Josette Day | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Josette Noële Andrée Claire Dagory (1914-07-31)31 July 1914 Paris, France |
| Died | 27 June 1978(1978-06-27) (aged 63) Paris, France |
| Other names | Josette Solvay |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1919–1950 |
| Spouse | Maurice Solvay |
| Partner | Marcel Pagnol |
| Children | Hinano Tiatia Dagory (adopted daughter)[1] |
Josette Noële Andrée Claire Dagory[2] (31 July 1914 – 27 June 1978), better known asJosette Day, was a French film actress.
She began her career as achild actress in 1919 at the age of five. When she was 18, Day was the mistress ofPaul Morand. Later on she got into a relationship with famous French writer and directorMarcel Pagnol, whom she met in January 1939. The relationship lasted up until part of World War II and she did not marry him.[3][4][5][6]
In 1946, she played her best-known role, alongsideJean Marais, as Belle inJean Cocteau's 1946 filmBeauty and the Beast.
Her films include;Allo Berlin? Ici Paris! (1932),The Merry Monarch (based onLes Aventures du roi Pausole) (1933),Lucrèce Borgia (1935),L'homme du jour (1937),Accord final (1938),La Belle et la Bête (1946) andLes Parents terribles (1948).
Despite numerous parts in famous French films, Day ended her career as an actress in 1950 when she was 36 years old. She retired to marry wealthy chemical businessman Maurice Solvay (descendant ofErnest Solvay, founder of the notableSolvay company). In February 1959, while on cruise in the Pacific, she and Solvay met a Tahitian girl at aPapeete market. The girl's name was Hinano Tiatia. The couple took her under their legal guardianship. However, she became the center of Solvay's inheritance dispute having not been adopted at the time of his sudden death in 1960.[7][8][9][10]
