Jeanne Moreau

Jeanne Moreau

at the San Sebastian International Film Festival (2006)
Born 23 January 1928 (1928-01-23) (age 83)
Paris, France
Occupation Actress, screenwriter, film director
Years active 1947–present
Spouse Jean-Louis Richard (1949–1951) (divorced) 1 child
Teodoro Rubanis (m.1966)
William Friedkin (1977–1979)

Jeanne Moreau (French pronunciation: [ʒan mɔˈʁo]; born 23 January 1928) is a French actress, singer, screenwriter and director.

She made her theatrical debut in 1947, and established herself as one of the leading actresses of the Comédie-Française. She began playing small roles in films in 1949 and eventually achieved prominence as the star of Elevator to the Gallows (1958), directed by Louis Malle and Jules et Jim (1962), directed by François Truffaut. Most prolific during the 1960s, Moreau continues to appear in films to the present day.

Moreau is the recipient of a César Award for Best Actress, a BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actress and a Cannes Film Festival Best Actress Award for individual performances, and several lifetime awards.

Contents

Early life

Moreau was born in Paris, the daughter of Katherine (née Buckley), a dancer who performed at the Folies Bergère, and Anatole-Désiré Moreau, a restaurateur.[1][2] Moreau's father was French and her mother was English, a native of Lancashire, England and of part Irish descent.[2][3][4] Moreau's father was Catholic and her mother, originally a Protestant , converted to Catholicism upon marriage.[2] Moreau studied at the Conservatoire de Paris.

Career

In 1947, she made her theatrical debut at the Avignon Festival. By her twenties, Moreau was already one of leading stage actresses at the Comédie-Française.[2] After 1949, she began appearing in films with small parts. From the late 1950s, after appearing in several successes, 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). The latter film, controversial in its day, led the media to tag her 'The New Bardot'.

Largely thanks to those films, she went on to work with many of the best known New Wave and avant-garde directors.[2] François Truffaut's New Wave film Jules et Jim (1962), her biggest success internationally, is centred on her magnetic starring role.[2] She has also worked with a number of other notable directors such as Michelangelo Antonioni (La notte and Beyond the Clouds), Orson Welles (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), and Carl Foreman (Champion).

Moreau has enjoyed success as a vocalist. She has released several albums and once performed with Frank Sinatra at Carnegie Hall.[2] In addition to acting, Moreau has also worked behind the camera, as a writer, director and producer.[2] Her blended accomplishments were the subject of a 1988 film profile, Calling The Shots, by Janis Cole and Holly Dale.

Personal life

Throughout her life, she has 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 has been married twice, to Jean-Louis Richard (1949-1951) and American film director William Friedkin (1977-1979). Director Tony Richardson left his wife, Vanessa Redgrave, for her in 1967, but they never married. She has also dated directors Louis Malle and François Truffaut, fashion designer Pierre Cardin[5], and Theodoros Roubanis, a Greek actor/playboy.[6]

She is a close friend of Sharon Stone, who presented a 1998 American Academy of Motion Pictures life tribute to Moreau. Orson Welles called her "the greatest actress in the world",[7] and to this day she remains one of France's most accomplished actresses.

Filmography

As an actress

As a director

Awards and nominations

César Awards

Year Group Award Film Result
1992 César Awards Best Actress The Old Lady Who Walked in the Sea Won
Year Group Award Film Result
1987 César Awards Best Actress Le Paltoquet Nominated
1988 César Awards Best Actress Le Miraculé Nominated

Molière Awards

Year Group Award Play Result
1988 Molière Awards Best Actress Le Récit de la servante Zerline Won

References

  1. ↑ Jeanne Moreau Biography (1928-)
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 Stated in interview at Inside the Actors Studio
  3. ↑ Famous French people of immigrant origin, Eupedia : France Guide
  4. ↑ Jeanne Moreau Biography - Yahoo! Movies
  5. ↑ http://www.gala.fr/les_stars/leurs_bio/jeanne_moreau
  6. ↑ He was previously been the companion of Henry Plumer McIlhenny and later married Lady Sarah Churchill.[1] His relationship with McIlhenny was cited in Welsh and Tibbett's The Cinema of Tony Richardson(SUNY Press, 1999).
  7. ↑ Salon.com People | Jeanne Moreau

External links

BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role

Rachel Roberts British & Shirley MacLaine Foreign (1960) · Dora Bryan British & Sophia Loren Foreign (1961) · Leslie Caron British & Anne Bancroft Foreign (1962) · Rachel Roberts British & Patricia Neal Foreign (1963) · Audrey Hepburn British & Anne Bancroft Foreign (1964) · Julie Christie British & Patricia Neal Foreign (1965) · Elizabeth Taylor British & Jeanne Moreau Foreign (1966) · Edith Evans British & Anouk Aimée Foreign (1967) · Katharine Hepburn (1968) · Maggie Smith (1969) · Katharine Ross (1970) · Glenda Jackson (1971) · Liza Minnelli (1972) · Stéphane Audran (1973) · Joanne Woodward (1974) · Ellen Burstyn (1975) · Louise Fletcher (1976) · Diane Keaton (1977) · Jane Fonda (1978) · Jane Fonda (1979)

 · (1952–1959) · (1960–1979) · (1980–1999) · (2000–present)
César Award for Best Actress
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1976 Romy Schneider · 1977 Annie Girardot · 1978 Simone Signoret · 1979 Romy Schneider · 1980 Miou-Miou · 1981 Catherine Deneuve · 1982 Isabelle Adjani · 1983 Nathalie Baye · 1984 Isabelle Adjani · 1985 Sabine Azéma · 1986 Sandrine Bonnaire · 1987 Sabine Azéma · 1988 Anémone · 1989 Isabelle Adjani · 1990 Carole Bouquet · 1991 Anne Parillaud · 1992 Jeanne Moreau · 1993 Catherine Deneuve · 1994 Juliette Binoche · 1995 Isabelle Adjani · 1996 Isabelle Huppert · 1997 Fanny Ardant · 1998 Ariane Ascaride · 1999 Élodie Bouchez · 2000 Karin Viard · 2001 Dominique Blanc · 2002 Emmanuelle Devos · 2003 Isabelle Carré · 2004 Sylvie Testud · 2005 Yolande Moreau · 2006 Nathalie Baye · 2007 Marina Hands · 2008 Marion Cotillard · 2009 Yolande Moreau · 2010 Isabelle Adjani