Darling Légitimus | |
|---|---|
| Born | Mathilda Marie Berthilde Paruta (1907-11-21)21 November 1907 Le Carbet, Martinique, France |
| Died | 7 December 1999(1999-12-07) (aged 92) Le Kremlin-Bicêtre,Île-de-France, France |
| Resting place | Père Lachaise Cemetery |
| Other names | Mathilde Paruta |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Relatives | Pascal Légitimus (grandson) |
Mathilda Marie Berthilde Paruta (21 November 1907 – 7 December 1999), better known by her stage nameDarling Légitimus, was a French actress. In 1983, she received theVolpi Cup for Best Actress for her performance in the filmSugar Cane Alley.
Born on 21 November 1907 at Le Carbet inMartinique, she spent her early years in Caracas, Venezuela. Mathilda Paruta arrived in Paris, France, aged 16, wanting to become a dancer. She met Victor-Etienne Légitimus, son of the governmentdeputy,Hegesippe Jean Légitimus, and went on to become his lifelong companion and bear him five children.
Known for a long time as Miss Darling, she later chose to go by the name of Darling Legitimus. She performed as a dancer inLa Revue nègre (1925) withJosephine Baker,[1] and posed forPicasso as well as for sculptorPaul Belmondo, father ofJean-Paul Belmondo, the actor.
During the 1930s, Darling wrote, composed and sang numerous Caribbean songs such asBiguine andMazurka. She often performed alongside known musicians of the era, including "Pe En Kin Sosso" and his band.
She also performed in plays byJean Genet (Les Nègres) andAimé Césaire. She was directed on the big screen byRaymond Rouleau inLes Sorcieres de Salem (The Crucible) alongsideSimone Signoret andYves Montand, andLe Salaire de la Peur (Wages of Fear) byHenri Georges Clouzot, withSacha Guitry,Jean-Claude Brialy andBernardo Bertolucci.
In 1983, at the age of 76, she won theVolpi Cup for the best female interpretation of "The Mostra of Venise", also for her role inLa Rue Cases-Nègres (Sugar Cane Alley), directed by her compatriotEuzhan Palcy.During her long life, she was acquainted with a great number of famous actors, among themArletty,Fernandel,Marlon Brando andPierre Brasseur. She also took part in numerousORTF (Office de Radio-diffusion de la Television Française) productions, of which a telefilm byJean-Christophe Averty,Les verts Paturages (The Green Pastures, written byMarc Connelly), was produced.
She died on 7 December 1999 atKremlin-Bicetre in theVal de Marne near Paris, in France, without any more acting roles afterSugar Cane Alley in spite of hopes of her nomination and rewards.
The writer,Calixthe Beyala[2] and Caribbean actorLuc Saint-Eloy,[3] representatives of "Liberté" collective came up on stage at theCésar ceremony in 2000, to claim one of the largest presence on French television screens and to pay her a public tribute, since the organizers had "forgotten" to name Darling as one of the previous year's great losses.
A third premiere,La Tragédie du roi Christophe by Aimé Césaire is performed in the Port Royal by the Paris-trained Toucan Noir group from Africa.
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