Martin Karol
Martin Karol, incredible, more like a porcelain doll than an earthly woman, a beauty and a real sex symbol of France in the 50s. Martin was born on May 16, 1920. She always wanted to be just an actress! Martin, who was called “in the world” Marie-Louise Mouret, began her career at the small theater Montparnasse, which, by the way, still exists. Then the actress moved to another theater and finally made her film debut in 1943. At the initiative of the actor, François Perrier took the pseudonym Martin Carol and under this name entered the history of French cinema. The directors were attracted by the bright beauty of the actress, her organicity in the frame. In 1947 she played in a duet with Jean Gabin in the film Mirror.
Martin's real life, off the stage and on the screen, was also much more like a dramatic film than the everyday routine of an ordinary woman. Because of unrequited love, Martin tried to commit suicide, became addicted to alcohol and drugs, and then quite happily married director Christian-Jacques, who shot her in his best films: "Lovely Creatures", "Lucrezia Borgia", "Madame Dubarry "," Nana ".
Simone Signoret
Simone was born on March 25, 1921, and unlike many other stars of French cinema, she never dreamed of acting and fame. Throughout her youth, Simona worked as a stenographer and got on the screen almost by accident. Finding her life too boring, the Frenchwoman went to the legendary Cafe Flor, where the whole Parisian bohemia was having fun: actors, artists, singers … Sartre and Picasso were on the list of friends of the future star, it was they who helped her friend get into the world of cinema. Popularity brought her films "The Devil" and "The Way Up", for the main role in which she won an Oscar in 1960.
The personal life of the actress, again unlike many other stars, is striking in its stability. She was married only twice, and if the first marriage was short-lived, then the second with the singer Yves Montand lasted 27 years. Almost all her life, Simone devoted to one man, who, by the way, was not distinguished by faithfulness - is it a joke, Merlin Monroe herself was on his heels, who can resist here? Simone forgave everything. She died in 1985. When Yves Montand was asked in his declining years what had not come true in his life, he replied: "I wanted to die before Simone."
Jeanne Moreau
Jeanne Moreau was born on January 23, 1928. Having decided to devote her life to the theater, the actress refused to act in films for a long time. In addition, there was one annoying little thing that prevented Moreau from winning the hearts of moviegoers - according to the directors who worked with her, Moreau was not as cinematic as one can imagine. At the very beginning of her career, before entering the set, she had to overcome a whole army of make-up artists and hairdressers. However, later, the masters of the greatest art realized that, perhaps, it was precisely in her unique opportunity to transform from a beauty into a simpleton and vice versa that there is the very zest that French filmmakers are always looking for.
She was later called the embodiment of intellectual beauty. Jeanne Moreau has starred in hundreds of films, and has also worked as a director since the mid-70s.
Anouk Eme
Claude Lelouch's film "Man and Woman" is familiar to all of us. Oh, how beautiful she is, the main character: huge dark eyes, chiseled profile, ideal, the embodiment of femininity and sophistication. Her name is Anouk. Anouk Aimé is the stage name of the French actress and enigmatic beauty Françoise Soreia Dreyfus. She was born on April 27, 1932. Since childhood, she dreamed of becoming a ballerina, however, due to her tall stature, she had to give up dancing, Anuk completely went into the acting profession. From the age of 14, the actress often starred, but she achieved her first successes in a difficult field only by the age of 25. Immediately, Anouk became everyone's favorite. Just imagine: 1970 was declared the year of Anouk Aimé in France. Her track record includes such films as "La Dolce Vita" and "8 1/2" by Fellini, it is not surprising that with such experience, Anouk was reluctant to accept new roles,always scrupulously studying the scripts and more often than not remaining dissatisfied.
In life, Anuk Eme was looking for the same thing as on the screen - love. However, she was not too lucky, she was married four times, all four were unsuccessful, but even after that she was sure - to meet a real man on her way, she would risk it again.
Brigitte Bardot
Brigitte was born on September 28, 1934. Like many other iconic actresses of the past, she began with a ballet school - she was accepted there without any delay, thanks to a chiseled figure and unsurpassed grace. True, ideal forms, alas, were the only virtue of the young dancer. Brigitte suffered from strabismus, her upper lip seemed too short to her, because of which her mouth remained constantly open, and in general it was difficult to call her a beauty. Everything changed the girl's passionate desire to get into the world of cinema - in just a few years, from an ugly Brigitte into a dazzling beauty. In 1949, Bardot was already filming for the magazine Jardin des Modes, and a year later she appeared on the cover of the fashion magazine ELLE. From that moment on, Brigitte's career went uphill. Her Pygmalion, the creator,the inspirer director Roger Vadim filmed his beloved in the iconic film And God Created Woman, she remained the main actress in the filmography, although she has more than seventy movie roles.
In 1973, despite her incredible popularity, the actress announced the end of her film career. From now on, her life is dedicated to the fight for animal rights.
Michelle Mercier
Actress Michelle Mercier was born on January 1, 1939. In fact, her name is Jocelyn. However, the name seemed too long for the credits to the director of her debut film "The Turn of the Knob" Denis de la Patelere. Why shouldn't Jocelyne become, for example, Michel? In addition, this was the name of the late sister of the actress, whose loss Mercier was painfully worried about. Since childhood, Michelle dreamed of a career as a ballerina; in her native Nice, she graduated from a ballet school. She entered the Opera of Nice and quickly turned from a clumsy ugly duckling into a real prima. Michelle's provincial achievements seemed few, she went to Paris, where she made her debut in the troupe of Roland Petit. At the same time, Mercier was filming in Italy, the directors of the sunny country appreciated her beauty much more than the French, but Michelle dreamed of fame in her homeland.
The finest hour came in 1964. A series of novels by Ann and Serge Golon about the adventurous beauty Angelica gained incredible popularity among readers, and therefore it was decided to film it. Michelle was approved for the main role. The same role turned out to be a life sentence for the actress - she was reluctantly taken to other films, attempts to conquer Hollywood were also unsuccessful. It was worth admitting: the viewer did not need Michel Mercier at all, but Angelica. She remained her, partly transferring the image into real life, which, by the way, developed very tragically - Michelle was catastrophically unlucky with love.
Catherine Deneuve
She was born a little later than the already mentioned French beauties, on October 22, 1943. But we could not fail to add it to this list. After all, most of us associate classic French cinema with this actress: coffee, cigarettes, an exciting love story. Catherine Deneuve is the perfect example of a real Frenchwoman. We know her mainly thanks to the cult film "Umbrellas of Cherbourg", but the actress's debut took place much earlier. For the first time on the screen, Catherine appeared at the age of 13, then there were several more roles, which, however, passed almost unnoticed - this is not surprising, in those distant, but not yet forgotten times, the older sister of the actress enjoyed much greater success. Because of her, the Frenchwoman even took her mother's surname, so as not to depend on relatives. Glory came to her after the triumph at the Cannes Film Festival of the painting "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg" by Jacques Demy. After the success of "Umbrellas", films with the participation of Catherine Deneuve were often nominated for prestigious awards, hundreds of the actress received proposals from directors, but, nevertheless, she always remained selective. She could be seen in such films as "Disgust" (1965), "Life in the Castle" (1967), "Day Beauty" (1967), "The Last Metro" (1980).
She was called to Hollywood, Deneuve even starred in several American films, but then she returned to her native shores. Today her filmography includes more than 140 films, and the actress is not going to stop there.
Photo: GettyImages, stills from films
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