French actress, singer, screenwriter and director (1928–2017)
Jeanne Moreau
Moreau in 2000
Born (1928-01-23 ) 23 January 1928Died 31 July 2017(2017-07-31) (aged 89) Resting place Montmartre Cemetery , ParisAlma mater Conservatoire de Paris Occupations
Actress
screenwriter
film director
Years active 1947–2015 Spouses Children 1
Jeanne Moreau (French: [ʒan mɔʁo] ; 23 January 1928 – 31 July 2017) was a French actress, singer, screenwriter, director, and socialite. She made her theatrical debut in 1947, and established herself as one of the leading actresses of the Comédie-Française . Moreau began playing small roles in films in 1949, later achieving prominence with a starring role in Louis Malle 's Elevator to the Gallows (1958). She was most prolific during the 1960s, winning the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress for Seven Days... Seven Nights (1960) and the BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actress for Viva Maria! (1965), with additional prominent roles in La Notte (1961), Jules et Jim (1962), and Le journal d'une femme de chambre (1964).
Moreau worked as a director on several films beginning with 1976's Lumière . She continued to act into the 2010s, winning the César Award for Best Actress for The Old Lady Who Walked in the Sea (1992) and receiving several lifetime achievement awards, including a BAFTA Fellowship in 1996, a Cannes Golden Palm in 2003, and another César Award in 2008. Her collaborator and friend Orson Welles called her "the greatest actress in the world".[ 1] [ 2] [ 3]
Early life and education
Moreau was born in Paris, the daughter of Katherine (née Buckley), a dancer who performed at the Folies Bergère (d. 1990), and Anatole-Désiré Moreau, a restaurateur (d. 1975).[ 4] [ 5] Moreau's father was French; her mother was English, a native of Oldham , Lancashire, England[ 2] and of part Irish descent.[ 5] [ 6] [ 7] Moreau's father was Catholic and her mother, originally a Protestant, converted to Catholicism upon marriage.[ 5] When Jeanne was a young girl, "the family moved south to Vichy , spending vacations at the paternal ancestral village of Mazirat , a town of 30 houses in a valley in the Allier . "It was wonderful there", Moreau said. "Every tombstone in the cemetery was for a Moreau". During World War II, the family was split, and Moreau lived with her mother in Paris. Moreau ultimately lost interest in school and, at age 16, after attending a performance of Jean Anouilh 's Antigone , found her calling as an actor. She later studied at the Conservatoire de Paris . Her parents separated permanently while Moreau was at the conservatory and her mother, "after 24 difficult years in France, returned to England with Jeanne's[ 8] sister, Michelle."[ 8]
Career
In 1947, Moreau made her theatrical debut at the Avignon Festival . She debuted at the Comédie-Française in Ivan Turgenev 's A Month in the Country [ 8] and, by her 20s, was already one of the leading actresses in the theatre's troupe.[ 5] After 1949, she began appearing in films with small parts but continued primarily active in the theatre for several years — a year at the Théâtre National Populaire opposite among others Gérard Philipe and Robert Hirsch , then a breakout two years in dual roles in The Dazzling Hour by Anna Bonacci, then Jean Cocteau 's La Machine Infernale and others before another two-year run, this time in Shaw 's Pygmalion .[ 8] From the late 1950s, after appearing in several successful films, she began to work with the emerging generation of French film-makers. Elevator to the Gallows (1958) with first-time director Louis Malle was followed by Malle's The Lovers (Les Amants , 1959).[ 9]
Moreau went on to work with many of the best known New Wave and avant-garde directors.[ 5] François Truffaut 's New Wave film Jules et Jim (1962), her biggest success internationally, is centered on her magnetic starring role.[ 5] She also worked with a number of other notable directors such as Michelangelo Antonioni (La notte and Beyond the Clouds ), Orson Welles (The Trial , Chimes at Midnight and The Immortal Story ), Luis Buñuel (Diary of a Chambermaid ), Elia Kazan (The Last Tycoon ), Rainer Werner Fassbinder (Querelle ), Wim Wenders (Until the End of the World ), Carl Foreman (Champion and The Victors ), and Manoel de Oliveira (Gebo et l'Ombre ) .
In 1983, she was head of the jury at the 33rd Berlin International Film Festival .[ 10] In 2005, she was awarded with the Stanislavsky Award at the 27th Moscow International Film Festival .[ 11]
Moreau was also a vocalist. She released several albums and once performed with Frank Sinatra at Carnegie Hall in 1984.[ 5] In addition to acting, Moreau worked behind the camera as a writer, director and producer.[ 5] Her accomplishments were the subject of the film Calling the Shots (1988) by Janis Cole and Holly Dale .[citation needed ] She appeared in Rosa von Praunheim 's film Fassbinder's Women (2000).
