Corinne Calvet (April 30, 1925 – June 23, 2001), bornCorinne Dibos, was a French actress who appeared mostly in American films. According to one obituary, she was promoted "as a combination ofMarlene Dietrich andRita Hayworth", but her persona failed to live up to this description, though the fault lay as much with a string of mediocre films as with a lack of a compelling talent, for Calvet's sultry looks and flashing eyes were allied with an impish sense of humour. She eventually became better known for her fiery private life and some well-publicised legal battles.^[1]

Corinne Calvet
Calvet on the August 1953 cover ofEpoca
Born	Corinne Dibos (1925-04-30)April 30, 1925 Paris, France
Died	June 23, 2001(2001-06-23) (aged 76) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Alma mater	Sorbonne University
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1945–1988
Known for	Rope of Sand Sailor Beware When Willie Comes Marching Home What Price Glory My Friend Irma Goes West On the Riviera Thunder in the East Powder River Flight to Tangier
Spouses	John Bromfield ​ ​ (m. 1948;div. 1954)​ Jeffrey Stone ​ ​ (m. 1955;div. 1960)​ Robert J. Wirt ​ ​ (m. 1968;sep. 1971)​
Children	1

Calvet was born in Paris. Her mother was a scientist who played a part in the development of thermally resistant glass.^[2]

One of her sisters, a doctor, died when taken hostage by the Germans during the war. She and her father had to flee Paris when the Germans came.^[3]

Calvet studiedcriminal law at the Sorbonne. "A lawyer needs exactly what an actor needs, strong personality, persuasive powers and a good voice," she said later.^[4]

While studying law, she often went to theDeux Magots café where her group of friends includedJean-Paul Sartre,Jean Cocteau andJean Marais, which prompted her to try acting. Marais advised her to joinCharles Dullin's acting school, where he had trained alongsideSimone Signoret andGérard Philipe. She then studied at L'Ecole du Cinema.^[1]

Calvet made her debut in French radio, stage plays, and cinema in the 1940s. She appeared uncredited in the filmBlind Desire (1945) and was the French voice ofRita Hayworth in dubbed versions of American movies.^[1]

She had a speaking part inPetrus (1946) starringFernandel.^[5] Her father did not want her to use the family name, so she chose "Calvet" from a name on a bottle of wine (she felt that alliteration had been lucky for Michèle Morgan, Dannielle Darrieux, and Simone Signoret).^[6]

Calvet played a model inWe Are Not Married (1946) and had a supporting role inLast Chance Castle (1947).

According to one obituary, "Just after the Second World War, most of the major Hollywood studios were importing female talent from Europe in the hopes of finding anotherGarbo,Dietrich orBergman to lend exoticism to their product.Alida Valli,Hildegard Knef andDenise Darcel were among those who had varying success during the period, and Corinne Calvet was the choice ofParamount."^[1]

The studio was looking for a Frenchwoman to play a suspected collaborator inSealed Verdict (1948). It signed Calvet in February 1947.^[7][8] In April the studio announced she would be called "Corinne Calvat".^[9] Eventually the studio decided Calvet was too young, and in August, castFlorence Marly instead.^[3][10]

Paramount did not use her for a year. Calvet spent that time training and working on her English; however,Hedda Hopper later claimed she spent that time "in nightclubs instead of learning English."^[11] Her visa was nearly rescinded because her association with theexistentialist element in France was suspicious to theHouse Un-American Activities Committee. Paramount dropped her.^[3]

Calvet did a test forMGM, which signed her for six months from July 1948.^[11] She was in a car accident but recovered. She married actorJohn Bromfield who was under contract toHal B. Wallis. Wallis saw a test of Calvet, and in August 1948, took her back to Paramount for a role inRope of Sand (1949) oppositeBurt Lancaster andPaul Henreid, directed byWilliam Dieterle.^[12]

She was given star billing in her second Hollywood film,When Willie Comes Marching Home (1950), starringDan Dailey and directed byJohn Ford for20th Century Fox. Fox bought half her contract from Paramount, having the right to use her for five films.^[3]

Wallis put her inMy Friend Irma Goes West (1950) a film best remembered for being the second movie released starringMartin and Lewis. "I couldn't believe he would cast me in such a script", she later recalled. "Rope of Sand had made me a valuable property. Doing this film would ruin my chances of rising higher as a dramatic star."^[2]

In January 1950,Hedda Hopper claimed that Calvert's "ego is [now] so inflated I doubt if she could get inside a jumping rope...Corinne thinks she's god's gift to America instead of being grateful for the opportunity after flopping at two studios."^[13]

At Paramount, she didQuebec (1951) withJohn Drew Barrymore, a film about theLower Canada Rebellion.

20th Century Fox borrowed her to playDanny Kaye's leading lady inOn the Riviera (1951), which earned her a Roscoe by theHarvard Lampoon for giving one of the worst film performances of 1951.^[4]

Wallis co starred her withJoseph Cotten inPeking Express (1951) and Martin and Lewis inSailor Beware (1952).

