Moreau, Jeanne (1928–)

French actress. Born Jan 23, 1928, in Paris, France; dau. of French father Anatole Moreau (restaurateur) and English mother Kathleen (Buckley) Moreau (entertainer); sister of Michelle Moreau; trained at Paris Conservatory of Dramatic Art; m. Jean-Louis Richard (actor), 1949 (div. 1951); m. William Friedkin (director) 1977 (div. 1978); children: (1st m.) son, Jérôme.

An icon of the French cinema's postwar renaissance, made stage debut in small part in La Terrasse du Midi at Avignon (1947); scored immediate triumph as Veroushka in Comédie Française production of A Month in the Country (1947); offered 4-year contract, became youngest paid actress in history of Comédie Française; received 3rd billing in 1st film, Dernier Amour (Last Love, 1948); played gun molls, prostitutes, and scandalous mistresses (1948–57); was a huge hit in L'heure Eblouissante (The Dazzling Hour) at Théâtre Nationale Populaire (1953); was at forefront of French dramatic theater (mid-1950s) with performances in such plays as La Machine Infernale, Pygmalion, and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof; teamed with Louis Malle for Ascenseur pour L'Echafaud (Frantic, 1957), the opening salvo of the French cinema's New Wave, followed by the explosive Les Amants (The Lovers, 1958); did a cameo for Truffaut's 1st film, Les Quatre Cent Coups (The 400 Blows, 1959), launching her most productive period on film in a string of nouvelle vogue classics: Michelangelo Antonioni's La Notte and, most famously, Truffaut's Jules et Jim (1963); also appeared in Ritt's Five Branded Women, Welles' The Trial and Chimes at Midnight, Losey's Eva, and Buñuel's Le Journal d'une Femme de Chambre (The Diary of a Chambermaid); wrote and directed 1st film, Lumière (Light, 1975) and turned her memories of WWII into her 2nd, L'Adolescente (1978); returned to the stage in Le Récit de la Servante Zerline (Zerline's Story) in a performance hailed throughout Europe; other films include Les Liaisons dangereuses (1959), Le Train (1964), The Yellow Rolls-Royce (1964), Viva Maria (1965), Great Catherine (1968), Chére Louise (1972), Les Valseuses (1974), Souvenirs d'en France (1975), Querelle (1982), La Truite (1982), Le Miraculé (1987), La Femme Nikita (1990), Until the End of the World (1992), Map of the Human Heart (1992) and The Summer House (1994). Received award from Cannes Film Festival for Moderato Cantabile (1960); won Crystal Award for Best Actress for Jules et Jim; awarded the Moliére as Best Actress for Le Récit de la Servante Zerline (1988); won César Award as Best Actress for La Vielle qui Marchait dans la Mer (The Old Woman Who Walked in the Sea, 1992).

See also Marianne Gray, La Moreau: A Biography of Jeanne Moreau (Little, Brown, 1994); and Women in World History.