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- Valerie Quennessen became an actress almost by accident. She started out performing as a child as an acrobat. She was very accomplished in this field and won an award at the age of ten. However, she hadn't seriously considered performing for a living. In her late teens, she enrolled in acting classes as therapy, to overcome severe shyness. To her surprise, she found she enjoyed it and her abilities were noted positively by others. So after briefly attending the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Arts et Techniques du Theatre, she left school to perform full time. She won supporting roles in various projects. Her big break was her role in French Postcards (1979) in 1978. The following year, she completed her studies and traveled to the United States to find roles in Hollywood. She won a role as a princess in Conan the Barbarian (1982), a role she accepted because she had enjoyed fairy tales as a child. She became more familiar to American audiences when she starred in Summer Lovers (1982) with Peter Gallagher and Daryl Hannah. Playing an archaeologist, she dug at an ancient find and, to everyone's surprise, found some real ancient pottery from some 3,500 years ago. The film achieved box office success, in spite of poor reviews. However, afterwards, she left Hollywood to concentrate on her family life.
In 1989, she died in an automobile accident. She was 31 years old. - The face of Simone Signoret on the Paris Metro movie posters in March 1982 looked even older than her 61 years. She was still a box-office draw, but the film L'étoile du Nord (1982) would be her last theatrical release; she played the landlady. Signoret had a long film apprenticeship during World War II, mostly as an extra and occasionally getting to speak a single line. She worked without an official permit during the Nazi occupation of France because her father, who had fled to England, was Jewish. Working almost all the time, she made enough as an extra to support her mother and three younger brothers. Her breakthrough to international stardom came when she was 38 with the British film Room at the Top (1958). Her Alice Aisgill, an unhappily-married woman who hopes she has found true love, radiated real warmth in all of her scenes--not just the bedroom scenes. She was the same woman as Dedee, a prostitute who finds true love in Dédée d'Anvers (1948), a film directed by Signoret's first husband, Yves Allégret, a decade earlier. Hollywood beckoned throughout the 1950s, but both Signoret and her second husband, Yves Montand, were refused visas to enter the United States; their progressive political activities did not sit well with the ultra-conservative McCarthy-era mentality that gripped the US at the time. They got visas in 1960 so Montand, a singer, could perform in New York and San Francisco. They were in Los Angeles in March 1960 when Signoret received the Oscar for best actress and stayed on so Montand could play opposite Marilyn Monroe in Let's Make Love (1960). The Signoret film that is shown most often on TV and got a theatrical re-release in 1995, four decades after it was made is the French thriller Diabolique (1955). The chilly character Signoret plays is proof of her acting ability. More typical of her person is the countess in Ship of Fools (1965), a film that also starred Vivien Leigh ,which more than doubled its chances of being in a video-store or library film collection.
- Actress
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Danielle Darrieux was born in 1917 in Bordeaux, France, to Marie-Louise (Witkowski) and Germain Jean Darrieux, a physician. She was raised in Paris. She was only fourteen when she auditioned for a secondary role in Le bal (1931): she got the part, and the producer offered her a five-year contract. She had her first romantic lead in La crise est finie (1934) and scored an international hit with the historical drama Mayerling (1936) in which she played Marie Vetsera opposite Charles Boyer. In 1938, she went to Hollywood to appear in the fine comedy The Rage of Paris (1938) but quickly returned to Paris.
Darrieux remained in France during the Occupation and was one of the leading actresses during this period, starring in major hits such as Premier Rendez-Vous (1941). In 1945, she appeared both on stage (in "Tristan et Isolde") and on screen (in Au petit bonheur (1946)). In the next three decades, she found several important roles, in films like La Ronde (1950), The Earrings of Madame De... (1953) -- in which she gave her best performance, as a society lady torn between her husband and her lover -- and The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967).
In 1970, she replaced Katharine Hepburn on Broadway in "Coco." Afterwards, she made occasional screen and stage appearances. But she made a triumphant comeback in 2002, playing Catherine Deneuve's mother in the international hit 8 Women (2002).
