Jeanne Moreau

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jeanne Moreau
Jeanne Moreau (left) in Jules et Jim
Born	January 23, 1928 (age 79) Paris
Years active	1949-
Spouse(s)	Jean-Louis Richard 1949-51 Teodoro Rubanis 1966-? William Friedkin 1977-79
Notable roles	Florence Carala in Lift to the Scaffold Jeanne Tournier in Les Amants Juliette de Merteuil in Les Liaisons Dangeureuses Catherine in Jules et Jim Jackie Demaistre in Baie des Anges Maria II in Viva Maria!

Jeanne Moreau (French IPA: [ʒan mɔ'ʀo]) (born 23 January 1928 in Paris, France) is a French actress, and director. Moreau was born in Paris, France to an English (dancer) mother and a French barman on January 23, 1928. She studied at the Conservatoire in Paris. In 1947, she made her theatre debut at the Avignon Festival. By her twenties, Moreau was already one of France's leading stage actresses at the Comédie-Française.

After 1951 she began appearing in films with small or "bit" parts. By the late 1950s, after making many mainstream films, including several successes, she made Elevator to the Gallows with first-time director Louis Malle. Largely thanks to that film, she went on to work with many of the best known New Wave and avant garde directors. After 1959's sexy "Les Amants" (The Lovers) the media tagged her as "The New Bardot".

François Truffaut's explosive New Wave film Jules et Jim (1962), her biggest international success up to date, is centered on her magnetic starring role, and is perhaps her most famous film. She has also appeared with a number of other notable directors such as Michelangelo Antonioni (La Notte and Beyond the Clouds)', Jean-Luc Godard (A Woman Is a Woman), Orson Welles (The Immortal Story), Luis Buñuel (Diary of a Chambermaid), Elia Kazan (The Last Tycoon), Rainer Werner Fassbinder (Querelle), and Wim Wenders (Until the End of the World).

Moreau has showcased her unique films and has enjoyed success as a vocalist. She has released several album and once performed with Frank Sinatra at Carnegie Hall.

In addition to acting, Moreau has also worked behind the camera, as a writer, director and producer.

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).

Orson Welles called her "the greatest actress in the world" [1], and to this day she remains one of France's most accomplished and talented actresses.