Jeanne Moreau (Paris, 23 January 1928) is a French actress, best known for her roles in the films Les Amants and ''Jules et Jim.
Jeanne Moreau was born in Paris, France in 1928. Her father was the owner of a bar in the Montmartre, her mother a British dancer. At the Conservatoire of Paris she took acting classes, after which they made her stage debut in 1948 on the theatre festival of Avignon. After this, she was invited to join the very prestigious Comédie-Française. She was twenty years, the youngest person who became a member of this French theatre company.
Moreau then played in several B-movies. Filmmakers found her not photogenic enough to make a great movie star, presumably because of her refusal to use makeup. The French film director Louis Malle on the other hand, saw in her a great talent and directed her big break Ascenseur pour l ' échafaud , movie from 1957 (also known under the English titles Elevator to the Gallows and Frantic). Malle and Moreau had a short-lived relationship. The following year, Malle directed her for the successful but controversial Les Amants, a sensual film about a bored housewife who enters into an affair with a stranger. Among other things because of a notorious nude scene the film came with effort by the American censorship.
Thanks to these two films, she was considered one of the most important actresses of the French Nouvelle Vague. In 1961 , she appeared in her most internationally successful film, Jules et Jim by François Truffaut. With him, she made a second film in 1968 , La mariée était on noir (The Bride Wore Black). During the 1960s she played in even more films by great directors including Michelangelo Antonioni (La Notte, 1961), Luis Buñuel (Le Journal d'une Femme de Chambre, 1964) and several films of Orson Welles.
From the 1960s until the 1990s, she starred in several movies, which they rejected, in favor of big Hollywood projects often European works. So, she appeared in Les Valseuses by Bertrand Blier (1974) and La Femme Nikita by Luc Besson (1990). Yet she was also in some American movies to see. In 1976 she took her directorial debut on,Lumière, followed by L'Adolescente from 1979. From 1977 to 1979 she is married to William Friedkin, best known as the Director of The Exorcist .
Jeanne Moreau has performed twice as President of the jury of the Cannes Film festival, in 1975 and 1995.
Filmography (selection)[Edit][]
- La reine Margot (1954)
- Touchez Pas au Grisbi (1954)
- Gas-oil (1955)
- Ascenseur pour l ' échafaud (1957)
- Les Amants (1958)
- Les Liaisons dangereuses 1960 (1959)
- Moderato cantabile (1960)
- La notte (1961)
- Jules et Jim (1962)
- The Trial (1962)
- Le Feu follet (1963)
- Le Journal d'une femme de chambre (1964)
- The Yellow Rolls-royce (1964)
- The Train (1964)
- Viva Maria! (1965)
- Chimes at Midnight (1967)
- La Mariée était and noir (1968)
- Monte Walsh (1970)
- Lumière (1976)
- The Last Tycoon (1976)
- Mr. Small (1976)
- L'Adolescente (1978)
- Querelle (1982)
- La Femme Nikita (1990)
- La Vieille Qui Marchait Dans la Mer (1991)
- Le temps qui reste (2005)