Leading French actress, born Catherine Vitale in Marseille, first trained as a dancer at fourteen. She subsequently attended the Institut cinématographique de Marseille and began on stage from 1956. She has acted in plays by Molière, Achard, Dostoievsky, Tolstoy, Anouilh, Shaw and Guitry. With
Marie-France Boyer she co-founded the Théâtre du quotidien. Catherine Rouvel is best known on the screen for her roles in
Jean Renoir's
Picnic on the Grass (1959),
Marcel Carné's
Les assassins de l'ordre (1971),
Jacques Deray's classic gangster film
Borsalino (1970) and
Jean-Jacques Annaud's
Black and White in Color (1976).