabajo y la cárcel a pesar de la intensa persecución que sufrió durante el “temor rojo” y el “terror lila”, en plena Guerra Fría. Asimismo, sentó las bases del nuevo cine ‘queer’ de los años noventa y abonó el terreno para el teatro sobre justicia socioeconómica del tercer milenio. A lo largo de su dilatada y fructífera carrera, desarrollada en varios continentes e idiomas, Cacoyannis expuso y defendió las inquietudes vitales que le preocuparon.

Contents

PROLOGUE Artists Need No Permits

PART I WILLFUL COMING OF AGE

CHAPTER 1 Colonial Family Portraits

CHAPTER 2 Metropolitan Broadcast Performances

CHAPTER 3 Global Antigay Proceedings

PART II FILMING THE GAYEST SORT

CHAPTER 4 The Modern Greece Quintet

CHAPTER 5 Devils, Gods, and Wastrels

CHAPTER 6 Zorba the Great, Michael the Greek

CHAPTER 7 Hollywood’s Biggest Bomb

PART III RESTAGING RESISTANCE

CHAPTER 8 On the Ancients, In Exile

CHAPTER 9 Coups and Clerics

CHAPTER 10 The Long Farewell

EPILOGUE Laying Queer Foundations

APPENDIX A Filmography

APPENDIX B Major Stage Productions

PRIMARY SOURCES

NOTES

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS