Arielle Dombasle
Encyclopedia
Arielle Dombasle is a French-American singer, actress, director and model. Her breakthrough roles were in Éric Rohmer
's Pauline at the Beach
(1983) and Alain Robbe-Grillet
's The Blue Villa
(1995). She is best known to American audiences for her appearances on Miami Vice
and the 1984 miniseries Lace. She has released eight singles between 1978 and 2011 and seven albums.
while another gives April 27, 1958 in Norwich, Connecticut
.
She and her brother Gilbert were raised in Mexico
by their maternal grandparents after their mother died in 1964. She was also raised at Château de Chaintré, the Sonnery family's estate near Saumur
, Maine et Loire. Her maternal grandfather, Maurice Garreau-Dombasle, was a close friend of and advisor to Charles de Gaulle
and served as the French
ambassador to Mexico. Her maternal grandmother was Man'Ha Dombasle (née Germaine Massenet, 1898–1999, a writer and poet who translated Rabindranath Tagore
's works into French and was a longtime friend of the science fiction
writer Ray Bradbury
, who dedicated to her his 1972 novel The Halloween Tree
.
Dombasle family's surname was created in 1912, when Dombasle's grandfather René Sonnery (1887—1925), an industrialist from Lyon
, married Anne-Marie Berthon du Fromental. She took Dombasle as her professional surname in honor of her mother.
Dombasle embarked on a singing career and acting after attending the Conservatoire international de musique de Paris and further studies in Mexico.
She has appeared in several Hollywood
English-language productions, but most of her acting work has been in French
, as are her album
s. She also has directed and written the scripts for two films, Les Pyramides Bleues and Chassé-croisé. Renowned for her beauty, she has described her looks as "a Crazy Horse
dancing girl", a reference to the famous cabaret
in Paris.
. They were married on June 19, 1993 at Saint-Paul-de-Vence on the Côte d'Azur where they have a villa. She has two stepchildren, Antonin-Balthazar Lévy and Justine Lévy
, a novelist. She was previously married to Dr. Paul Albou, described by Vanity Fair
as a "Jewish playboy society dentist 32 years her senior."
Her brother, Gilbert Sonnery (aka Gilbert Sonnery Garreau), is a textile executive, having been chairman of J. B. Martin Ltée and vice chairman of the French holding company MRM.
Éric Rohmer
Éric Rohmer was a French film director, film critic, journalist, novelist, screenwriter and teacher. A figure in the post-war New Wave cinema, he was a former editor of Cahiers du cinéma....
's Pauline at the Beach
Pauline à la plage
Pauline at the Beach is a 1983 French film directed by Éric Rohmer. The film stars Amanda Langlet, Arielle Dombasle, Pascal Greggory and Féodor Atkine.-Plot:The film opens on a shot of a wooden gate, as a car pulls up in front of it...
(1983) and Alain Robbe-Grillet
Alain Robbe-Grillet
Alain Robbe-Grillet , was a French writer and filmmaker. He was, along with Nathalie Sarraute, Michel Butor and Claude Simon, one of the figures most associated with the Nouveau Roman trend. Alain Robbe-Grillet was elected a member of the Académie française on March 25, 2004, succeeding Maurice...
's The Blue Villa
The Blue Villa
Un bruit qui rend fou is a 1995 crime thriller film with Fred Ward.- Plot :The complexly interwoven lives of the residents of an isolated Greek island form the basis of this psycho-sexual drama from iconoclastic film-maker Alain Robbe-Grillet...
(1995). She is best known to American audiences for her appearances on Miami Vice
Miami Vice
Miami Vice is an American television series produced by Michael Mann for NBC. The series starred Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas as two Metro-Dade Police Department detectives working undercover in Miami. It ran for five seasons on NBC from 1984–1989...
and the 1984 miniseries Lace. She has released eight singles between 1978 and 2011 and seven albums.
Childhood
She was born Arielle Laure Maxime Sonnery de Fromental, the daughter of Jean-Louis Melchior Sonnery de Fromental, a silk manufacturer, and Francion Garreau-Dombasle. The date and city of her birth are unclear. One source gives April 27, 1953 in Hartford, ConnecticutHartford, Connecticut
Hartford is the capital of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960, it is the second most populous city on New England's largest river, the Connecticut River. As of the 2010 Census, Hartford's population was 124,775, making...
while another gives April 27, 1958 in Norwich, Connecticut
Norwich, Connecticut
Regular steamship service between New York and Boston helped Norwich to prosper as a shipping center through the early part of the 20th century. During the Civil War, Norwich once again rallied and saw the growth of its textile, armaments, and specialty item manufacturing...
.
She and her brother Gilbert were raised in Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
by their maternal grandparents after their mother died in 1964. She was also raised at Château de Chaintré, the Sonnery family's estate near Saumur
Saumur
Saumur is a commune in the Maine-et-Loire department in western France.The historic town is located between the Loire and Thouet rivers, and is surrounded by the vineyards of Saumur itself, Chinon, Bourgueil, Coteaux du Layon, etc...
, Maine et Loire. Her maternal grandfather, Maurice Garreau-Dombasle, was a close friend of and advisor to Charles de Gaulle
Charles de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President from 1959 to 1969....
and served as the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
ambassador to Mexico. Her maternal grandmother was Man'Ha Dombasle (née Germaine Massenet, 1898–1999, a writer and poet who translated Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore , sobriquet Gurudev, was a Bengali polymath who reshaped his region's literature and music. Author of Gitanjali and its "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse", he became the first non-European Nobel laureate by earning the 1913 Prize in Literature...
's works into French and was a longtime friend of the science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
writer Ray Bradbury
Ray Bradbury
Ray Douglas Bradbury is an American fantasy, horror, science fiction, and mystery writer. Best known for his dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 and for the science fiction stories gathered together as The Martian Chronicles and The Illustrated Man , Bradbury is one of the most celebrated among 20th...
, who dedicated to her his 1972 novel The Halloween Tree
The Halloween Tree
The Halloween Tree is a 1972 fantasy novel by American author Ray Bradbury.-Plot summary:A group of eight boys set out to go trick-or-treating on Halloween, only to discover that a ninth friend, Pipkin, has been whisked away on a journey that could determine whether he lives or dies...
.
Dombasle family's surname was created in 1912, when Dombasle's grandfather René Sonnery (1887—1925), an industrialist from Lyon
Lyon
Lyon , is a city in east-central France in the Rhône-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille. Lyon is located at from Paris, from Marseille, from Geneva, from Turin, and from Barcelona. The residents of the city are called Lyonnais....
, married Anne-Marie Berthon du Fromental. She took Dombasle as her professional surname in honor of her mother.
Career
She has appeared in several Hollywood
Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
Hollywood is a famous district in Los Angeles, California, United States situated west-northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Due to its fame and cultural identity as the historical center of movie studios and movie stars, the word Hollywood is often used as a metonym of American cinema...
English-language productions, but most of her acting work has been in French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, as are her album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
s. She also has directed and written the scripts for two films, Les Pyramides Bleues and Chassé-croisé. Renowned for her beauty, she has described her looks as "a Crazy Horse
Crazy Horse (cabaret)
Le Crazy Horse Saloon or Le Crazy Horse de Paris is a Parisian cabaret known for its stage shows performed by nude female dancers and for the diverse range of magic and variety 'turns' between each nude show...
dancing girl", a reference to the famous cabaret
Cabaret
Cabaret is a form, or place, of entertainment featuring comedy, song, dance, and theatre, distinguished mainly by the performance venue: a restaurant or nightclub with a stage for performances and the audience sitting at tables watching the performance, as introduced by a master of ceremonies or...
in Paris.
Personal life
She is the third wife of French philosopher and writer Bernard-Henri LévyBernard-Henri Lévy
Bernard-Henri Lévy is a French public intellectual, philosopher and journalist. Often referred to today, in France, simply as BHL, he was one of the leaders of the "Nouveaux Philosophes" movement in 1976.-Early life:...
. They were married on June 19, 1993 at Saint-Paul-de-Vence on the Côte d'Azur where they have a villa. She has two stepchildren, Antonin-Balthazar Lévy and Justine Lévy
Justine Lévy
Justine-Juliette Lévy is a French is a book editor and author.Lévy is the eldest daughter of Isabelle Doutreluigne and French philosopher, writer, and intellectual, Bernard-Henri Lévy...
, a novelist. She was previously married to Dr. Paul Albou, described by Vanity Fair
Vanity Fair (magazine)
Vanity Fair is a magazine of pop culture, fashion, and current affairs published by Condé Nast. The present Vanity Fair has been published since 1983 and there have been editions for four European countries as well as the U.S. edition. This revived the title which had ceased publication in 1935...
as a "Jewish playboy society dentist 32 years her senior."
Her brother, Gilbert Sonnery (aka Gilbert Sonnery Garreau), is a textile executive, having been chairman of J. B. Martin Ltée and vice chairman of the French holding company MRM.
Filmography
| Year | Film | Role | Other notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1978 | Perceval le Gallois Perceval le Gallois Perceval le Gallois is a 1978 French film directed by Éric Rohmer. It was inspired by Chrétien de Troyes's 12th century Arthurian romance Perceval, the Story of the Grail.-Synopsis:... |
Blanchefleur | |
| 1979 | Tess Tess (film) Tess is a 1980 romance film directed by Roman Polanski, an adaptation of Thomas Hardy's 1891 novel Tess of the d'Urbervilles. It tells the story of a strong-willed, young peasant girl who finds out she has title connections by way of her old aristocratic surname and who is raped by her wealthy... |
Mercy Chant | |
| Je te tiens, tu me tiens par la barbichette | Une actrice film publicitaire | uncredited | |
| 1980 | Justocoeur | ||
| 1981 | Putain d'histoire d'amour | Antonella | |
| Les Fruits de la passion | Nathalie | érotique | |
| La Femme de l'aviateur La Femme de l'aviateur The Aviator's Wife is a 1981 French film written and directed by Éric Rohmer. The film stars Phillippe Marlaud, Marie Rivière and Anne-Laure Meury. Like many of his films, it deals with the ever-evolving love lives of a group of young Parisians.... |
Singer ("Paris ma séduit") | ||
| Une robe noire pour un tueur | La jeune droguée à la moto | ||
| 1982 | Le Beau mariage Le Beau Mariage Le Beau Mariage is a 1982 French film directed by Éric Rohmer, starring Béatrice Romand, André Dussollier, Féodor Atkine. It is one of Rohmer's "comedies and proverbs" .-Synopsis:... |
Clarisse | |
| Chassé-croisé | Ermine | also Singer, Director, Writer, Composer | |
| Laissé inachevé à Tokyo | Sophie | ||
| 1983 | Sans soleil Sans Soleil Sans Soleil is a 1983 French film directed by Chris Marker. The title is from the song cycle Sunless by Modest Mussorgsky... |
Herself | |
| Pauline à la plage Pauline à la plage Pauline at the Beach is a 1983 French film directed by Éric Rohmer. The film stars Amanda Langlet, Arielle Dombasle, Pascal Greggory and Féodor Atkine.-Plot:The film opens on a shot of a wooden gate, as a car pulls up in front of it... |
Marion | ||
| La Belle captive La Belle captive La Belle captive is a 1983 French drama film directed by Alain Robbe-Grillet. It was entered into the 33rd Berlin International Film Festival.-Cast:* Daniel Mesguich as Walter Raim* Cyrielle Clair as Sara Zeitgeist* Daniel Emilfork as Inspector Francis... |
La femme hystérique | ||
| Rosette sort le soir | |||
| Un été nommé désir | Arielle | ||
| 1984 | Mode in France | Herself | |
| Lace Lace Lace is an openwork fabric, patterned with open holes in the work, made by machine or by hand. The holes can be formed via removal of threads or cloth from a previously woven fabric, but more often open spaces are created as part of the lace fabric. Lace-making is an ancient craft. True lace was... |
Maxine Pascal | ||
| Rosette prend sa douche | |||
| Penelope Last | |||
| 1985 | La Nuit porte-jarretelles La Nuit porte-jarretelles La Nuit porte-jarretelles is a 1984 French film directed by Virginie Thévenet. The film stars Jezabel Carpi, Ariel Genet and Arielle Dombasle.-Synopsis:... |
La secrétaire | |
| Lace II | Maxine Pascal | ||
| Los Motivos de Berta: Fantasía de Pubertad | |||
| 1986 | The Boss' Wife The Boss' Wife The Boss's Wife is a 1986 American comedy film directed by Ziggy Steinberg and starring Daniel Stern, Arielle Dombasle and Christopher Plummer.... |