She died on October 17, 2017 in Bois-le-Roi, Eure, France. She was 100.- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
This suave, elegant character star was a ubiquitous presence in French cinema for nearly seven decades. His distinguished career extended to both stage and screen and his versatility was such that he could take on just about any persona (in his own words: "I do not put on an act... I slip away behind my characters"), from police inspectors to gangsters, from priests and academics to King Louis XVI and the Marquis de Sade. More than a few of his portrayals were of ordinary bourgeois caught up in difficult circumstances or undergoing mid-life crisis. However, Piccoli truly excelled in sardonic, cynical or morally ambiguous roles - playing smooth, quietly-spoken types harbouring dark passions or sinister secrets. His directors have included a veritable who's who of European film makers: Luis Buñuel (six times), Claude Sautet (five times), Alfred Hitchcock (who cast him as Jacques Granville, the principal antagonist in Topaz (1969)), Jean-Pierre Melville, Louis Malle, Alain Resnais, and Jean-Luc Godard.
Piccoli was born in Paris on December 27 1925. His parents were both musicians: his father a Swiss-born violinist, his mother a French pianist. He made his screen debut at 19, for a number of years confined to small supporting roles. Becoming actively involved in left-wing politics, Piccoli joined the Saint-Germain-des-Prés social set, headquartered at the Tabou club and comprising intellectuals and artists whose adherents included the philosophers Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre, as well as the chanson and cabaret singer Juliette Gréco (to whom Piccoli was married from 1966 to 1976). His career took off in the early 60s and he enjoyed his first major success as Brigitte Bardot's husband in Godard's Contempt (1963). Luis Bunuel also recognized Piccoli's potential and employed his trademark cerebral eloquence on pivotal parts in important films like Diary of a Chambermaid (1964), Belle de Jour (1967) and The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972). In 1973, Piccoli formed his own production company, Films 66, which allowed him even greater freedom in selecting his roles. He continued to work steadily, retaining his huge popularity with French audiences throughout the 80s and 90s. Though nominated four times, he never won the coveted Cesar Award. However, his many other accolades included a win as best actor at Cannes in 1980 and two German Film Awards (in 1988 and 1992). He also directed three feature films, one of which, Alors voilà, (1997), won the Bastone Bianco critical award at the Venice Film Festival.- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Jacques Villeret was born on 6 February 1951 in Tours, Indre-et-Loire, France. He was an actor and writer, known for Le Dîner de Cons (1998), Robert et Robert (1978) and Malevil (1981). He was married to Irina Tarassov. He died on 28 January 2005 in Evreux, Eure, France.- Mr. Denner began studying in Paris with Charles Dullin in 1945. Four years later, he joined the National Popular Theater. In 1962, he was offered his first big film role, in Bluebeard (1963). He made thirty films after that, notably with Claude Lelouch and François Truffaut. Over the years, he worked under some of France's best-known directors, including Louis Malle. During the 70's and 80's, he notoriously personified police detectives in famous French "Films Noirs" such as Mille milliards de dollars (1982) or The Night Caller (1975).
- Marc Michel was born on 10 February 1929 in Basse-Terre, Guadeloupe, France. He was an actor, known for The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964), Lola (1961) and The Free Frenchman (1989). He was married to Liv Knutsen. He died on 3 November 2016 in Dreux, Eure-et-Loir, France.
