stated that a worrisome Gabor phoned him from France after hearing rumors that Dassin had been identified as a Communist. The next day, he received a telegram from American Federation of Labor's European representative Irving Brown, also questioning Dassin's political views. Brewer further stated that at no point did he recommend the dismissal of Dassin as a director, and that he merely reported the facts to the inquirers, which was that Dassin had been identified as a Communist. The Most Wanted Man was ultimately directed by Henri Verneuil (a frequent collaborator of Fernandel), who went on to become a noted neo-noir director. Dassin later stated that he had further difficulty finding work in Europe as American film distribution companies forbade the exhibition of any film, regardless of its origin, associated with artists blacklisted in Hollywood. He later admitted that he worked as an uncredited writer on a number of scripts that were sent back to Hollywood through Zanuck. Dassin did not work as a film director again until Rififi in 1955 (a French production), his most influential film and an early work in the "heist film" genre. He won the Best Director award for the film at the 1955 Cannes Film Festival. It inspired later heist films, such as Ocean's Eleven (1960). Another film it inspired was Dassin's own heist film Topkapi (1964), filmed in France and Istanbul, Turkey with his future second wife, Melina Mercouri and Oscar winner Peter Ustinov. Most of Dassin's films in the decades following the blacklist are European productions. His later career in Europe and the affiliation with Greece through his second wife, combined with the Frenchified pronunciation of his surname in Europe (as "Da-SAn" instead of the common American "DASS-ine") led to a common misconception that he was a native European director. Melina Mercouri At the Cannes Film Festival in May 1955 he met Melina Mercouri, Greek actress and wife of Panos Harokopos. At about the same time, he discovered the literary works of Nikos Kazantzakis; these two elements created a bond with Greece. Dassin next made He Who Must Die (1957) based on Kazantzakis' Christ Recrucified and in which Mercouri appeared. She went on to star in his Never on Sunday (1960) for which she won best actress at the Cannes Film Festival. She then starred in his next three films – Phaedra (1962), Topkapi (1964) and 10:30 P.M. Summer (1966). He divorced