John Ford re-teamed her with Dailey inWhat Price Glory (1952). Calvet began appearing on television shows likeLux Video Theatre.

She made a television appearance onThe Colgate Comedy Hour withDonald O'Connor on February 3, 1952. She also appeared on the game showThe Name's the Same, in the "I'd Like to Be" segment, where she stumped the panel with her choice ofRocky Marciano.

At Paramount, she didThunder in the East (1953) withAlan Ladd, then at Fox wasRory Calhoun's leading lady inPowder River (1953).

Paramount put her in the thrillerFlight to Tangier (1953), and she appeared onFord Television Theatre. She developed a night club act and toured the U.S.^[1]

In April 1954, she tried to commit suicide.^[14]

Calvert made two films atUniversal:The Far Country (1954) withJames Stewart, andSo This Is Paris (1954) withTony Curtis. In 1955, she became an American citizen.^[15]

Calvet returned to France to star inOne Step to Eternity (1955), then went to Italy to appear inLe ragazze di San Frediano (1955) andSins of Casanova (1955).

In February 1955, it was announced she would star in a TV series based on the radio showCafe Istanbul but it appears to not have been made.^[16]

She did makeOperazione notte (1957) in Italy.

Calvet went back to Hollywood to appear in episodes ofClimax!,Studio One in Hollywood, andRichard Diamond, Private Detective. She had the lead inPlunderers of Painted Flats (1959) and supportedGeorge Sanders inBluebeard's Ten Honeymoons (1960).

Upset with her treatment in Hollywood, Calvet "decided to return to France to make her headquarters" in 1960.^[17]

She did continue to work in the U.S,. appearing inHemingway's Adventures of a Young Man (1962) andApache Uprising (1965) (with Calhoun) as well as episodes ofThe DuPont Show of the Week,Burke's Law, andBatman.

Calvet's later appearances includePound (1970) byRobert Downey Sr.,The Phantom of Hollywood (1974), an episode ofPolice Story,Too Hot to Handle (1977),The French Atlantic Affair, an episode ofStarsky & Hutch, andShe's Dressed to Kill (1979).

She studied at theArica Institute, aHuman Potential Movement group, and made a new career as a hypnotherapist, specializing in regressing people to their past lives.^{[citation needed]}.

Her last appearances were inHart to Hart (1979),Dr. Heckyl and Mr. Hype (1980),The Sword and the Sorcerer (1982), andSide Roads (1988).

In her memoir, titledHas Corinne Been a Good Girl? (1983), she stated that the roles she played for Hollywood studios never challenged her acting ability. In 1958, referring to being cast as a French temptress, she told an interviewer "If I had come to Hollywood as a dramatic actress, I never would have been Corinne Calvet, and you never would have been sitting here talking to me."^[18]

Calvet was married three times. Her first marriage was to actorJohn Bromfield (1948 – March 17, 1954), who co-starred with her inRope of Sand and who she claimed had been ordered to marry her by his studio. She then married actorJeffrey Stone (1955–1960)^[19] and producer Robert J. Wirt (1968 – October 1971). All three marriages ended in divorce.

She had a son with Jeffrey Stone, John, born in 1956.^[20]

Between her last two marriages, she had a six-year, de facto relationship with millionaire Donald Scott, and they adopted a boy together.^[1] She later admitted she never earned more than $10,000 a year during this period.^[21]

Calvet once said "American men make wonderful husbands if you don't love them. But if you love them, don't marry them. I don't mean they are lousy lovers," Calvet said. "I just think they are little boys who don't know what they want. In America, you don't have romances, you have affairs. And these affairs really lack class."^[22]

In 1952, Calvet sued actressZsa Zsa Gabor for $1 million, accusing her of slander after Gabor was quoted as saying that Calvet was not really French, but was "a cockney English girl who couldn't even speak French a few years ago."^[23] The legal wrangle quickly disappeared from the media.^[4]

In 1967 her boyfriend of six years, Donald Scott, sued Calvet to recover $878,000 in assets that he had put under her name in an effort to hide them from his wife in a divorce battle. A two-week trial resulted in which Scott claimed Calvet had used voodoo to control him. The suit was settled with Calvet returning all but $200,000 of the disputed sum.^{[4][24][25][26]}

Calvet died June 23, 2001, in Los Angeles of anintracerebral hemorrhage.^[4]

• Calvet, Corinne (1983).Has Corinne Been A Good Girl? : The Intimate Memoirs of a French Actress in Hollywood. New York: St. Martin's Press.ISBN 0-312-36405-9.

• Corinne Calvet atIMDb
• Corinne Calvet at theTCM Movie Database 
• Publicity still, Le Petit Journal (Montreal), Sept., 1949.
• The Private Life and Times of Corinne Calvet
• Corinne Calvet Tribute Slide Show