Cécile Aubry
Encyclopedia
Cécile Aubry was a French film actress, author, television screenwriter and director.
Born Anne-José Madeleine Henriette Bénard, Aubry began her career as a dancer. At age 20, she was signed to 20th Century Fox
.
She made her break as the star of Henri-Georges Clouzot
's Manon
(1949), which won the Golden Lion at the famed Venice Film Festival
. That brought her a leading role alongside Tyrone Power
and Orson Welles
in American director Henry Hathaway
's feature The Black Rose
(1950). She had a strong performance in Christian-Jacque's Bluebeard (1952), one of the first French-produced films to be made in color. For a short time, she was a Hollywood success, signing a lucrative contract with Fox, employing her parents as a publicity team, and regularly appearing in French film magazines as an example of the perfect hybrid of Franco-American femininity.
Her film career was short. It was interrupted by a secret six-year marriage to Si Brahim El Glaoui, the eldest son of the pasha of Marrakesh. She announced her retirement from film in 1959, claiming that she had only enjoyed cinema for its travel opportunities. She went on to write children's books and scenarios for children's television with considerable success.
She was known in France for her TV series for children, Poly, about a boy and a horse, and Belle et Sébastien
, adapted for television from her books. The main character in both series was played by her son, Mehdi El Glaoui
(credited as "Mehdi").
On 19 July 2010, she died from lung cancer in Dourdan
(Essonne
), France, aged 81.
Born Anne-José Madeleine Henriette Bénard, Aubry began her career as a dancer. At age 20, she was signed to 20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
.
She made her break as the star of Henri-Georges Clouzot
Henri-Georges Clouzot
Henri-Georges Clouzot was a French film director, screenwriter and producer. He is best remembered for his work in the thriller film genre, having directed The Wages of Fear and Les Diaboliques, which are critically recognized to be among the greatest films from the 1950s...
's Manon
Manon (film)
Manon is a 1949 French film directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot. It is an adaptation of the 1731 novel Manon Lescaut by Abbé Prévost. Clouzot updates the setting to World War II, making the story about a French Resistance fighter who rescues a woman from villagers convinced she is a Nazi...
(1949), which won the Golden Lion at the famed Venice Film Festival
Venice Film Festival
The Venice International Film Festival is the oldest international film festival in the world. Founded by Count Giuseppe Volpi in 1932 as the "Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica", the festival has since taken place every year in late August or early September on the island of the...
. That brought her a leading role alongside Tyrone Power
Tyrone Power
Tyrone Edmund Power, Jr. , usually credited as Tyrone Power and known sometimes as Ty Power, was an American film and stage actor who appeared in dozens of films from the 1930s to the 1950s, often in swashbuckler roles or romantic leads such as in The Mark of Zorro, Blood and Sand, The Black Swan,...
and Orson Welles
Orson Welles
George Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...
in American director Henry Hathaway
Henry Hathaway
Henry Hathaway was an American film director and producer. He is best known as a director of Westerns, especially starring John Wayne.-Background:...
's feature The Black Rose
The Black Rose
The Black Rose is a 1950 20th Century-Fox film starring Tyrone Power and Orson Welles, loosely based on Thomas B. Costain's book. It was filmed partly on location in England and Morocco which substitutes for the Gobi Desert of China...
(1950). She had a strong performance in Christian-Jacque's Bluebeard (1952), one of the first French-produced films to be made in color. For a short time, she was a Hollywood success, signing a lucrative contract with Fox, employing her parents as a publicity team, and regularly appearing in French film magazines as an example of the perfect hybrid of Franco-American femininity.
Her film career was short. It was interrupted by a secret six-year marriage to Si Brahim El Glaoui, the eldest son of the pasha of Marrakesh. She announced her retirement from film in 1959, claiming that she had only enjoyed cinema for its travel opportunities. She went on to write children's books and scenarios for children's television with considerable success.
She was known in France for her TV series for children, Poly, about a boy and a horse, and Belle et Sébastien
Belle et Sébastien
Belle et Sébastien is a novel by Cécile Aubry about a six-year-old boy named Sébastien and his dog Belle, a Pyrenean Mountain Dog, who live in a small French Alps Mountain village on the French side of the border between France and Italy...
, adapted for television from her books. The main character in both series was played by her son, Mehdi El Glaoui
Mehdi El Glaoui
Mehdi El Mezouari El Glaoui aka Mehdi El Glaoui is a French actor, the son of actress Cécile Aubry and Si Brahim El Glaoui, caïd of Telouet and grandson of T'hami El Glaoui, pasha of Marrakech....
(credited as "Mehdi").
On 19 July 2010, she died from lung cancer in Dourdan
Dourdan
Dourdan is a commune in the Essonne department in Île-de-France in northern France.It is located in the metropolitan area of Paris.-Géography:Dourdan is located on the river Orge in the western Essonne...
(Essonne
Essonne
Essonne is a French department in the region of Île-de-France. It is named after the Essonne River.It was formed on 1 January 1968 when Seine-et-Oise was split into smaller departments.- History :...
), France, aged 81.