DARRIEUX, DANIELLE

(1917- )

Actress. One of the major actresses of French cinema, Danielle Darrieux was born in Bordeaux but was raised in Paris. She had not intended, it seems, to become an actress, but was instead studying the cello at the Conservatoire de musique, when in 1931 she was cast as Antoinette in Willhelm Thiel's French remake of his German filmLe Bal(1931). There are different versions of how this came about. Some sources say Darrieux's mother arranged the audition, others that Theil discovered Darrieux at the conservatoire. However it happened, the film launched Darrieux's career, and she would go on to work in both cinema and theater.

Darrieux has had a very long and fairly continuous career in cinema lasting fromLe Balup to the present. Immediately followingLe Bal, she found herself cast in similar juvenile roles in fairly sentimental films, such André Berthomieu'sCoquecigrole(1931) and Michel Bernheim'sPanurge(1932), but by 1936 that would change. Her role in Anatole Litvak'sMayerlingwould make her a genuine star.

AfterMayerling, Darrieux was offered a wider variety of roles. The same year she appeared inMarcel Carné'sJenny(1936) and Alexis Granowsky'sTarass Boulba(1936). There followed a number of other excellent films includingHenri Decoin'sMademoiselle ma mere(1937) and Maurice Tourneur's historical filmKatia(1938). Darrieux's work with Decoin launched not only several years of collaboration between the two, but also a romance, and Darrieux and Decoin married the same year. During their marriage, Decoin typically cast Darrieux in melodramas, and these are regarded as some of her best performances. Decoin/Darrieux collaborations includeAbus de confiance(1938) andRetour à l'aube(1938).

In 1938, Darrieux also crossed the Atlantic to film in Hollywood, whereMayerlinghad also made her a star.She made one film in Hollywood,Rage of Paris(1938), and then quickly returned to France and remained there during the war and occupation, continuing to make films. She, likeArlettyand other actors and filmmakers who remained, would later suffer criticism for what was seen as their collaboration with the Nazi authorities. In Darrieux's case, the criticism stemmed not from her personal relationships, as with Arletty, but from her willingness to work for the Nazi-owned production company,Continental Films. During this period, Darrieux appeared in such films as Decoin'sPremier rendez-vous(1941), a comedy,Léo Joannen'sCaprices(1942), André Cayatte'sLa Fausse maîtresse(1942), andMarcel L'Herbier'sAu petit bonheur(1945). Darrieux and Decoin parted ways during the Occupation, divorcing. They would not work together again for a number of years.

After Liberation, Darrieux did not have the difficulty some of her contemporaries faced in resuming her career. She would also periodically return to Hollywood to film. Some of her best and best-known roles, in fact, are from the postwar period. In 1948, she appeared as the queen oppositeJean Maraisin Pierre Billon's adaptation of Victor Hugo'sRuy Blas. The film remains a classic and the performance is regarded as one of Darrieux's best. She also appeared in two land-markMax Ophulsfilms,La Ronde(1950) andMadame de. . . (1953).

This period would find Darrieux doing more comedy in films. Noteworthy examples areClaude Autant-Lara'sOccupe-toi d'Amélie(1949) and Carlo Rim'sEscalier de service(1954). She did mystery films, such as Joseph L. Mankiewicz's5 Fingers(1952) andJulien Duvivier'sMarie-Octobre(1959), and also literary adaptations, such as Autant-Lara'sLe Rouge et le noir(1954) and Duvivier'sPot-Bouille(1957). She also worked again with Decoin on two fairly dark films,La Vérité sur Bébé Dongé(1952) and the historical filmL'Affaire des poisons(1955). Darrieux, who has a very good singing voice, also produced a number of records during this period, and even made one musical,Rich,Young,and Pretty(1951).

Just as she had little difficulty in continuing her career after the war, the transformations in film caused by the filmmakers of theNouvelle Vagueor New Wave did little to put an end to Darrieux's filmmaking career. Although she concentrated her efforts more on her stage career in the 1960s and 1970s, even replacing Katharine Hepburn on Broadway in the stage productionCoco, Darrieux acted in film. She appeared in such films as Autant-Lara'sVive Henri IV. . .vive l'amour(1961), Duvivier'sLe Diable et les dix commandements(1962),Claude Chabrol'sLandru(1962), andJacques DemyandAgnès Varda'sLes Desmoiselles de Rochefort(1967).

Although she has slowed to one film every year or so since the 1970s, Darrieux has produced a fairly constant body of work even over the past thirty years. Dominique Delouche featured her inDivine(1975). She also appeared inPhilipe de Broca'sLe Cavaleur(1979),André Téchiné'sLe Lieu du crime(1986), andBenoît Jacquot'sCorps et biens(1986). She has quite recently appeared in several films, including Jeanne Labrune'sÇa ira mieux demain(2000) and Thierry Klifa'sUne vie à t'attendre(2004), and she gave a fabulous performance in François Ozon's acclaimed8 femmes(2002). After more than seventy yearson screen and onstage, Danielle Darrieux has demonstrated a talent and a star power that few actors or actresses have ever had.