Personal life
Moreau in 2009
Jeanne Moreau's grave in Montmartre Cemetery .
Throughout her life, Moreau maintained friendships with prominent writers such as Jean Cocteau , Jean Genet , Henry Miller , and Marguerite Duras (an interview with Moreau is included in Duras's book Outside: Selected Writings ). She formerly was married to Jean-Louis Richard (1949–1964, separated in 1951), and then to American film director William Friedkin (1977–1979). She and Richard had a son, Jérôme.[ 12] Director Tony Richardson left his wife Vanessa Redgrave for her in 1967, but they never married.[ 13] She also had relationships with directors Louis Malle and François Truffaut , fashion designer Pierre Cardin ,[ 14] and the Greek actor/playboy Theodoros Roubanis.[ 15]
In 1971, Jeanne Moreau was a signatory of the Manifesto of the 343 which publicly announced that she had obtained an illegal abortion.[ 16]
Moreau was a close friend of Sharon Stone , who presented a 1998 American Academy of Motion Pictures life tribute to Moreau at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater, academy headquarters, in Beverly Hills. Orson Welles called Moreau "the greatest actress in the world",[ 1] [ 2] [ 3] and she remained one of France's most accomplished actresses.
In 2009, Moreau signed a petition in support of director Roman Polanski , who had been detained while traveling to a film festival in relation to his 1977 sexual abuse charges , which the petition argued would undermine the tradition of film festivals as a place for works to be shown "freely and safely", and that arresting filmmakers traveling to neutral countries could open the door "for actions of which no-one can know the effects".[ 17] [ 18]
Moreau died on 31 July 2017 at her home in Paris at the age of 89.[ 3] Her body was discovered by her cleaning maid, and shortly before her death, she said she felt "abandoned" because she could not act anymore.[ 19] [ 20]
Filmography
Actress
Year
Title
Role
Director
Notes
1949
Last Love
Michèle
Jean Stelli
1950
Murders
Martine Annequin
Richard Pottier
Pigalle-Saint-Germain-des-Prés [fr ; cy ]
La môme Pâquerette
André Berthomieu
1952
The Man in My Life
Suzanne Dubreuil
Guy Lefranc
It Is Midnight, Doctor Schweitzer
Marie Winter
André Haguet
1953
Dortoir des grandes
Julie
Henri Decoin
Julietta
Rosie Facibey
Marc Allégret
1954
Touchez pas au grisbi
Josy
Jacques Becker
Les Intrigantes
Mona Rémi
Henri Decoin
Secrets d'alcôve
Jeanne Plisson
Various directors
(segment "Billet de logement, Le")
Queen Margot
Margaret of Valois
Jean Dréville
1955
Les Hommes en blanc
Marianne Déjazet
Ralph Habib
M'sieur la Caille [fr ]
Fernande
André Pergament
Gas-Oil
Alice
Gilles Grangier
1956
The Wages of Sin
Angèle Ribot
Denys de la Patellière
1957
Until the Last One
Gina
Pierre Billon
The She-Wolves
Agnès Vanaux
Luis Saslavsky
L'Étrange Monsieur Steve [fr ; cy ]
Florence
Raymond Bailly [fr ]
Three Days to Live
Jeanne Fortin
Gilles Grangier
1958
Not Delivered
Jacqueline Tourieu
Ascenseur pour l'échafaud
Florence Carala
Louis Malle
Back to the Wall [ru ; fr ; it ]
Gloria Decrey
Édouard Molinaro
Les amants
Jeanne Tournier
Louis Malle
1959
The 400 Blows
Woman with Dog
François Truffaut
cameo appearance
Les liaisons dangereuses
Juliette de Merteuil
Roger Vadim
1960
Five Branded Women
Ljuba
Martin Ritt
Moderato Cantabile
Anne Desbarèdes
Peter Brook
Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress
Dialogue of the Carmelites
Mère Marie de l'Incarnation
Philippe Agostini
1961
La Notte
Lidia Pontano
Michelangelo Antonioni
A Woman Is a Woman
Woman in Bar
Jean-Luc Godard
Uncredited, discussing Jules et Jim
1962
Jules et Jim
Catherine
François Truffaut
Eva
Eva Olivier
Joseph Losey
The Trial
Miss Burstner
Orson Welles
1963
Bay of Angels
Jacqueline "Jackie" Demaistre
Jacques Demy
The Fire Within (Le feu follet )
Eva
Louis Malle
Banana Peel (Peau de banane )
Cathy
Marcel Ophüls
The Victors
the French lady
Carl Foreman
1964
Diary of a Chambermaid
Célestine
Luis Buñuel
The Train
Christine
John Frankenheimer
The Yellow Rolls-Royce
Eloise, Marchioness of Frinton
Anthony Asquith
Mata Hari, Agent H21
Mata Hari
Jean-Louis Richard
1965
Viva Maria!
