Valerie French (born Valerie Harrison; 11 March 1928 [or 1932] – 3 November 1990) was an English film and stage actress whose career began in 1954.
Career
French was born in London to Frank Orvin Percy Harrison and Muriel Clare, née Smith.[1] Her father was an accountant who had served as a Lieutenant with the Artists Rifles regiment in the First World War.[2][3][4]
She considered her "real start in the theatre" to have been at the Theatre Royal, Windsor in Berkshire, England.[5]
She moved into film acting in her early twenties. Her first film appearance was in a minor role in the 1954 Italian film Maddalena. After a role in the British film The Constant Husband (1955), she moved to Hollywood.[6]
French returned to the theatre in the 1960s. She performed in a Broadway production of John Osborne's play Inadmissible Evidence in 1965 and was also in Help Stamp Out Marriage! in 1966. She caused a minor sensation by appearing on stage naked in The Mother Lover at the Booth Theatre in 1969, though only her back was visible to the audience.[6]
Personal life
French was married twice. In 1952, at the age of 24, she married the playwright Michael Pertwee (b. 1916). They divorced seven years later.[6]
In 1970, at the age of 42, French married the actor Thayer David (b. 1927). They divorced five years later. They later got back together and were planning to remarry at the time of his death in 1978.[6]
French died of leukemia in New York City in 1990, aged 62. Some sources say she was born in 1932[7] and was 59 when she died.[6]
