Arletty

2025-08-11T13:59:20Z

88.77.21.78: /* External links */

{{Short description|French actress (1898–1992)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2020}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Arletty
| image = File:Arletty Harcourt 1942a.jpg
| image_size =
| caption =Arletty in 1942
| birth_name = Léonie Marie Julie Bathiat
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1898|5|15|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Courbevoie]], France
| death_date = {{death date and age|1992|07|23|1898|5|15|df=y}}
| death_place = [[Paris]], France
| other_names =
| years_active = 1930–1963
| occupation = Actress, singer, fashion model
| spouse =
| website =
}}

'''Léonie Marie Julie Bathiat''' (15 May 1898 – 23 July 1992), known professionally as '''Arletty''', was a French actress, singer, and [[fashion model]]. As an actress she is particularly known for classics directed by [[Marcel Carné]], including ''[[Hôtel du Nord|Hotel du Nord]]'' (1938), ''[[Le jour se lève]]'' (1939) and ''[[Children of Paradise]]'' (1945). She was found guilty of treason for an affair with a German officer during [[World War II]].

==Early years==
Arletty was born on 15 May 1898<ref name=iobit>{{Cite web |date=1992-07-24 |title=Obituary: Arletty |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-arletty-1535292.html |access-date=2024-11-16 |website=The Independent |language=en}}</ref> in [[Courbevoie]] (near Paris), to a working-class family. After her father's death, she left home and pursued a modeling career. She took the stage name "Arlette" based on the heroine of a story by [[Guy de Maupassant]]. She was not interested in acting until she met [[Paul Guillaume]], an art dealer. He recommended some theaters and, at the age of 21, she was hired.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title = Six Exceptional Women|last = Lord|first = James|publisher = Farrar Straus Giroux|year = 1994|location = New York|pages = 43–82}}</ref>

Her early career was dominated by the [[music hall]], and she later appeared in plays and cabaret. In 1928 she performed in [[Maurice Yvain]]'s operetta ''[[Yes (operetta)|Yes]]'' at the [[Théâtre des Capucines]] which was written as a starring vehicle for her.<ref>{{cite work|title=Le giornate del cinema muto; Pordenone 4-11 ottobre 2008, XXVII edizione|publisher=Teatro comunale Giuseppe Verdi : 27th Pordenone silent film festival|year=2008|page=52}}</ref> Arletty was a stage performer for ten years before her [[French film|film]] debut in 1930. Arletty's career took off around 1936 when she appeared as the leading lady in the stage plays ''[[Les Joies du Capitole]]'' and ''[[Fric-Frac]]'', in which she starred opposite [[Michel Simon]]. She later starred as [[Blanche DuBois|Blanche]] in the French version of ''[[A Streetcar Named Desire (play)|A Streetcar Named Desire]]''.<ref>Felando, Cynthia. "Arletty." ''International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers''. Ed. Sara Pendergast and Tom Pendergast. 4th ed. ''Vol. 3: Actors and Actresses''. Detroit: St. James Press, 2000. 35-36. ''Gale Virtual Reference Library''. Web. 23 October 2014.</ref>

[[Marcel Carné]] was known for his [[poetic realism]] filmmaking style. Arletty's role of Raymonde in his film, ''Hotel du Nord'', garnered attention for her "Atmosphere! Atmosphere!” performance. In 1945 Arletty appeared in her most famous film role, the central part of Garance in ''[[Les Enfants du Paradis]]'', her fourth role for the director. For this role she earned one of the highest salaries ever in French cinema.<ref>Aldstadt, David. (2002).'' Imaginary Co-Signatures: Collaboration, Authorship, and Star Personae in Films by Marcel Carne with Arletty and by Jean Cocteau with Jean Marais''. Retrieved from ProQuest. Order Number 3048992</ref>

==Collaboration==
Arletty was imprisoned in 1945 for her wartime liaison with a German ''Luftwaffe'' officer, Hans-Jürgen Soehring (1908–1960),<ref>Mark Le Fanu [http://www.spearswms.com/good-life/books/25097/and-the-show-went-on.thtml Book Review: "And the Show Went On"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131002100250/http://www.spearswms.com/good-life/books/25097/and-the-show-went-on.thtml |date=2 October 2013 }}, ''Spear's'', 4 July 2011</ref> during the [[France during World War II|occupation of France]]. She allegedly later commented on the experience, "My heart is French but my ass is international."<ref>Geoffrey Nowell Smith, ''The Oxford History of World Cinema'', p. 347. See also [http://www.allocine.fr/personne/fichepersonne_gen_cpersonne=224.html Arletty], allocine.fr: "''mon coeur est français mais mon cul est international!''"</ref> The quotation in French is "Si mon cœur est français, mon cul, lui, est international". Although other French women fell in love with German soldiers, her romantic affiliation with Soehring during the German occupation prompted a charge of [[treason]].

