Catherine Deneuve
Catherine Fabienne Dorléac, known professionally as Catherine Deneuve, is a French actress as well as an occasional singer, model and producer. She gained recognition for her portrayal of icy, aloof and mysterious beauties for various directors, including Luis Buñuel, François Truffaut and Roman Polanski. In 1985, she succeeded Mireille Mathieu as the official face of Marianne, France's national symbol of liberty. A 14-time César Award nominee, she won for her performances in Truffaut's The Last Metro (1980), for which she also won the David di Donatello for Best Foreign Actress, and Régis Wargnier's Indochine (1992). She is also noted for her support for a variety of liberal causes and sometimes controversial statements.
Charles Boyer
Charles Boyer was a French actor who appeared in more than 80 films between 1920 and 1976. After receiving an education in drama, Boyer started on the stage, but he found his success in American films during the 1930s. His memorable performances were among the era's most highly praised, in romantic dramas such as The Garden of Allah (1936), Algiers (1938), and Love Affair (1939), as well as the mystery-thriller Gaslight (1944). He received four Academy Award nominations for Best Actor.
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg is a 1964 musical romantic drama film directed and written by Jacques Demy and starring Catherine Deneuve and Nino Castelnuovo. The music was composed by Michel Legrand. The film dialogue is all sung as recitative, including casual conversation, and is sung-through, or through-composed like some operas and stage musicals.
Claude Jade
Claude Marcelle Jorré, better known as Claude Jade, was a French actress. She is known for starring as Christine in François Truffaut's three films Stolen Kisses (1968), Bed and Board (1970) and Love on the Run (1979). Jade acted in theatre, film and television. Her film work outside France included the Soviet Union, the United States, Italy and Japan.
Jean Marais
Jean-Alfred Villain-Marais, known professionally as Jean Marais, was a French actor, writer, director and sculptor. He performed in over 100 films and was the muse of acclaimed director Jean Cocteau. In 1996, he was awarded the French Legion of Honor for his contributions to French Cinema.
Audrey Tautou
Audrey Justine Tautou is a French actress and model. Signed by an agent at age 17, she made her acting debut at 18 on television and her feature film debut the following year in Venus Beauty Institute (1999), for which she received critical acclaim and won the César Award for Most Promising Actress. Her subsequent roles in the 1990s and 2000s included Le Libertin and Happenstance (2000).
Jacques Demy
Jacques Demy was a French director, lyricist, and screenwriter. He appeared in the wake of the French New Wave alongside contemporaries like Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut. Demy's films are celebrated for their sumptuous visual style. Demy's style drew upon such diverse sources as classic Hollywood musicals, the documentary realism of his New Wave colleagues, fairy-tales, jazz, Japanese manga, and the opera. His films contain overlapping continuity, lush musical scores and motifs like teenaged love, labor rights, incest, and the intersection between dreams and reality. He is best known for the two musicals he directed in the mid-1960s: The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964) and The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967).
The Young Girls of Rochefort
The Young Girls of Rochefort is a 1967 French musical film written and directed by Jacques Demy. The ensemble cast is headlined by real-life sisters Catherine Deneuve and Françoise Dorléac, along with Gene Kelly, and features Jacques Perrin, Michel Piccoli, Danielle Darrieux, George Chakiris, and Grover Dale. The choreography was by Norman Maen.
Coco (musical)
Coco was a 1969 Broadway musical with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by André Previn, inspired by the life of Coco Chanel. It starred Katharine Hepburn in her only stage musical.
Model Shop (film)
Model Shop is a 1969 American film by French writer-director Jacques Demy starring Gary Lockwood, Alexandra Hay, and Anouk Aimée, featuring a guest appearance by Spirit who recorded the soundtrack. Demy made Model Shop, which was his first English-language film, following the international success of his film, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. Aimée reprises the title role from Demy's 1960 French-language film Lola.
Rich, Young and Pretty
Rich, Young and Pretty is a 1951 musical film produced by Joe Pasternak for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and directed by Norman Taurog. Written by Dorothy Cooper and adapted as a screenplay by Sidney Sheldon. It stars Jane Powell, Danielle Darrieux, Wendell Corey, and Fernando Lamas, The Four Freshmen, and introduced Vic Damone. This was Darrieux's first Hollywood film since The Rage of Paris (1938).
Une chambre en ville
Une chambre en ville is a 1982 French film directed by Jacques Demy, with music by Michel Colombier, and starring Dominique Sanda, Danielle Darrieux, and Michel Piccoli. It is set against the backdrop of a workers' strike in 1955 Nantes. Like Demy's most famous film, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, it is an operetta-musical in which every line of dialogue is sung. But unlike Cherbourg, it is closer to tragedy, with a darker, more explicitly political tone.
Anne Vernon
Anne Vernon, born Edith Antoinette Alexandrine Vignaud, is a French actress. She appeared in 40 films between 1948 and 1970, including three films that were entered into the main competition at the Cannes Film Festival. She is perhaps best known today for her role as Madame Emery, the umbrella-shop owner, in Jacques Demy's 1964 musical The Umbrellas of Cherbourg starring Catherine Deneuve. She was born in Saint-Denis, near Paris.
Henri Decoin
Henri Decoin was a French film director and screenwriter, who directed more than 50 films between 1933 and 1964. He was also a swimmer who won the national title in 1911 and held the national record in the 500 m freestyle. He competed in the 400 m freestyle at the 1908 Summer Olympics and in the water polo tournament at the 1912 Summer Olympics.
Return at Dawn
Return at Dawn is a 1938 French drama film starring Danielle Darrieux, and was directed by Henri Decoin, who co-wrote the screenplay with Pierre Wolff, based on a short story by Vicki Baum. The music score is by Paul Misraki. The sets were designed by the art director Serge Piménoff. It was filmed in Zichyújfalu and Budapest, Hungary.
Premier rendez-vous
Premier rendez-vous is a 1941 French comedy film starring Danielle Darrieux. It was directed by Henri Decoin, who co-wrote the screenplay with Michel Duran. During the German occupation, the film was made by Continental Films at Paris Studios Cinéma.
My Heart Is Calling You
My Heart Is Calling You is a 1934 French-German musical film directed by Carmine Gallone and Serge Véber, written by Ernst Marischka, produced by Arnold Pressburger. The film stars Jan Kiepura, Danielle Darrieux and Lucien Baroux. The music score is by Robert Stolz.
Le désordre et la nuit
Le désordre et la nuit is a 1958 French crime film directed by Gilles Grangier and starring Jean Gabin and Danielle Darrieux. The screenplay is based on the novel Le désordre et la nuit by Jacques Robert. The film was released in the United States as Night Affair.