Juliette Gréco
Belgian card by Cox, no. 10.
French actress and chanson singer Juliette Gréco (1927) was the muse of the existentialists such as Jean-Paul Sartre. Later she became the protégée of film mogul Darryl F. Zanuck, who cast her in his films.
Juliette Gréco was born in Montpellier, France, to a Corsican father and a mother active in the Résistance, in the Hérault département of southern France. She was raised by her maternal grandparents. Gréco also became involved in the Résistance, and was caught but not deported because of her young age. She moved to Saint-Germain-des-Prés in Paris in 1946 after her mother left the country for Indochina with the Navy. Gréco became a devotee of the bohemian fashion in post-war France. She dressed generally in black and let her long, black hair hang free. Greco almost married Miles Davis when he visited Paris in 1949. She became a muse not only for Sartre but for Albert Camus, Jacques Brel and Serge Gainsbourg, some of whom wrote strange, elliptical, poetic songs for her. She also became acquainted with Jean Cocteau, who gave her a role in Orphée/Orpheus (1950, Jean Cocteau) with Jean Marais. Other films in which she appeared were Au royaume des cieux/The Sinners (1949, Julien Duvivier) with Serge Reggiani, the comedy ...Sans laisser d'adresse/Without Leaving An Address (1951, Jean-Paul Le Chanois), Quand tu liras cette lettre/When You Read This Letter (1953, Jean-Pierre Melville), and Elena et les hommes (1956, Jean Renoir) starring Ingrid Bergman.
In 1949 Julliette Gréco also began a singing career. Si tu t'imagines (1950), with lyrics by Raymond Queneau, was one of her earliest songs to become popular. Other famous songs of her are Les Dames de la poste (1952) and Déshabillez-moi (1967). In 1956, during the shooting of the film The Sun Also Rises (1957, Henry King) with Tyrone Power and Ava Gardner, she became the paramour of American film producer and 20th Century Fox studio head Darryl F. Zanuck. He cast his protégee in films like The Naked Earth (1958, Vincent Sherman), The Roots of Heaven (1958, John Huston) with Errol Flynn, and Crack in the Mirror (1960, Richard Fleischer) with Orson Welles. She also prospered after parting company with 20th Century-Fox in the early 1960’s, continuing to play choice club dates and to co-star in such internationally financed films as The Night of the Generals (1967, Anatole Litvak) with Peter O’Toole and Omar Sharif. In later years she appeared in Lily, aime-moi/Lily, Love Me (1975, Maurice Dugowson) with Patrick Dewaere, the fantasy film Belphégor - Le fantôme du Louvre/Belphegor, Phantom of the Louvre (2001, Jean-Paul Salomé) with Sophie Marceau, and Jedermanns Fest/Everyman's Feast (2002, Fritz Lehner) opposite Klaus Maria Brandauer. In 1982 she published her autobiography, Jujube. ). In 2001 she suffered a heart attack on stage in her hometown Montpélier, but she recovered. Juliette Gréco has been married three times: to actor Philippe Lemaire (1953-1956); actor Michel Piccoli (1966-1977), and pianist Gérard Jouannest (1988-). Her daughter, Laurence-Marie Lemaire, is an actress too.
Sources: Wikipedia, Hal Erickson (All Movie Guide), Glyn Brown (The Independent), and IMDb.
Juliette Gréco
Belgian card by Cox, no. 10.
French actress and chanson singer Juliette Gréco (1927) was the muse of the existentialists such as Jean-Paul Sartre. Later she became the protégée of film mogul Darryl F. Zanuck, who cast her in his films.
Juliette Gréco was born in Montpellier, France, to a Corsican father and a mother active in the Résistance, in the Hérault département of southern France. She was raised by her maternal grandparents. Gréco also became involved in the Résistance, and was caught but not deported because of her young age. She moved to Saint-Germain-des-Prés in Paris in 1946 after her mother left the country for Indochina with the Navy. Gréco became a devotee of the bohemian fashion in post-war France. She dressed generally in black and let her long, black hair hang free. Greco almost married Miles Davis when he visited Paris in 1949. She became a muse not only for Sartre but for Albert Camus, Jacques Brel and Serge Gainsbourg, some of whom wrote strange, elliptical, poetic songs for her. She also became acquainted with Jean Cocteau, who gave her a role in Orphée/Orpheus (1950, Jean Cocteau) with Jean Marais. Other films in which she appeared were Au royaume des cieux/The Sinners (1949, Julien Duvivier) with Serge Reggiani, the comedy ...Sans laisser d'adresse/Without Leaving An Address (1951, Jean-Paul Le Chanois), Quand tu liras cette lettre/When You Read This Letter (1953, Jean-Pierre Melville), and Elena et les hommes (1956, Jean Renoir) starring Ingrid Bergman.
In 1949 Julliette Gréco also began a singing career. Si tu t'imagines (1950), with lyrics by Raymond Queneau, was one of her earliest songs to become popular. Other famous songs of her are Les Dames de la poste (1952) and Déshabillez-moi (1967). In 1956, during the shooting of the film The Sun Also Rises (1957, Henry King) with Tyrone Power and Ava Gardner, she became the paramour of American film producer and 20th Century Fox studio head Darryl F. Zanuck. He cast his protégee in films like The Naked Earth (1958, Vincent Sherman), The Roots of Heaven (1958, John Huston) with Errol Flynn, and Crack in the Mirror (1960, Richard Fleischer) with Orson Welles. She also prospered after parting company with 20th Century-Fox in the early 1960’s, continuing to play choice club dates and to co-star in such internationally financed films as The Night of the Generals (1967, Anatole Litvak) with Peter O’Toole and Omar Sharif. In later years she appeared in Lily, aime-moi/Lily, Love Me (1975, Maurice Dugowson) with Patrick Dewaere, the fantasy film Belphégor - Le fantôme du Louvre/Belphegor, Phantom of the Louvre (2001, Jean-Paul Salomé) with Sophie Marceau, and Jedermanns Fest/Everyman's Feast (2002, Fritz Lehner) opposite Klaus Maria Brandauer. In 1982 she published her autobiography, Jujube. ). In 2001 she suffered a heart attack on stage in her hometown Montpélier, but she recovered. Juliette Gréco has been married three times: to actor Philippe Lemaire (1953-1956); actor Michel Piccoli (1966-1977), and pianist Gérard Jouannest (1988-). Her daughter, Laurence-Marie Lemaire, is an actress too.
Sources: Wikipedia, Hal Erickson (All Movie Guide), Glyn Brown (The Independent), and IMDb.