Louise Roalvang | |
| Flagrant désir | Marguerite Barnac | ||
| 1987 | Jeux d'artifices | Arielle | |
| 1988 | Les Pyramides bleues | Elise | Director, Writer |
| 1989 | El sueño del mono loco | Marion Derain | |
| Try This One for Size Try This One for Size Try this One for Size is a 1989 film directed by Guy Hamilton, his last film to date. It stars Michael Brandon and David Carradine.-Cast:*Michael Brandon as Tom Lepski*David Carradine as Bradley*Arielle Dombasle as Maggie*Guy Marchand as Ottovioni... |
Maggie | ||
| 1991 | Lola Zipper | Loretta | |
| Mémoires | |||
| 1992 | La vie crevée | Angèle | |
| Villa Mauresque | Sandra | ||
| Hors Saison Hors Saison Hors Saison is a 1992 comedy film by Daniel Schmid, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Martin Suter. The film is semi-autobiographical for Schmid, who reimagines the hotel he grew up in in the Swiss Alps... |
Mme. Studer | ||
| 1993 | Grand bonheur | L'actrice | |
| Miroslava | Miroslava (adulte) | ||
| L'Arbre, le maire et la médiathèque L'Arbre, le maire et la médiathèque L'Arbre, le maire et la médiathèque ou les sept hasards is a French film directed by Éric Rohmer. It was shown at the 1993 Montreal World Film Festival where it received the FIPRESCI prize... |
Bérénice Beaurivage | ||
| L'absence | |||
| 1994 | Un indien dans la ville Un indien dans la ville Un indien dans la ville is a 1994 French film by Hervé Palud. The film had a limited English language release under the title Little Indian, Big City.Part of the movie was shot in Miami, Florida, United States.... |
Charlotte | |
| Fado majeur et mineur | Leda | ||
| 1995 | Raging Angels | Megan | |
| Un bruit qui rend fou (The Blue Villa) The Blue Villa Un bruit qui rend fou is a 1995 crime thriller film with Fred Ward.- Plot :The complexly interwoven lives of the residents of an isolated Greek island form the basis of this psycho-sexual drama from iconoclastic film-maker Alain Robbe-Grillet... |
Sarah La Blonde | ||
| À propos de Nice, la suite | |||
| Celestial Clockwork Celestial Clockwork Celestial Clockwork is the third album by rapper Illogic. It was released in 2004 by Weightless Recordings.-Track list:# "Intro"# "The Only Constant" # "Birthright"# "1,000 Whispers"... |
Céleste | also Singer, Soundtrack | |
| Fado majeur et mineur | Leda | ||
| Les Cent et une nuits | La chanteuse à la Garden-party | ||
| 1996 | Three Lives and Only One Death Three Lives and Only One Death Three Lives and Only One Death is a 1996 French film directed by Raúl Ruiz. It was entered into the 1996 Cannes Film Festival, and was the penultimate film to star Marcello Mastroianni, before his death in 1996.-Cast:... |
Helene | |
| Two Dads and One Mom | Delphine | ||
| Soyons amis! | Arielle | ||
| 1997 | Jeunesse | Clémence | also Singer |
| J'en suis! | Rose Petipas | ||
| Le Jour et la nuit | Laure | By her husband, Bernard-Henri Lévy Bernard-Henri Lévy Bernard-Henri Lévy is a French public intellectual, philosopher and journalist. Often referred to today, in France, simply as BHL, he was one of the leaders of the "Nouveaux Philosophes" movement in 1976.-Early life:... |
|
| 1998 | L'ennui L'Ennui L'Ennui is a 1998 dramatic film directed by Cédric Kahn, starring Charles Berling and Sophie Guillemin. It follows the life of a bored philosopher as he becomes jealously obsessed with the much younger lover of a dead painter.... |
Sophie | |
| Hors jeu | Arielle Dombasle | ||
| Let There Be Light Let There Be Light (film) Let There Be Light is a 1946 American documentary film directed by John Huston.The film, commissioned by the United States Army Signal Corps, was the final entry in a John Huston trilogy of films produced at the request of the U.S. Government. This documentary film follows 75 U.S. soldiers who have... |
Dieu la blonde | ||
| Bo Ba Bu | |||
| 1999 | Les Infortunes de la beauté | Daphné | |
| C'est pas ma faute! | Vanessa Goudard | ||
