Jeanne Moreau
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Jeanne Moreau (Template:IPA; 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), La baie des anges (1963), 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".<ref name="People | Jeanne Moreau">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="BBC">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Gates">Template:Cite news</ref>
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).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="actors" /> Moreau's father was French; her mother was English, a native of Oldham, Lancashire, England<ref name="BBC" /> and of part Irish descent.<ref name="actors" /><ref>Famous French people of immigrant origin, Eupedia: France Guide</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Moreau's father was Catholic and her mother, originally a Protestant, converted to Catholicism upon marriage.<ref name="actors">Stated in interview at Inside the Actors Studio</ref> 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<ref name="T01">Farrell, Barry, "Actresses: Making the Most of Love", Time cover story pp. 4–5, 5 March 1965. Retrieved 22 December 2010.</ref> sister, Michelle."<ref name="T01" />
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<ref name="T01" /> and, by her 20s, was already one of the leading actresses in the theatre's troupe.<ref name="actors" /> 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.<ref name="T01" /> 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).<ref name="ftobit">Template:Cite news</ref>
Moreau went on to work with many of the best known New Wave and avant-garde directors.<ref name="actors" /> François Truffaut's New Wave film Jules et Jim (1962), her biggest success internationally, is centered on her magnetic starring role.<ref name="actors" /> 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.<ref name="Berlinale">Template:Cite web</ref> In 2005, she was awarded with the Stanislavsky Award at the 27th Moscow International Film Festival.<ref name="Moscow2005">Template:Cite web</ref>
Moreau was also a vocalist. She released several albums and once performed with Frank Sinatra at Carnegie Hall in 1984.<ref name="actors" /> In addition to acting, Moreau worked behind the camera as a writer, director and producer.<ref name="actors" /> Her accomplishments were a subject in the film Calling the Shots (1988) by Janis Cole and Holly Dale.<ref>Template:Cite AV media</ref> She appeared in Rosa von Praunheim's film Fassbinder's Women (2000).
Personal life
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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.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Director Tony Richardson left his wife Vanessa Redgrave for her in 1967, but they never married.<ref>needs substantiation</ref> She also had relationships with directors Louis Malle and François Truffaut, fashion designer Pierre Cardin,<ref name="Gala.fr">Template:Cite web</ref> and the Greek actor/playboy Theodoros Roubanis.<ref>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.</ref>
In 1971, Jeanne Moreau was a signatory of the Manifesto of the 343 which publicly announced that she had obtained an illegal abortion.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
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",<ref name="People | Jeanne Moreau"/><ref name="BBC"/><ref name="Gates"/> 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".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Moreau died on 31 July 2017 at her home in Paris at the age of 89.<ref name="Gates"/> Her body was discovered by her cleaning maid. Shortly before her death, she had said she felt "abandoned" because she could not act anymore.<ref>Template:Cite news.</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Filmography
Actress
Director
- Lumière (1976)
- L'Adolescente (1979)
- Lillian Gish (1983, TV documentary)
Awards and nominations
Films
| Year | Group | Award | Film | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | César Awards | Honorary César | Lifetime achievement | Won |
| 2005 | Moscow International Film Festival | Stanislavsky Award | Lifetime achievement | Won |
| 2003 | Cannes Film Festival | Honorary Golden Palm | Lifetime achievement | Won |
| 2003 | Taormina International Film Festival | Taormina Arte Award | Lifetime achievement | Won |
| 2001 | Pusan International Film Festival | Hand Printing (tribute) | Lifetime achievement | Won |
| 2000 | Berlin International Film Festival | Honorary Golden Bear | Lifetime achievement | Won |
| 1999 | Hamptons International Film Festival | Distinguished Achievement Award | Lifetime achievement | Won |
| 1999 | Créteil International Women's Film Festival | Homage | Lifetime achievement | Won |
| 1998 | Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences | Tribute | Lifetime achievement | Won |
| 1997 | European Film Awards | Life Achievement Award | Lifetime achievement | Won |
| 1997 | San Sebastián International Film Festival | Donostia Lifetime Achievement Award | Lifetime achievement | Won |
| 1996 | BAFTA Awards | Academy Fellowship | Lifetime achievement | Won |
| 1995 | César Awards | Honorary César | Lifetime achievement | Won |
| 1994 | Women in Film Crystal Award | International Award | Lifetime achievement | Won |
| 1992 | Venice Film Festival | Career Golden Lion | Lifetime achievement | Won |
| 1992 | César Awards | Best Actress | The Old Lady Who Walked in the Sea | Won |
| 1988 | César Awards | Best Actress | Le Miraculé | Nominated |
| 1987 | César Awards | Best Supporting Actress | Le Paltoquet | Nominated |
| 1984 | Razzie Awards | Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Original Song | Querelle – song: "Young and Joyful Bandit" | Nominated |
| 1979 | Berlin International Film Festival | Golden Bear | L'adolescente | Nominated |
| 1979 | Chicago International Film Festival | Gold Hugo | L'adolescente | Nominated |
| 1976 | Chicago International Film Festival | Gold Hugo | Lumière | Nominated |
| 1976 | Taormina International Film Festival | Golden Charybdis | Lumière | Nominated |
| 1967 | BAFTA Awards | Best Foreign Actress | Viva Maria! | Won |
| 1964 | Karlovy Vary International Film Festival | Best Actress | Diary of a Chambermaid | Won |
| 1963 | BAFTA Awards | Best Foreign Actress | Jules et Jim | Nominated |
| 1962 | Jussi Awards | Diploma of Merit – Foreign Actress | La notte | Won |
| 1961 | Fotogramas de Plata | Best Foreign Performer | Le dialogue des Carmélites | Won |
| 1960 | Cannes Film Festival | Best Actress | Moderato cantabile | Won |
| 1958 | Venice Film Festival | Best Actress | Les amants | Won |
Theater
| Year | Group | Award | Play | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | Molière Awards | Best Actress | Template:Ill | Won |
References
External links
- Jeanne Moreau at New Wave Film
- Template:IMDb name
Template:Navboxes Template:Berlin International Film Festival jury presidents Template:Cannes Film Festival jury presidents Template:César Awards presidents
- Pages with broken file links
- 1928 births
- 2017 deaths
- BAFTA fellows
- Best Foreign Actress BAFTA Award winners
- Best Actress César Award winners
- French television actresses
- French people of English descent
- French people of Irish descent
- European Film Academy Lifetime Achievement Award recipients
- Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress winners
- César Honorary Award recipients
- Honorary Golden Bear recipients
- French women film directors
- French women singers
- French film actresses
- French film directors
- Actresses from Paris
- Members of the Académie des beaux-arts
- Musicians from Paris
- French women screenwriters
- French screenwriters
- Conservatoire de Paris alumni
- 20th-century French actresses
- 21st-century French actresses
- Troupe of the Comédie-Française
- French National Academy of Dramatic Arts alumni
- Burials at Montmartre Cemetery
- Because Music artists
- Signatories of the Manifesto of the 343
- Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement recipients