Catherine Deneuve

Catherine Deneuve
Image:Catherine deneuve2.jpg Catherine Deneuve at Cannes in 2000.
Birth name	Catherine Fabienne Dorléac
Born	October 22 1943 (age 64) Paris, France
Spouse(s)	David Bailey (1965-1972)
Awards Academy Awards nominated for Best Actress (1991) for Eliane in Indochine César Awards Best Actress, in The Last Metro (1980) and Indochine (1991); and 8 times nominated

Catherine Deneuve (French IPA: [ka'tʀin də'nœv]), born Catherine Fabienne Dorléac, (October 22, 1943, in Paris, France), is an Academy Award-nominated French actress.

A model of French elegance, cultivated lust object for art house filmgoers everywhere, and one of the best-respected actresses in the French film industry, Catherine Deneuve made her reputation playing a series of beautiful ice maidens for directors such as Luis Buñuel and Roman Polanski.

The daughter of French stage and film actor Maurice Dorléac, Deneuve was born in Paris on October 22, 1943. She made her screen debut at the age of 13, with a role in the 1956 film Les Collegiennes, and went on to make a string of films with directors such as Roger Vadim (with whom she had a child) before getting her breakthrough role in Jaques Demy's charming musical, Les Parapluies de Cherbourg (1964).

The burst of stardom that accompanied her portrayal led to two of her archetypal ice maiden roles, first in Roman Polanski's terrifying Repulsion in 1965 and then in Buñuel's 1967 Belle de Jour. Deneuve's startling portrayal of an icy, sexually adventurous housewife in the latter film helped to establish her as one of the most remarkable and compelling actresses of her generation. She further demonstrated her talent that year in Demy's Umbrellas musical follow-up, Les Demoiselles de Rochefort, which she starred in with her sister, Françoise Dorléac.

Deneuve continued to work steadily through the 1960s and 1970s in films such as the 1970 Tristana (her second collaboration with Buñuel) and A Slightly Pregnant Man (1973), in which she starred with her lover at the time, Marcello Mastrioanni. Despite or perhaps because of her stardom, Deneuve chose to avoid Hollywood, limiting her appearances in American films to The April Fools (1969) and Hustle (1975). Deneuve also did prolific work through the 1980s, appearing in such films as François Truffaut's Le Dernier Métro (1980) and Tony Scott's The Hunger (1983). The latter film saw Deneuve playing a bisexual vampire alongside David Bowie and Susan Sarandon, and her performance won her an indelible cult status in the States among lesbians, goths, and artistically inclined teenage boys.

In the 1990s, Deneuve garnered further international acclaim for her roles in several films, including the 1992 film Indochine (for which she won a César Award and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress) and two films directed by André Téchiné, Ma Saison Préférée (1993) and Les Voleurs (1995). In 1996, she paid homage to the director who had first given her fame by taking part in the documentary L'Univers de Jacques Demy. Closing out the final years of the 1990s Deneuve remained consistently working in numerous films (in 1999 alone she appeared in no less than five films : Est-ouest, Le temps retrouvé, Pola X, Belle-maman, and Le vent de la nuit ) continuing to turn in compelling performances.

In 2000 Deneuve received much critical attention when cast alongside eccentric Icelandic singer Bjork in the Lars von Trier's melancholy musical Dancer in the Dark. Though it polarized critics and audiences alike, Dancer nevertheless won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.

Awards

She won the César Award for Best Actress in 1981 for her performance in Le Dernier Métro (1980). She won the César Award for Best Actress a second time for her starring role in the 1992 film, Indochine and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for the same performance. In 1998 she won the Volpi Cup for best actress at the Venice Film Festival for her role in Place Vendôme by Nicole Garcia.

César Award Nominations

• 1976 - Sauvage, Le (by Jean-Paul Rappeneau) (Best Actress)
• 1982 - Hôtel des Amériques (by André Téchiné) (Best Actress)
• 1988 - Agent trouble (by Jean-Pierre Mocky) (Best Actress)
• 1989 - Drôle d'endroit pour une rencontre (by François Dupeyron) (Best Actress)
• 1994 - Ma saison préférée (by André Téchiné) (Best Actress)
• 1997 - Voleurs, Les (by André Téchiné) (Best Actress)
• 1999 - Place Vendôme (by Nicole Garcia) (Best Actress)
• 2006 - Palais Royal! (by Valérie Lemercier) (Best Supporting Actress)

Academy Award Nominations

• 1992 - Indochine (by Régis Wargnier)

Other Career Highlights

Deneuve was the face of Chanel No. 5 in the seventies and caused sales of the perfume to soar in the United States — so much so that the American press, captivated by her charm, nominated her as the world's most elegant woman.