| Le Temps retrouvé Time Regained (film) Time Regained is a 1999 French drama film directed by Raúl Ruiz. It is an adaptation of the final volume of In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust... |
Madame de Farcy | ||
| Astérix et Obélix contre César | Mme Agecanonix / Frau Methusalix | ||
| 2000 | 30 Years | Geneviève | |
| Amazon | Margot | ||
| Vatel Vatel (film) Vatel is a 2000 film based on the life of 17th century French chef François Vatel, directed by Roland Joffé and starring Gérard Depardieu, Uma Thurman, and Tim Roth. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Art Direction - Set Decoration. The film opened the 2000 Cannes Film Festival.-... |
Princess de Condé | also Singer | |
| Le libertin Le Libertin Le Libertin is a French film, a comedy, directed by Gabriel Aghion, released in 2000. It is an adaptation of a 1997 play by Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt.-Synopsis:... |
La Marquise de Jerfeuil | ||
| Les Eléphants de la planète Mars | |||
| 2001 | Les âmes fortes Savage Souls (film) Savage Souls is a 2001 French drama film directed by Raúl Ruiz. It was screened out of competition at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival.-Cast:* Laetitia Casta - Thérèse* Frédéric Diefenthal - Firmin* Arielle Dombasle - Madame Numance... |
Madame Numance | |
| Gamer Gamer Historically, the term "gamer" usually referred to someone who played role-playing games and wargames. Since they became very popular, the term has included players of video games... |
Valérie Fisher | ||
| 2002 | Deux | Professor Barbez | |
| Hideous Man | Crying woman | ||
| 2003 | Lovely Rita, sainte patronne des cas désespérés Lovely Rita, sainte patronne des cas désespérés Lovely Rita, sainte patronne des cas désespérés is a French film directed by Stéphane Clavier in 2003.- Synopsis :Accounts expert Edgar Lamark is auditing the naval base of Thierry Ferrand on the Côte d'Azur is offered a prostitute recruited from a special website, but has to get ready of the body... |
Mademoiselle Lecas | |
| 2004 | Quand je serai star | Diane de Montalte | |
| Genre humain - première partie: Les parisiens, Le | Sabine Duchemin | ||
| Albert est méchant | Barbara Lechat | ||
| 2005 | Le Courage d'aimer Le courage d'aimer Le Courage d'aimer is a comedy drama directed by Claude Lelouch released on 29 June 2005. It is the result of a recutting of the first part of an unfinished trilogy - Le Genre humain with the scenes from the film that would have constituted the second film, called Le Bonheur, c'est mieux que la... |
Sabine Duchemin | |
| 2006 | Nouvelle chance Nouvelle chance Nouvelle chance is a 2006 French drama film directed by Anne Fontaine. It was screened out of competition at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival.-Cast:* Danielle Darrieux - Odette Saint-Gilles* Arielle Dombasle - Bettina Fleischer... |
Bettina | |
| C'est Gradiva qui vous appelle | Léïla / Gradia | ||
| 2008 | La Possibilité d'une île | Déléguée Mexicaine | aka Possibility of an Island |
| Sagan | Astrid | ||
| 2009 | King Shot | in production |
Singles
- Cantate 78 (1978)
- Je te salue mari (1980)
- Nada más (1988) single
- Amour symphonique (1990)
- Liberta (2000)
- Odysseus (2000)
- Où Tu Veux (2007)
- Extra-terrestre (2009)
- Hasta siempre (2010)
- Porque te vas (2011)
Albums
- Liberta (2000)
- Extase (2002)
- Amor Amor (2004)
- Arielle en concert (2005) DVD
- C'est si bonC'est si bon"C'est si bon" is a popular song, sometimes also referred to by the English translation of the title, "It's So Good". The music was written in 1947 by Henri Betti, the French lyrics by André Hornez, and the English lyrics by Jerry Seelen...
(2006) - Glamour à mort (2009)
- Diva Latina (2011)
External links
- Official web site
- Profile at Canal+Canal+Canal+ is a French premium pay television channel launched in 1984. It is 80% owned by the Canal+ Group, which in turn is owned by Vivendi SA. The channel broadcasts several kinds of programming, mostly encrypted...
(French)