- Director
- Writer
- Editor
Jean Delannoy began his film career in the 1920s as an actor. By the 1930s he had switched careers and become an editor, then a short-subjects director. By the mid-'30s he was a full-fledged director, and soon garnered a reputation as a sensitive, understated craftsman with a thorough command of the medium. By the 1950s, however, he was doing overheated melodramas and overblown epics, including a particularly undistinguished version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame (The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1956)), and he was soon reduced to churning out such drivel as Action Man (1967) (US title: "Action Man") and The Double Bed (1965) (US title: "The Double Bed").- Actor
- Writer
- Director
Henri Garcin was born on 11 April 1928 in Antwerp, Belgium. He was an actor and writer, known for The Woman Next Door (1981), The Pink Panther (2006) and Destroy, She Said (1969). He died on 13 June 2022 in Evreux, Eure, France.- Writer
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
- Director
Alain Jessua was born on 16 January 1932 in Paris, France. He was a writer and assistant director, known for Life Upside Down (1964), Frankenstein 90 (1984) and En toute innocence (1988). He was married to Anna Gaylor. He died on 30 November 2017 in Évreux, Eure, France.- Composer
- Music Department
- Actor
Daniel White was born on May 22, 1912, in Malakoff, a suburb of Paris, France. His ancestors were Scottish. White grew up in West Yorkshire around the moors. His family moved to Paris while Daniel was still young and he was initially expected to enter the family textile business. After the company went under, White was fortunately able to pursue his interest in music instead.
During World War II he worked as an interpreter with the British army and was almost killed during the evacuation of Dunkirk. Following the war, Daniel played piano in nightclubs and cabarets. He composed his first film soundtrack in 1947. He wrote the jingles for numerous 1950s TV commercials, which included spots for Polo and Kit-E-Kat that were shown on British television.
Daniel composed the scores for many movies made by maverick Spanish exploitation filmmaker Jesús Franco, starting with La mano de un hombre muerto (1962). In addition, he also did the music for pictures made by directors Pierre Chevalier and León Klimovsky. Moreover, White recorded a large volume of albums under several pseudonyms; said albums include comedy records as Emile Doryphore, rock records as Guy Forlane, and organ music as Virginie Morgane.
An incredibly fast and prolific musician, White was known for recording 12 tracks for an album in a single day. His favorite composers were Debussy and Ravel. Daniel was especially fond of composing for the human voice. Besides composing scores for Franco, White also acted in a handful of Franco's films -- he was usually cast as a police inspector -- and even worked as a production assistant on a few features for Franco during his extremely busy early-1970s period in Portugal. Daniel White died at age 85 on May 24, 1997.- Dominique Marcas was born on 8 August 1920 in Dozule, Calvados, Basse-Normandie, France. She was an actress, known for The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (1999), The Perils of Gwendoline in the Land of the Yik Yak (1984) and Love Me Strangely (1971). She died on 15 February 2022 in Illiers-l'Évêque, Eure, France.
- Lucienne Legrand was born on 18 July 1920 in Douai, Nord, France. She was an actress, known for A Slightly Pregnant Man (1973), Shock Treatment (1973) and Au théâtre ce soir (1966). She was married to André Legrand. She died on 19 October 2022 in Nogent-le-Rotrou, Eure-et-Loir, France.
- Oscar-Claude Monet was born on November 14, 1840, in Paris, France. His father, named Adolphe Monet, was a grocer. His mother, named Louise-Justine Monet, was a singer. Young Monet grew up in Le Havre, Normandy. There he developed a reputation for the caricatures he loved to draw. He studied drawing with Jean-Francois Ochard, an apprentice of Jacques-Louis David. Then he studied painting 'en plein air' with marine painter 'Eugene Boudin'. After having served in the French Army in Algeria for two years, Monet was decommissioned after contracting a typhoid. In 1862, in Paris he joined the studio of Charles Gleyre, where he met Alfred Sisley, Frederic Bazille, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir.
In 1865 Monet submitted his painting to the official Salon for the first time. His 'Le dejeuner sur l'uerbe' (The Picnic 1865), depicting his lady friend Camille Doncieux and artist Bazille, was gently criticized by Courbet; Monet modified the painting, then, still unsatisfied, dismissed it from the show. In 1866, he painted Camille Doncieux as 'Camille, ou la femme a la robe verte' (Woman in the green Dress), and in 1867, she bore their first child, named Jean. Monet's paintings were treated as inferior at the Salon shows. In 1868 he made a suicide attempt. With the modest financial support from Frederic Bazille, Monet survived the first attack of depression. In 1870 he married Camille Doncieux and they settled in Argenteul. There he painted from a boat on the Seine River, capturing his impressions of the interplay of light, water and atmosphere.