[[James Lord (author)|James Lord]] wrote of her special treatment:

<blockquote>Arletty was too well known for the mere humiliation of having her head shaved, her naked skull tarred with a swastika and in this abject state paraded through the streets to confront the jeers and spittle of the mob. Prison would be none too good for her, people said, looking forward to severe retribution for the moral treason of which they found her guilty.<ref name=":0" /></blockquote>
For her crimes she received a sentence of eighteen months' imprisonment. She served a two-month sentence.<ref name=iobit/>

==Later years==
After a moderately successful period as a stage actress in later life she was forced to retire into private life due to progressive loss of her eyesight. One of her final screen appearances was in a small role as an elderly French woman in ''[[The Longest Day (film)|The Longest Day]]'' (1962).

==Legacy==
In 1995 the government of France issued a series of limited edition coins to commemorate the centenary of film that included a 100 Franc coin bearing the image of Arletty.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.monnaie-de-collection.com/PBSCCatalog.asp?CatID=217619 |work=Monnaie de collection |title=MDP les francs |access-date=21 May 2010 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100130232538/http://www.monnaie-de-collection.com/PBSCCatalog.asp?CatID=217619 |archive-date=30 January 2010 }}</ref>

==Filmography==
{{Div col|colwidth=30em}}
* ''[[The Sweetness of Loving]]'' (1930) as Une dactylo
* ''[[A Dog That Pays Off]]'' (1932) as Josyane Plaisir
* ''[[The Beautiful Adventure (1932 French-language film)|The Beautiful Adventure]]'' (1932) as Madame Desmignières
* ''[[Abduct Me]]'' (1932) as Lulu
* ''[[Mademoiselle Josette, My Woman (1933 film)|Mademoiselle Josette, My Woman]]'' (1933) as Unknown role
* ''Je te confie ma femme'' (1933) as Totoche
* ''Une idée folle'' (1933) as Anita - une danseuse
* ''Un soir de réveillon'' (1933) as Viviane
* ''[[Court Waltzes]]'' (1933) as La chocolatière
* ''Le voyage de Monsieur Perrichon'' (1934) as Anita Mathieu
* ''[[Pension Mimosas]]'' (1935) as La môme Parasol
* ''[[Vertigo (1935 film)|Vertigo]]'' (1935) as Emma
* ''[[Madame Angot's Daughter (film)|Madame Angot's Daughter]]'' (1935) as Ducoudray
* ''[[Lovers and Thieves]]'' (1935) as Agathe
*''[[La Garçonne (1936 film)|La Garçonne]]'' (1936) as Niquette
* ''[[Adventure in Paris]]'' (1936) as Rose Blondel de Saint-Leu
* ''[[The Bureaucrats (1936 film)|The Bureaucrats]]'' (1936) as La belle-soeur de la hourmerie
* ''Le Mari rêvé'' (1936) as Eve Roland
* ''[[Let's Make a Dream]]'' (1936) as Une invitée (prologue)
* ''Mais n'te promène donc pas toute nue'' (1936) as Clarisse
* ''Feu la mère de madame'' (1936) as Yvonne
* ''[[The Pearls of the Crown]]'' (1937) as La reine d'Abyssinie
* ''[[Désiré (1937 film)|Désiré]]'' (1937) as Madeleine Crapicheau, la femme de chambre
* ''[[Aloha, le chant des îles]]'' (1937) as Ginette Gina
* ''[[Mirages (1938 film)|Mirages]]'' (1938) as Arlette
* ''[[The Little Thing (1938 film)|The Little Thing]]'' (1938) as Irma Borel
* ''[[Mother Love (1938 film)|Mother Love]]'' (1938) as Bernadette Mezin
* ''[[Hôtel du Nord]]'' (1938) as Raymonde
* ''[[Le jour se lève|Daybreak]]'' (1939) as Clara
* ''[[Fric-Frac]]'' (1939) as Loulou
* ''[[Extenuating Circumstances (film)|Extenuating Circumstances]]'' (1939) as Marie Qu'a-d'ça
* ''[[Thunder Over Paris]]'' (1940) as Ida
* ''[[Madame Sans-Gêne (1941 film)|Madame Sans-Gêne]]'' (1941) as Catherine Hubscher
* ''[[The Woman I Loved Most]]'' (1942) as Simone, l'actrice locataire
* ''[[Bolero (1942 film)|Bolero]]'' (1942) as Catherine
* ''[[The Lover of Borneo]]'' (1942) as Stella Losange
* ''[[Les Visiteurs du soir]]'' (1942) as Dominique
* ''[[Children of Paradise]]'' (1945) as Claire Reine, dite Garance
* ''Madame et ses peaux-rouges'' (1948) as Mademoiselle Pascale
* ''[[Portrait of an Assassin]]'' (1949) as Martha
* ''[[Gigolo (1951 film)|Gigolo]]'' (1951) as Madame Alice
* ''[[Love, Madame]]'' (1952) as Herself
* ''[[The Father of the Girl]]'' (1953) as Edith Mars
* ''[[Flesh and the Woman]]'' (1954) Blanche
* ''[[The Air of Paris]]'' (1954) Blanche Le Garrec
* ''[[Huis clos (1954 film)|Huis clos]]'' (1954) as Inès, une lesbienne
* ''[[My Priest Among the Poor]]'' (1956) as Nine
* ''[[Explosive Vacation!]]'' (1957) as Arlette Bernard
* ''[[The Stowaway (1958 film)|The Stowaway]]'' (1958) as Gabrielle<ref name="stow">{{cite magazine|first=Stephen|last=Vagg|magazine=Filmink|access-date=22 June 2025|date=22 June 2025|url=https://www.filmink.com.au/the-films-of-lee-robinson-and-chips-rafferty-part-5-the-stowaway/|title=The films of Lee Robinson and Chips Rafferty Part 5: The Stowaway}}</ref>
* ''[[And Your Sister?]]'' (1958) as Lucrèce du Boccage
* ''[[Sunday Encounter]]'' (1958) as Juliette Armier
* ''[[Maxime (film)|Maxime]]'' (1958) as Gazelle
* ''Paris la belle'' (1960, short) as Récitante / Narrator (voice)
* ''Les Primitifs du XIIIe'' (1960, short) as Récitante / Narrator (voice)
* ''[[The Dance (1962 film)|The Dance]]'' (1962) as La mère d'Albert
* ''[[Girl on the Road]]'' (1962) as Gabrielle, maîtresse de Rameau
* ''[[The Law of Men (1962 film)|The Law of Men]]'' (1962) as Loune de Lindt
* ''[[The Longest Day (film)|The Longest Day]]'' (1962) as Madame Barrault
* ''[[Destination Rome]]'' (1962) as La marquise
* ''[[The Trip to Biarritz]]'' (1963) as Fernande
* ''Dina chez les rois'' (1967) as Récitante / Narrator (voice)
* ''Jacques Prévert'' (1977) as Herself
*''Carné, l'homme à la caméra'' (1985) as Herself (voice)
{{div col end}}