Maria I
Louis Malle
Chimes at Midnight
Doll Tearsheet
Orson Welles
1966
Mademoiselle
"Mademoiselle"
Tony Richardson
1967
The Oldest Profession (episode "Mademoiselle Mimi")
Mimi Guillotine
Philippe de Broca
(segment "Mademoiselle Mimi")
The Sailor from Gibraltar
Anna
Tony Richardson
1968
The Bride Wore Black
Julie Kohler
François Truffaut
The Immortal Story
Virginie Ducrot
Orson Welles
TV movie
Great Catherine
Catherine
Gordon Flemyng
1969
Le Corps de Diane [fr ]
Diane Vallier
Jean-Louis Richard
1970
Monte Walsh
Martine Bernard
William A. Fraker
The Little Theatre of Jean Renoir
the singer
Jean Renoir
TV movie, (segment "Quand l'amour meurt")
The Deep
Ruth Warriner
Orson Welles
Filming was unfinished
Alex in Wonderland
Herself
Paul Mazursky
1971
Countdown to Vengeance [fr ; it ]
Madeleine St Rose
Roger Pigaut
1972
Chère Louise
Louise
Philippe de Broca
L'humeur vagabonde [fr ]
Myriam Bingeot
Édouard Luntz
Nathalie Granger
"the other woman"
Marguerite Duras
Repeated Absences
nostalgie
Guy Gilles
Voice
1973
Joanna Francesa
Joana
Cacá Diegues
1974
I Love You (1974 film) [d ]
Elisa Boussac
Pierre Duceppe
Les Valseuses
Jeanne Pirolle
Bertrand Blier
Creezy
Renee Vibert
Pierre Granier-Deferre
1975
The Garden That Tilts
Maria
Guy Gilles
Hu-Man
Sylvana
Jérôme Laperrousaz
1976
Lumière
Sarah Dedieu
Jeanne Moreau
Monsieur Klein
Florence
Joseph Losey
The Last Tycoon
Didi
Elia Kazan
1979
The Adolescent
La narratrice
Jeanne Moreau
Voice, Uncredited
1981
Heat of Desire [fr ]
Hélène, la mère de Caroline
Luc Béraud
Your Ticket Is No Longer Valid
Lili Marlene
George Kaczender
1982
A Thousand Billion Dollars
Mme Benoît-Lambert
Henri Verneuil
Querelle
Lysiane
Rainer Werner Fassbinder
La Truite
Lou Rambert
Joseph Losey
1985
Vicious Circle
Ines
TV play
1986
The Paltoquet [de ; fr ]
The Brothel-Keeper
Michel Deville
Sauve-toi, Lola [fr ]
Marie-Aude Schneider
Michel Drach
1986–1987
Le Tiroir secret
Vivi
(different directors)
2 episodes
1987
The Miracle
Sabine
Jean-Pierre Mocky
Remake [fr ]
Herself
Ansano Giannarelli
1989
Jour après jour (1989 film) [fr ]
Janine Weisman
Alain Attal
1990
La Femme Nikita
Amande
Luc Besson
Alberto Express
the Baroness
Arthur Joffé
La Femme fardée [fr ]
Le Doria
José Pinheiro
1991
Anna Karamazoff
the Lady
Rustam Khamdamov
To meteoro vima tou pelargou
the Lady
Theo Angelopoulos
The Old Lady Who Walked in the Sea
Lady M
Laurent Heynemann
Until the End of the World
Edith Farber
Wim Wenders
1992
The Lover
Narrator
Jean-Jacques Annaud
Voice
Map of the Human Heart
Sister Banville
Vincent Ward
La Nuit de l'océan [fr ]
Hélène Sauveterre
Antoine Perset
The Absence
the writer's wife
Peter Handke
À demain [fr ]
Tete
Didier Martiny
1993
Screen Two
Lili
Waris Hussein
Episode: "The Clothes in the Wardrobe "
Je m'appelle Victor [fr ]
Rose
Guy Jacques
Screen One
Angelique
Charles Sturridge
Episode: "A Foreign Field "
1995
One Hundred and One Nights
La première ex-épouse de M. Cinéma
Agnès Varda
Catherine the Great
Empress Elizabeth Petrovna
Marvin J. Chomsky
Beyond the Clouds
a Lady
Michelangelo Antonioni and Wim Wenders
1996
I Love You, I Love You Not
Nana
Billy Hopkins
The Proprietor
Adrienne Mark
Ismail Merchant
1997
Amour et confusions
Libra
Patrick Braoudé
Witch Way Love
Eglantine
René Manzor
1998
Ever After
Grande Dame [de ]
Andy Tennant
1999
Balzac [fr ]
Charlotte-Laure de Balzac
Josée Dayan
TV movie
2000
The Prince's Manuscript
Alessandra Wolf (Licy)
Roberto Andò
Les Misérables
Mere Innocente
Josée Dayan
4 episodes
2001
Lisa
Lisa (old)
Pierre Grimblat
That Love
Marguerite Duras
Josée Dayan
2003
Love Actually
Lady at Marseilles Airport
Richard Curtis
Uncredited
