Michèle Morgan
Michèle Morgan (born February 29, 1920 in Neuilly-sur-Seine , † December 20, 2016 in Meudon as Simone Renée Roussel ) was a French film actress . She was one of the most popular film actresses in her country, especially in the 1940s and 1950s, but was also in demand in international film.
Life
Michèle Morgan's career began after taking acting lessons from René Simon in Paris in 1935. In 1938 she stood in front of the camera alongside Jean Gabin and Pierre Brasseur under the director Marcel Carné in one of her most famous films - in Quai des brumes - Hafen im Nebel . Like her subsequent films, The Law of the North and Barges , which she finally established as a film star, this is attributed to the style of poetic realism . In view of the Second World War, Morgan went to Hollywood in October 1940 , where she got contracts with RKO and Universal. She played leading female roles alongside Paul Henreid in Joan of Paris (1942) and with Frank Sinatra in High and Higher . Morgan was also in discussion for Ilsa Lund in Casablanca alongside Humphrey Bogart . The role ultimately went to Ingrid Bergman , but in 1944 Morgan was to play alongside Bogart in Ticket to Marseille , a film with very similar themes to Casablanca .
After the end of the war in 1946, she decided to return to France, although she had been an American citizen since 1943. However, she became internationally known and in demand through her time in America. For the French film La Symphonie pastorale by Jean Delannoy , she received the award for best actress at the first ever Cannes Film Festival . She was the most popular actress in France in the 1950s, filming with famous colleagues such as Jean Gabin, Pierre Brasseur, Gérard Philipe , Yves Montand , Jean Marais and Humphrey Bogart. This was followed by internationally known films such as Carol Reed's British film drama Little Heart in Need (1948), Alessandro Blasetti's historical film adaptation of Fabiola (1949) in Italy or Yves Allégret's Oscar- nominated film The Haughty (1953). She often took on roles in historical films, for example by René Clair and Sacha Guitry , she played Marie Antoinette and Joséphine de Beauharnais , among others . In 1955 she played the lead role in the classic film The Great Maneuver , directed by René Clair . In 1959 she was in People in the Hotel , a film adaptation of Vicki Baum's novel, as prima ballerina Grusinskaja alongside OW Fischer and Heinz Rühmann .
Her trademarks were her crystal blue eyes, which were considered to be extraordinarily beautiful, as well as the role of the distant and lonely-looking but independent woman. In the 1960s she made two of your films with the famous French director François Villiers . In the American war film You fear neither death nor the devil (1966) with Anthony Quinn and Alain Delon , she took on an important supporting role. After the comedy film Benjamin , she turned to painting , which she had studied at the Art School in Los Angeles. Her late roles include appearing alongside Marcello Mastroianni in All's Going Well (1990), the last role she played in the 1999 television film La rivale .
In 1965 she published her memoir under the title Mes Yeux ont vu (My eyes have seen) , followed by the sequel in 1977. In 1969 she was made a Knight of the Legion of Honor . Hollywood honored her with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (1645 Vine Street). In 1992 she received the honorary award for her life's work at the César Awards .
In 1942 she married William Marshall , with whom she had a son, Mike Marshall , who also starred in several films. After divorcing William Marshall in 1949, she married the French actor Henri Vidal . After his death, actor and director Gérard Oury became her third husband, the couple were married from 1960 until Oury's death in 2006. Morgan died of natural causes in December 2016 at the age of 96 and was buried on the Cimetière Montparnasse .
Filmography (selection)
- 1937: The fifth juror (Gribouille)
- 1937: Orage - Directed by Marc Allégret
- 1938: Harbor in the Fog (Le Quai des Brumes)
- 1939: The law of the north (La loi du nord)
- 1939–1941: barges (Remorques)
- 1942: Joan of Paris
- 1943: Ticket to Marseille (Passage to Marseille)
- 1943: Higher and Higher
- 1946: And there was light (La Symphonie pastorale)
- 1946: The Chase
- 1948: Little Heart in Need (The Fallen Idol)
- 1948: Meeting point Rio (Aux yeux du souvenir)
- 1949: The career of Doris Hart (La Belle que voilà)
- 1948: Fabiola
- 1950: The dreaming heart (Marie Chapdelaine)
- 1950: Sinful Love (L'étrange Madame X)
- 1950: Rendezvous in Paris (Le château de verre)
- 1952: One night's confession (La minute de verité)
- 1952: The seven sins (Les sept péchés capitaux)
- 1953: Stay in front of Vera Cruz / The Haughty (Les Orgueilleux)
- 1954: love, women and soldiers (Destinées)
- 1954: Napoleon (Napoléon)
- 1955: oasis
- 1955: The great maneuver (Les grandes manœuvres)
- 1955: The Flower of the Night (Marguerite de la nuit)
- 1956: A Queen's Romance Novel (Marie-Antoinette)
- 1957: Under the blazing sun (The Vintage)
- 1957: Lucifer's daughter (Retour de Manivelle)
- 1958: The day and the night (Le miroir à deux faces)
- 1958: The affairs of Madame M. (Maxime)
- 1959: people in the hotel
- 1959: Woman in Purgatory (Pourquoi viens-tu si tard?)
- 1960: Fortunat
- 1960: Vis-à-vis (Les scélérats)
- 1961: The three truths (Le puits aux trois vérités)
- 1961: A warning is given about salon lions (Les lions sont lachés)
- 1961: Dr. Malbus disappeared at four (Rencontres)
- 1961: Crimes of love (Le crime ne paie pas)
- 1963: The Woman Killer of Paris (Landru)
- 1963: watch out, ladies! (Méfiez-vous, mesdames)
- 1963: In chains to the scaffold (Il fornaretto di Venezia)
- 1963: The Murder That Happened Twice (Constance aux enfers)
- 1964: The cruel eye (Les Yeux cernés)
- 1966: They Fear Neither Death nor the Devil (Lost Command)
- 1968: Benjamin - From the diary of a male virgin (Benjamin ou Les mémoires d'un puceau)
- 1971: Paulina runs away (Pauline s'en va)
- 1975: A cat chases the mouse (Le chat et la souris)
- 1978: A man seeks a woman (Robert et Robert)
- 1990: Everyone is fine (Stanno tutti bene)
- 1995: The Architect's Widow (La veuve de l'Architecte)
- 1999: La rivale (TV movie)
theatre
- Chéri , by Colette , (1982)
- Les Monstres sacrés , with Jean Marais , (1993)
Web links
- Michèle Morgan in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Pictures by Michèle Morgan In: Virtual History
Individual evidence
- ^ Michèle Morgan est morte: décès de la comédienne du "Quai des Brumes" . ( Memento of the original from December 21, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. AFP article in The Huffington Post , December 20, 2016, accessed December 20, 2016 (French).
- ↑ Obituary in the world
- ↑ Obituary in the Tagesspiegel
- ^ The haughty ones in the online film database
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Morgan, Michèle |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Roussel, Simone Renée (maiden name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | french actress |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 29, 1920 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Neuilly-sur-Seine , France |
| DATE OF DEATH | 20th December 2016 |
| Place of death | Meudon , France |