"For us the King is dead," actress Melina Mercouri said last night after a concert sponsored by the Greek Students of M.I.T. at Kresge Auditorium. "His countercoup was a farce."

Billed as "An Evening with Melina Mercouri," the concert became a rally for the restoration of Greek democracy. "Freedom or death," she cried to the tightly packed audience of several thousand. "I believe in democracy and the U.S., they will help us. And even if they don't help us, we will be free again, we will win."

Senator Eugene T. McCarthy (D-Minn.) was unexpectedly forced to cancel his scheduled appearance and remain in Washington for an emergency meeting of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

McCarthy said in a speech read during the concert, "We in the United States must share the responsibility for what has happened in Greece. President Eisenhower in January, 1961, warned against what the military-industrial complex could do... It is not a danger at home yet, but already it is manifested in our foreign policy, like toward Greece."

Melina in a long, bright orange dress and black boots threw herself into her songs of love and freedom with snapping fingers, with Greek dancing and with tender song translation.