Les Parents terribles [fr ]
Tante Leo
Josée Dayan
2005
Akoibon [fr ]
Madame Paule
Édouard Baer
Time to Leave
Laura
François Ozon
Go West
Novinar
Ahmed Imamović
Les Rois maudits [fr ]
Mahaut, Countess of Artois
Josée Dayan
5 episodes
2006
Roméo et Juliette
Laurence
Yves Desgagnés
2007
Chacun son cinéma
The old woman / Herself
Various directors
(segment "Trois Minutes")
Désengagement
Françoise
Amos Gitai
2008
One Day You'll Understand
Rivka
Amos Gitai
Everywhere at Once
Narrator
2009
Carmel [it ]
Amos Gitai
Voice
Face
Jeanne
Ming-liang Tsai
La guerre des fils de la lumière contre les fils des ténèbres
Amos Gitai
Kérity, la maison des contes
Aunt Eleanor
Dominique Monfery
Voice
2012
Une estonienne à Paris [fr ]
Frida
Ilmar Raag
Gebo et l'Ombre
Candidinha
Manoel de Oliveira
2015
Thanks To My Friends [fr ]
La grand-mère de Thibault
Alex Lutz
(final film role)
Director
Awards and nominations
Films
Theater
References
^ a b "People | Jeanne Moreau" . Salon . Archived from the original on 24 May 2007.
^ a b c "Jeanne Moreau: French screen icon and star of Jules et Jim, dies at 89" . BBC . 31 July 2017. Retrieved 31 July 2017 .
^ a b c Gates, Anita (31 July 2017). "Jeanne Moreau, Femme Fatale of French New Wave, Is Dead at 89" . The New York Times . Retrieved 31 July 2017 .
^ "Jeanne Moreau Biography (1928–)" . Filmreference.com .
^ a b c d e f g h Stated in interview at Inside the Actors Studio
^ Famous French people of immigrant origin, Eupedia: France Guide
^ "Jeanne Moreau Biography" . Yahoo! Movies . Archived from the original on 22 May 2011.
^ a b c d Farrell, Barry , "Actresses: Making the Most of Love" , Time cover story pp. 4–5, 5 March 1965. Retrieved 22 December 2010.
^ Chapman, Peter (31 July 2017). "Jeanne Moreau, actress, 1928–2017" . Financial Times . Retrieved 31 July 2017 .
^ "Berlinale: 1983 Juries" . berlinale.de . Retrieved 14 November 2010 .
^ "27th Moscow International Film Festival (2005)" . MIFF . Archived from the original on 3 April 2013. Retrieved 13 April 2013 .
^ Desta, Yohana (31 July 2017). "Jeanne Moreau, an Icon of French Cinema, Dies at 89" . Vanity Fair . Retrieved 27 August 2020 .
^ needs substantiation
^ "Jeanne Moreau : bio de Jeanne Moreau" . Gala.fr (in French). Archived from the original on 5 February 2009. Retrieved 17 March 2013 .
^ Roubanis was previously the companion of Henry Plumer McIlhenny . The relationship with McIlhenny was cited in Welsh and Tibbett's The Cinema of Tony Richardson (SUNY Press, 1999). Roubanis later married Lady Sarah Churchill. Lady Sarah Spencer-Churchill obituary , The Telegraph , 19 October 2000.
^ "manifeste des 343" . 23 April 2001. Archived from the original on 23 April 2001. Retrieved 27 May 2019 .
^ "Le cinéma soutient Roman Polanski / Petition for Roman Polanski – SACD" . archive.ph . 4 June 2012. Archived from the original on 4 June 2012. Retrieved 20 April 2022 .
^ Shoard, Catherine; Agencies (29 September 2009). "Release Polanski, demands petition by film industry luminaries" . The Guardian . Archived from the original on 28 June 2019. Retrieved 12 June 2019 .
^ "Jeanne Moreau est morte à l'âge de 89 ans" . Le Monde.fr (in French). lemonde.fr. 31 July 2017. Retrieved 31 July 2017 . .
^ "Avant sa mort, Jeanne Moreau "se sentait abandonnée" " (in French). Closermag.fr. 31 July 2017.
External links
Awards for Jeanne Moreau
1946–1975 1976–2000 2001–present
1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s
Award of Merit (Special Achievement Award) Honorary Award
1956–1975 1976–2000 2001–present
1946–1975 1976–2000 2001–present
International National Academics Artists People Other