Danielle Yvonne Marie Antoinette Darrieux (born 1
May 1917) is a French actress and singer, who has appeared in more
than 110 films since 1931. As one of France's great movie stars,
her eight-decade career is among the longest in film history.
Biography
She was
born in Bordeaux
, France
during World War I to a physician who
was serving in the French Army. Her father died when she was
seven years old. Raised in Paris, she studied the
cello at the Conservatoire de Musique. At 13, she won
a part in the
musical film Le Bal (1931). Her beauty combined with her
singing and dancing ability led to numerous other offers, and the
film
Mayerling (1936)
brought her to fame.
In 1935, Darrieux married a
director/
screenwriter,
Henri
Decoin, who encouraged her to try Hollywood. She signed with
Universal Studios to star in
The Rage of Paris (1938)
opposite
Douglas Fairbanks,
Jr. Afterwards, she elected to return to Paris.
Under the
German
occupation of France during World War II, she continued to
perform, a decision that was severely criticized by her
compatriots. However, it is reported that her brother had been
threatened with deportation by
Alfred
Greven, the manager of the German run film production company
in occupied France,
Continental.
She got a divorce and then fell in love with
Porfirio Rubirosa, a Dominican
Republic
diplomat and notorious womanizer. They
married in 1942. His
anti-Nazi opinions
resulted in his forced residence in Germany. In exchange for
Rubirosa's freedom, Darrieux acceded to making a promotional trip
in Berlin. The couple lived in Switzerland until the end of the
war, and divorced in 1947. She married scriptwriter Georges
Mitsikidès in 1948, and they lived together until his death in
1991.
She gave a good performance in the 1951
MGM
musical,
Rich, Young and
Pretty.
Joseph L.
Mankiewicz lured her back to
Hollywood to star in
5 Fingers
(1952) opposite
James Mason. Quickly
returning to France, she appeared in
Max
Ophüls'
The
Earrings of Madame de... (1953) opposite
Charles Boyer, and
The Red and the Black
(1954) opposite
Gérard
Philippe. The next year she starred in
Lady Chatterley's Lover,
whose theme of uninhibited sexuality led to its being proscribed by
Catholic censors in the United
States.
Approaching 40, she played a supporting role in what would be her
last American film,
United Artists'
epic Alexander the Great (1955)
starring
Richard Burton and
Claire Bloom. In 1961 she went to England at
the request of director
Lewis Gilbert
to star in
The Greengage
Summer opposite
Kenneth More.
In 1963,
she starred in the romantic comedy La Robe Mauve de
Valentine at the Chatelet Theatre
in Paris. The play was adapted from the
novel by
Francoise Sagan. During the
1960s she also was a concert singer.
In 1970,
Darrieux replaced Katharine
Hepburn in the Broadway
musical,
Coco, based on the life of
Coco Chanel, but the play, essentially a
showcase for Hepburn, soon folded without her. In 1971–72
she also appeared in the short-lived productions of
Ambassador. For her long service
to the motion picture industry, in 1985 she was given an
Honorary César Award. She has continued
to work, her career now spanning eight decades, most recently
providing the voice of the protagonist's grandmother in the
animated feature,
Persepolis (2007), which deals with
the impact of the Iranian Islamic revolution on a girl's life as
she grows to adulthood.
Selected filmography
References
Bibliography
External links
(1964)
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