Claude Monet became enthusiastic over the London landscapes, when he took refuge in England, to avoid the Franco-German War of 1870-1871. In London he was joined by his friend Camille Pissarro and the two artists continued painting landscapes. At that time Monet became interested in the paintings of William Turner in London museums. Turner's influence on Monet remained noticeable, especially in some later more vivdly chromatic paintings of the Thames, which he made during his visits to London in the 1890's and 1900's. In 1899, in London, Monet painted the river Thames in the series of paintings of the Houses of Parliament with the reflections of light in the river and fog. Then Monet said, "Without the fog, London would not be a beautiful city."
Monet's painting 'Impression, soleil levant' (Impression, Sunrise 1872) was untitled until the first show in 1874, in the Paris studio of photographer Nadar. A title was needed in a hurry for the catalogue. Monet suggested simply 'Impression'. The catalogue editor, Renoir's brother Edouard, added an explanatory 'Sunrise'. From the painting's title, art critic Louis leroy coined the term "Impressionism", which he intended to be derogatory. Monet's title came under criticism which seized upon the first word. Monet with Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Camille Pissarro, Alfred Sisley, were joined by Edgar Degas, and continued to exhibit together despite the financial failure of the first show.
Impressionists slowly gained recognition after 1880, when public begun to recognize the value of their works. In 1883 Monet was able to rent a house in Giverny, in Haute-Normandie. In 1890 Monet bought the house and expanded the garden into a beautifully landscaped park with a pond. There he painted many landscapes, and his water lily pond became the favorite subject of his paintings during the next 40 years of his life. Monet outlived his second wife and first son Jean. He suffered from cataracts, which affected his vision so that his later paintings had a general reddish tone. After two cataract surgeries in 1923, Monet even repainted some of the reddish paintings. He died on December 5, 1926, and was laid to rest at the Giverny church cemetery.
"My king is the sun, my republic is water, my people are flowers and leaves," said Claude Monet. He was the first artist to present his initial impressions as completed works. In 2004, his London painting 'Le Parlement, Effet de Brouillard' (The Parliament, Effects of Sun in the Fog. 1904), sold for over $20,000,000. - Director
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
- Writer
Jacques Besnard was born on 15 July 1929 in Le Petit-Quevilly, Seine-Inférieure [now Seine-Maritime], France. He was a director and assistant director, known for Le fou du labo IV (1967), What's Cooking in Paris (1966) and C'est pas parce qu'on n'a rien à dire qu'il faut fermer sa gueule... (1975). He died on 9 November 2013 in Boutigny-Prouais, Eure-et-Loir, France.- Jean-Marie Proslier was born on 25 February 1928 in Montargis, Loiret, France. He was an actor and writer, known for Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo (1977), Cheers to Cyanide (1968) and Emmenez-moi au théâtre: Pas d'orchidées pour Miss Blandisch (1978). He died on 15 November 1997 in Evreux, Eure, France.
- Director
- Writer
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
André Zwoboda (1910-1994) was a shooting star. His first effort, co-directed by Renoir, Becker and Le Chanois, was a communist party's propaganda movie "La Vie Est À Nous" (1936) which has not worn well. "Croisières Sidérales" (1942) was a rare French attempt at a science-fiction movie. Its subject was the theory of relativity, perhaps the first time screenwriters had used it. But though the credits claimed that the movie was based on scientific facts, it did not delude for long. "François Villon" was a biography of the poet, its only asset was the casting of Serge Reggiani as the writer. His best movie, however, remained unsung: "La Septième Porte" (1948) is a curious philosophical tale, one of the most fascinating movies of the genre. "Les Noces De Sable" (1949) transferred the legend of Tristan and Iseut to Africa: and if the intention was not clear enough, Cocteau was the narrator. "Capitaine Ardant" his final effort, based on a novel by Pierre Nord, was a colonial film which dealt with Moroccan rebellions.- Eddy Debray was born on 19 December 1880 in Nantes, Loire-Atlantique, France. He was an actor, known for The Rules of the Game (1939), The Story of the Fox (1937) and La dame aux camélias (1934). He died on 14 April 1974 in Beaumont-les-Autels, Eure-et-Loir, France.