==References==
<references />

==Further reading==
* {{cite book |author=Arletty |title=La Défense |publisher=de la Table ronde |location=Paris |year=1971}}
* {{cite book |author=Arletty |author2=Michel Souvais |title=Je suis comme je suis |publisher=Vertiges du Nord / Carrère |location=Paris |year=1987 |ISBN=2-86804-404-2}}
* {{cite book |first=Michel |last=Souvais |title=Arletty, confidences à son secrétaire |publisher=Publibook |location=Paris |date=September 2006}}

==External links==
{{Portal|Biography}}
* {{IMDb name|0001916}}
* {{Tcmdb name}}
* {{Allmusic|class=artist|id=p210930}}
* [http://filmsdefrance.com/FDF_arletty.html Arletty] at filmsdefrance.com
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090426090054/http://www.marcel-carne.com/presse/parismatcharletty92.html Interview d'Arletty avec Marcel Carné (Paris Match 1992) ]
* Arletty esoteric biography via 4dbios [http://www.4dbios.com/E5-FranceHollywood.html] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161228003544/http://4dbios.com/E5-FranceHollywood.html |date=28 December 2016 }}
* [http://www.arletty.com/books.html bibliography]
* {{in lang|de}} [http://www.zeit.de/2009/32/A-Arletty?page=all ''Eine Liebe in Zeiten des Krieges'']. [[Die Zeit]], No. 32, 2009

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arletty}}
[[Category:1898 births]]
[[Category:1992 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Courbevoie]]
[[Category:Actresses from Île-de-France]]
[[Category:French cabaret singers]]
[[Category:French cabaret performers]]
[[Category:French film actresses]]
[[Category:French stage actresses]]
[[Category:French bisexual actresses]]
[[Category:French blind people]]
[[Category:20th-century French actresses]]
[[Category:20th-century French women singers]]
[[Category:Pseudonymous actors]]

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Arletty