Jeanne Moreau (French:[ʒanmɔʁo]; 23 January 1928 – 31 July 2017) was a French actress, singer, screenwriter, director, and socialite. She made her theatrical debut in 1947, and established herself as one of the leading actresses of theComédie-Française.
Moreau worked as a director on several films beginning with 1976'sLumière. She continued to act into the 2010s, winning theCésar Award for Best Actress forThe Old Lady Who Walked in the Sea (1992) and receiving several lifetime achievement awards, including aBAFTA Fellowship in 1996, a Cannes Golden Palm in 2003, and another César Award in 2008. Her collaborator and friendOrson Welles called her "the greatest actress in the world".[1][2][3]
Moreau was born in Paris, the daughter of Katherine (née Buckley), a dancer who performed at theFolies Bergère (d. 1990), and Anatole-Désiré Moreau, a restaurateur (d. 1975).[4][5] Moreau's father was French; her mother was English, a native ofOldham, Lancashire, England[2] and of part Irish descent.[5][6][7] Moreau's father was Catholic and her mother, originally a Protestant, converted to Catholicism upon marriage.[5] When Jeanne was a young girl, "the family moved south toVichy, spending vacations at the paternal ancestral village ofMazirat, a town of 30 houses in a valley in theAllier. "It was wonderful there", Moreau said. "Every tombstone in the cemetery was for a Moreau."
DuringWorld War II, the family was split, and Moreau lived with her mother in Paris. Moreau ultimately lost interest in school and, at age 16, after attending a performance ofJean Anouilh'sAntigone, found her calling as an actor. She later studied at theConservatoire de Paris. Her parents separated permanently while Moreau was at the conservatory and her mother, "after 24 difficult years in France, returned to England with Jeanne's[8] sister, Michelle."[8]
In 1947, Moreau made her theatrical debut at theAvignon Festival. She debuted at theComédie-Française inIvan Turgenev'sA Month in the Country[8] and, by her 20s, was already one of the leading actresses in the theatre's troupe.[5] After 1949, she began appearing in films with small parts but continued primarily active in the theatre for several years — a year at theThéâtre National Populaire opposite among othersGérard Philipe andRobert Hirsch, then a breakout two years in dual roles inThe Dazzling Hour by Anna Bonacci, thenJean Cocteau'sLa Machine Infernale and others before another two-year run, this time inShaw'sPygmalion.[8] From the late 1950s, after appearing in several successful films, she began to work with the emerging generation of French film-makers.Elevator to the Gallows (1958) with first-time directorLouis Malle was followed by Malle'sThe Lovers (Les Amants, 1959).[9]
Moreau was also a vocalist. She released several albums and once performed withFrank Sinatra atCarnegie Hall in 1984.[5] In addition to acting, Moreau worked behind the camera as a writer, director and producer.[5] Her accomplishments were a subject in the filmCalling the Shots (1988) byJanis Cole andHolly Dale.[12] She appeared inRosa von Praunheim's filmFassbinder's Women (2000).
In 1971, Jeanne Moreau was a signatory of theManifesto of the 343 which publicly announced that she had obtained an illegal abortion.[17]
Moreau was a close friend ofSharon Stone, who presented a 1998American Academy of Motion Pictures life tribute to Moreau at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater, academy headquarters, in Beverly Hills.Orson Welles called Moreau "the greatest actress in the world",[1][2][3] and she remained one of France's most accomplished actresses.
In 2009, Moreau signed a petition in support of directorRoman Polanski, who had been detained while traveling to a film festival in relation to his 1977sexual abuse charges, which the petition argued would undermine the tradition of film festivals as a place for works to be shown "freely and safely", and that arresting filmmakers traveling to neutral countries could open the door "for actions of which no-one can know the effects".[18][19]
Moreau died on 31 July 2017 at her home in Paris at the age of 89.[3] Her body was discovered by her cleaning maid. Shortly before her death, she had said she felt "abandoned" because she could not act anymore.[20][21]
^Roubanis was previously the companion ofHenry Plumer McIlhenny. The relationship with McIlhenny was cited in Welsh and Tibbett'sThe Cinema of Tony Richardson (SUNY Press, 1999). Roubanis later married Lady Sarah Churchill.Lady Sarah Spencer-Churchill obituary,The Telegraph, 19 October 2000.
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