- Writer
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Teolinda Joaquina de Sousa Lança, better known as Linda de Suza, was a Portuguese Lusophone and Francophone singer, actress and best-selling author. She was nicknamed the Singing French Icon of Portuguese Immigration.
In the late 1970s, she managed to record music albums. Her works such as "Tiroli-Torola", "La fille qui pleurait", "Un Enfant peut faire le monde" and "L'Étrangère" drew a large audience in France. She topped her success with her performance at Paris Olympia.
Linda de Suza sang fado, folk, ballads and popular songs in both French and Portuguese and was nicknamed "Amália of France" after Amália Rodrigues, to whom she paid tribute in her song "Amália". Amália Rodrigues, known as "Rainha do Fado" ("Queen of Fado") and was also nicknamed by the President of Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, as the Singing "French Icon of Portuguese Immigration".
In 1984, Linda de Suza published her autobiography La Valise en Carton (The Cardboard Suitcase). The book was also published the same year in Portugal, as A Mala de Cartão. Her book was followed by a number of novels. La Valise en carton was adapted into the cinema-film miniseries A Mala de Cartão (1988), in 1988. All were successful.
In 2013, the song "L'Étrangère" by Linda de Suza appears in one of the most popular European films of that year The Gilded Cage (2013) and is once again remembered by the various Portuguese communities that live in French-speaking countries.
Linda de Suza died in France on 28 December 2022, at age 74, from complications of COVID-19.- Micheline Boudet was born on 28 April 1926 in Metz, Moselle, Lorraine, France. She was an actress, known for Would-Be Gentleman (1958), Le malade imaginaire (1959) and Le barbier de Séville ou La précaution inutile (1960). She was married to Julien Bertheau. She died on 5 July 2022 in Serville, Eure-et-Loir, France.
- Actor
- Writer
Luc Florian was born on 24 August 1951 in Saint-Ouen, Seine-Saint-Denis. He was an actor and writer, known for The Swashbuckler (1971), Pilotes de course (1975) and He Died with His Eyes Open (1985). He died on 30 March 2023 in Anet, Eure-et-Loir, France.- Espanita Cortez was born on 7 August 1921 in Ville d'Avray, Hauts-de-Seine, France. She was an actress, known for The Three Musketeers: Part I - The Queen's Diamonds (1961), Amazing Monsieur Fabre (1951) and The Girl in the Bikini (1952). She died on 14 March 2014 in Vernon, Eure, France.
- Patrick Burgel was born on 7 September 1946 in Carrières-sous-Poissy, Yvelines, France. He was an actor, known for The Visitors (1993), Highlander (1992) and Châteauvallon (1985). He died on 5 June 2012 in Vernon, Eure, France.
- Simone Berteaut was born on 29 May 1918 in Lyon, Rhône, France. She was a writer, known for Piaf: The Early Years (1974), Dossier Souvenirs (1970) and Samedi soir (1971). She died on 30 May 1975 in Prunay-le-Gillon, Eure-et-Loir, France.
- Actor
- Composer
- Soundtrack
Leny Escudéro was born on 5 November 1932 in Aurizberri, Navarra, Spain. He was an actor and composer, known for La reine blanche (1991), Babeau (1973) and Une vie à t'attendre (2004). He was married to Celeste Bettencourt. He died on 9 October 2015 in Giverny, Eure, France.