Deneuve is currently a model for MAC Cosmetics and L'Oréal Paris. Her visage has also been used to symbolize Marianne (from 1985-2000), the national symbol of France.

Life

Father: Maurice Dorléac (actor; born March 26, 1901; died December 4, 1979)
Mother: Renée Deneuve (actress; French voice of Esther Williams)
Sister: Françoise Dorléac (actress; born March 21, 1942; died in a car crash June 26, 1967), Sylvie Dorléac, & Danielle Dorléac
Son: Christian Vadim (actor; born June 18, 1963). Father: Roger Vadim (director)
Daughter: Chiara Mastroianni (actress; born May 28, 1972). Father: Marcello Mastroianni (actor)
Relationships: Roger Vadim (director; born January 28, 1928; died February 11, 2000), Marcello Mastroianni (actor; born September 28, 1924; died December 19, 1996), Pierre Lescure (Canal + and Pay-TV tycoon; born July 2, 1945)
Husband: David Bailey (photographer, director, & writer; born January 2, 1938; married August 19, 1965; divorced in 1972)

Filmography

Miscellaneous facts

• Chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (#38) (1995).

• An archetype for French beauty, she succeeded Brigitte Bardot as the model for Marianne, the symbol of the French Republic seen on French coins and stamps (1985 - 2000).

• Ranked #89 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list (October 1997).

• Catherine is the third of four daughters born to the French actors Maurice Dorléac and Renée Deneuve (whose name she uses).

• In an interview, she indicated that she would have loved to have played the title role in Alfred Hitchcock's Marnie (1964).^[1].

• She liked Breaking the Waves (1996) by Lars von Trier so much that she wrote a personal letter to him, asking him for a role in a film of his. The result of this is her part in Dancer in the Dark (2000).

• Has never performed in the theatre due to stage fright.

• Festival tribute at the Créteil International Women's Film Festival, France (1994).

• Was once fashion designer Yves Saint-Laurent's muse, who dressed her for the films Belle de Jour (1967), La Chamade (1968), La Sirène du Mississippi (1969), Un Flic (1972), and The Hunger (1983).

• Had a brand of perfume named after her.

• Measurements: 33 1/2-24-35 (1965 - "My bust is small."), 34 1/2B-25 1/2-36 (in 1985) (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine)

• She speaks fluent Italian and French, as well as semi-fluent English and German.

• Marilyn Monroe is her favorite actress, and The Misfits (1961) is her favorite movie starring Marilyn.

• Vice president of jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 1994.

• Mother-in-law of singer Benjamin Biolay.

• Her role in La Sirène du Mississippi (1969) was played by Angelina Jolie in Original Sin (2001), the American remake of the movie.

• Published her diary "A l'ombre de moi-meme" (In My Shadow), in which she writes about the shootings of Indochine (1992) and Dancer in the Dark (2000).

• Sang duets with Bernadette Lafont (1975), Gérard Depardieu (1980), Malcolm McLaren (1993), Joe Cocker (1995), and Alain Souchon (1997). In 1981, she released an album with songs of Serge Gainsbourg.

• Designer of glasses, shoes, jewelry, perfume, and greeting cards.

• Member of the international jury of the Shangaï Television festival in 1988.

• Her performance as Séverine Sérizy in Belle de Jour (1967) is ranked #59 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006).

• She had a relationship with Francois Truffaut in the 1970s. When the relationship failed, Truffaut had a nervous breakdown. Deneuve attended his funeral in 1984 and later appeared in 8 Femmes (2002) with Fanny Ardant, who was Truffaut's partner at the time of his death and the mother of his youngest daughter.

• Head juror of the 2006 Venice Film Festival.

• She and Marcello Mastroianni made five movies together: 'Les Cent et une nuits de Simon Cinéma (1995), Liza (1972), Touche pas à la femme blanche (1974), Ça n'arrive qu'aux autres (1971) and L'Événement le plus important depuis que l'homme a marché sur la lune (1973).

• The lesbian magazine Curve was originally called 'Deneuve'; it was forced to change its name after a trade mark dispute with her [1]. Deneuve herself has been the subject of repeated rumors of lesbianism or bisexuality [2], likely because she has played lesbian or bisexual characters in several films.

• A Toronto based band Kelly & The Kelly Girls have a song called "Catherine Deneuve" on their album We Love You But Not As Much As We Love Ourselves and even have a video spoofing/paying homage to some of her films [3] Music Video

• On Greys Anatomy, Addison (Kate Walsh) is told she looks like a 'young Catherine Deneuve'.

News

Catherine Deneuve has announced that she will be working with André Téchiné again in 2007.

See also

• Cinema of France

Sources

1. http://film.guardian.co.uk/interview/interviewpages/0,,1577158,00.html

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