Valerie French (actress)

Valerie French (11 March 1928 - 3 November 1990) was an English film and stage actress whose career began in the 1950s.

Career

Born Valerie Harrison in London, she spent her early childhood in Spain, but returned to Britain to become a student at Malvern Girls' College. After graduating, she joined the BBC drama department, working in television production before deciding to become an actress, joining the Theatre Royal Repertory Company.

She moved into film acting in her early 20s. Her first film appearance was in a minor role in the 1954 Italian film Maddalena. After a role in the British film The Constant Husband (1955), she moved to Hollywood.^[1]

Her best-remembered roles during this period were in western films such as Jubal in 1956 opposite Glenn Ford and Decision at Sundown opposite Randolph Scott in 1957. She also appeared in the science fiction film The 27th Day (1957). Critic Gene Blottner says that French's performances in this era were "sultry, exuding raw sex".^[2]

Her television roles included episode No. 61 of Have Gun – Will Travel, and The Prisoner, episode: "Living In Harmony" and episode No. 6 of Trackdown (1957). She later appeared in daytime television shows, including two roles on The Edge of Night, The Nurses and (briefly) All My Children.

Theatre

French returned to the theatre in the 1960s. She performed in a Broadway production of John Osborne's play Inadmissible Evidence in 1965 and was also in Help Stamp Out Marriage! in 1966. She caused a minor sensation by appearing on stage naked in The Mother Lover, at the Booth Theatre in 1969, though only her back was visible to the audience.^[1]

Personal life

French was married twice. In 1952, at the age of 24, she married her first husband, the playwright Michael Pertwee, who was 36 at the time. They divorced seven years later, in 1959, when she was 31 and he was 42.^[1]

In 1970, at the age of 42, French married her second husband, the actor Thayer David. They divorced five years later, in 1975, when she was 47. They later got back together and were planning to remarry at the time of his death in 1978 at the age of 51, when she was 50.^[1]

French died of leukaemia in New York City in 1990, aged 62.^[1]

Filmography

• Maddalena (1954)
• The Constant Husband (1955)
• Jubal (1956)
• The Garment Jungle (1957)
• Decision at Sundown (1957)
• The 27th Day (1957)
• The Hard Man (1957)
• The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake (1959)
• Shalako (1968)

References

External links

• Valerie French on IMDb
• Valerie French at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• Valerie French papers, held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts