Françoise Rosay
Encyclopedia
Françoise Rosay was a French opera singer, diseuse, and actress who enjoyed a film career of over sixty years and who became a legendary figure in French cinema
Cinema of France
The Cinema of France comprises the art of film and creative movies made within the nation of France or by French filmmakers abroad.France is the birthplace of cinema and was responsible for many of its early significant contributions. Several important cinematic movements, including the Nouvelle...

. She went on to appear in over 100 movies in her career.

Life and career

Rosay was born Françoise Bandy de Nalèche in Paris, the illegitimate daughter of Marie-Thérèse Chauvin, an actress known as Sylviac. She originally planned to become an opera singer, and in 1917, won a prize at the Paris Conservatoire and made her debut at the Palais Garnier
Palais Garnier
The Palais Garnier, , is an elegant 1,979-seat opera house, which was built from 1861 to 1875 for the Paris Opera. It was originally called the Salle des Capucines because of its location on the Boulevard des Capucines in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, but soon became known as the Palais Garnier...

 in the title role of Salammbô
Salammbô (opera)
Salammbô is an opera in five acts composed by Ernest Reyer to a French libretto by Camille du Locle. It is based on the novel Salammbô by Gustave Flaubert . The opera was first performed at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels on 10 February 1890...

by Ernest Reyer
Ernest Reyer
Ernest Reyer, the adopted name of Louis Étienne Ernest Rey, was a French opera composer and music critic .- Biography :...

. She also sang in Castor et Pollux
Castor et Pollux
Castor et Pollux is an opera by Jean-Philippe Rameau, first performed on 24 October 1737 at the Académie royale de musique in Paris. The librettist was Pierre-Joseph-Justin Bernard, whose reputation as a salon poet it made. This was the third opera by Rameau and his second in the form of the...

by Rameau
Jean-Philippe Rameau
Jean-Philippe Rameau was one of the most important French composers and music theorists of the Baroque era. He replaced Jean-Baptiste Lully as the dominant composer of French opera and is also considered the leading French composer for the harpsichord of his time, alongside François...

 and Thaïs
Thaïs (opera)
Thaïs is an opera in three acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Louis Gallet based on the novel Thaïs by Anatole France. It was first performed at the Opéra Garnier in Paris on 16 March 1894, starring the American soprano Sybil Sanderson, for whom Massenet had written the title role...

by Massenet
Jules Massenet
Jules Émile Frédéric Massenet was a French composer best known for his operas. His compositions were very popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and he ranks as one of the greatest melodists of his era. Soon after his death, Massenet's style went out of fashion, and many of his operas...

.

Her first recorded film was Falstaff in 1911, and she began to work in Hollywood
Cinema of the United States
The cinema of the United States, also known as Hollywood, has had a profound effect on cinema across the world since the early 20th century. Its history is sometimes separated into four main periods: the silent film era, classical Hollywood cinema, New Hollywood, and the contemporary period...

 from 1929 onwards. In 1917, she married the director Jacques Feyder
Jacques Feyder
Jacques Feyder was a Belgian actor, screenwriter and film director who worked principally in France, but also in the USA, Britain and Germany. He was a leading director of silent films during the 1920s, and in the 1930s he became associated with the style of poetic realism in French cinema...

, with whom she remained until his death in 1948, having three sons. She appeared in several films under her husband's direction, including Le Grand Jeu
Le Grand Jeu (1934 film)
Le Grand Jeu is a 1934 French film directed by Jacques Feyder. It is a romantic drama set against the background of the French Foreign Legion, and the film was an example of poetic realism in the French cinema. The title Le Grand Jeu refers to the practice of reading the cards. Blanche asks whether...

(1933), Pension Mimosas
Pension Mimosas
Pension Mimosas is a 1935 French film directed by Jacques Feyder. Based on an original scenario by Feyder and Charles Spaak, it is a psychological drama set largely in a small hotel on the Côte d'Azur, and it provided Françoise Rosay with one of the most substantial acting roles of her...

(1934), La Kermesse héroïque
Carnival in Flanders (film)
Carnival in Flanders is a 1935 French historical romantic comedy film directed by Jacques Feyder. Its original French title is La Kermesse héroïque and it is widely known under that name...

(Carnival in Flanders) (1935) and Les Gens du voyage
Les Gens du voyage
Les Gens du voyage is a 1938 French-German film directed by Jacques Feyder.- Plot :Due to an accident at the Barlay Circus, animal trainer Flora finds Fernand, a former prison escapee, and refers him to manager, Edouard Barlay. The son of Flora , Marcel, does the acrobatics with the manager's...

(1937). Rosay spent the duration of World War II in Switzerland, where she taught acting classes at the Conservatoire de Genève
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...

, although she still appeared in films during this time.

During her career, she appeared with all the great stars of French cinema, including Jean Gabin
Jean Gabin
-Biography:Born Jean-Alexis Moncorgé in Paris, he grew up in the village of Mériel in the Seine-et-Oise département, about 22 mi north of Paris. The son of cabaret entertainers, he attended the Lycée Janson de Sailly...

, Michèle Morgan
Michèle Morgan
Michèle Morgan is a French film actress, who was a leading lady for three decades.- Career :Morgan was born Simone Renée Roussel in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine, a western suburb of Paris....

, Raimu
Raimu
Raimu was the stage name for the French actor Jules Auguste Muraire .-Biography:Born in Toulon in the Var département, he made his stage debut there in 1899. After coming to the attention of the then great music hall star Félix Mayol who was also from Toulon, in 1908 he was given a chance to work...

, Jeanne Moreau
Jeanne Moreau
Jeanne Moreau is a French actress, singer, screenwriter and director.She made her theatrical debut in 1947, and established herself as one of the leading actresses of the Comédie-Française...

, Danielle Darrieux
Danielle Darrieux
Danielle Yvonne Marie Antoinette Darrieux is a French actress and singer, who has appeared in more than 110 films since 1931. She is one of France's great movie stars and her eight-decade career is among the longest in film history....

, Micheline Presle
Micheline Presle
Micheline Presle is a French actress also known in English language films as Micheline Prelle.Born Micheline Nicole Julia Émilienne Chassagne in Paris, she wanted to be an actress from an early age. She took acting classes in her early teens and made her film debut at the age of fifteen in the...

, Paul Meurisse
Paul Meurisse
Paul Meurisse was a French actor who appeared in over 60 films and many stage productions. Meurisse was noted for the elegance of his acting style, and for his versatility. He was equally able to play comedic and serious dramatic roles...

, Gérard Philipe
Gérard Philipe
Gérard Philipe was a prominent French actor, who had appeared in 34 films between 1944 and 1959.-Career:...

, Louis Jouvet
Louis Jouvet
Louis Jouvet was a renowned French actor, director, and theatre director.- Life :Overcoming speech impediments and sometimes paralyzing stage fright as a young man, Jouvet's first important association was with Jacques Copeau's Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier, beginning in 1913...

, Michel Simon
Michel Simon
Michel Simon , was a Swiss actor. The actor François Simon is his son.-Early years:...

, Simone Signoret
Simone Signoret
Simone Signoret was a French cinema actress often hailed as one of France's greatest movie stars. She became the first French person to win an Academy Award, for her role in Room at the Top...

, Fernandel
Fernandel
Fernand Joseph Désiré Contandin , better known as Fernandel, was a French actor and singer. Born in Marseille, France, he was a comedy star who first gained popularity in French vaudeville, operettas, and music-hall revues...

, Jean-Louis Barrault
Jean-Louis Barrault
Jean-Louis Barrault was a French actor, director and mime artist, training that served him well when he portrayed the 19th-century mime Jean-Gaspard Deburau in Marcel Carné's 1945 film Les Enfants du Paradis .Jean-Louis Barrault studied with Charles Dullin in whose troupe he acted...

. In Hollywood, she co-starred with Charles Boyer
Charles Boyer
Charles Boyer was a French actor who appeared in more than 80 films between 1920 and 1976. After receiving an education in drama, Boyer started on the stage, but he found success in movies during the 1930s. His memorable performances were among the era's most highly praised romantic dramas,...

, Maurice Chevalier
Maurice Chevalier
Maurice Auguste Chevalier was a French actor, singer, entertainer and a noted Sprechgesang performer. He is perhaps best known for his signature songs, including Louise, Mimi, Valentine, and Thank Heaven for Little Girls and for his films including The Love Parade and The Big Pond...

 and Buster Keaton
Buster Keaton
Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton was an American comic actor, filmmaker, producer and writer. He was best known for his silent films, in which his trademark was physical comedy with a consistently stoic, deadpan expression, earning him the nickname "The Great Stone Face".Keaton was recognized as the...

 and worked with directors such as William Dieterle
William Dieterle
William Dieterle was a German actor and film director, who worked in Hollywood for much of his career. His best known films include The Devil and Daniel Webster, The Story of Louis Pasteur and The Hunchback of Notre Dame...

 (September Affair
September Affair
September Affair is a 1950 film, directed by William Dieterle, starring Joan Fontaine, Joseph Cotten and Jessica Tandy. It was produced by Hal B. Wallis.-Plot:...

, 1949), Martin Ritt
Martin Ritt
Martin Ritt was an American director, actor, and playwright who worked in both film and theater. He was born in New York City.-Early career and influences:...

 (The Sound and the Fury
The Sound and the Fury (film)
The Sound and the Fury is a 1959 film directed by Martin Ritt. It is an adaptation of the novel with the same name.- Cast :*Yul Brynner : Jason Compson*Joanne Woodward : Quentin Compson*Margaret Leighton : Caddy Compson*Jack Warden : Benjy Compson...

, 1958), Ronald Neame
Ronald Neame
Ronald Elwin Neame CBE, BSC was an English film cinematographer, producer, screenwriter and director.-Early career:...

 (The Seventh Sin
The Seventh Sin
The Seventh Sin is a 1957 film based on the 1925 novel The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham.It was adapted for the screen by Karl Tunberg and directed by Ronald Neame...

, 1956) and Peter Glenville
Peter Glenville
Peter Glenville , born Peter Patrick Brabazon Browne, was an English film and stage actor and director.-Biography:...

  (Me and the Colonel
Me and the Colonel
Me and the Colonel is a 1958 film based on the play "Jacobowsky und der Oberst" by Franz Werfel. It was directed by Peter Glenville and stars Danny Kaye, Curd Jürgens and Akim Tamiroff....

, 1957) with Danny Kaye
Danny Kaye
Danny Kaye was a celebrated American actor, singer, dancer, and comedian...

. In England she appeared in The Alien Corn, a segment of the W. Somerset Maugham
W. Somerset Maugham
William Somerset Maugham , CH was an English playwright, novelist and short story writer. He was among the most popular writers of his era and, reputedly, the highest paid author during the 1930s.-Childhood and education:...

 anthology film Quartet. She played a famous piano virtuoso who gives would-be pianist Dirk Bogarde
Dirk Bogarde
Sir Dirk Bogarde was an English actor and novelist. Initially a matinee idol in such films as Doctor in the House and other Rank Organisation pictures, Bogarde later acted in art-house films such as Death in Venice...

 a compassionate but honest and devastating critical appraisal of his likelihood of becoming a great musician – which results in his suicide.

In 1950 she appeared on stage at London's Winter Garden Theatre
New London Theatre
The New London Theatre is a West End theatre located on the corner of Drury Lane and Parker Street in Covent Garden, in the London Borough of Camden...

, playing the title role in 'Madame Tic Tac' but it had only a short run.

It was not until 1938 that her natural father, Count François Louis Bandy de Nalèche acknowledged her as his daughter.

Her final appearance on film was in the Maximilian Schell
Maximilian Schell
Maximilian Schell is an Austrian-born Swiss actor who won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Judgment at Nuremberg in 1961...

-directed Academy Award-nominated and Golden Globe-winner for Best Foreign-Language Foreign Film
Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film
The Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film is one of the awards presented at the Golden Globes, an American film awards ceremony.Until 1986, it was known as the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Film, meaning that any non-American film could be honoured...

 of 1974, Der Fußgänger (English title: The Pedestrian
The Pedestrian (film)
The Pedestrian is a 1973 film directed by Maximilian Schell. It is about the trial of an elderly war criminal. The film was a co-production between companies in Germany, Switzerland and Israel.-Cast:*Peggy Ashcroft - Lady Gray...

).

She died in Montgeron
Montgeron
Montgeron is a commune in the southeastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris.Inhabitants of Montgeron are known as Montgeronnais.-Transport:Montgeron is served by Montgeron – Crosne station on Paris RER line D....

, Île-de-France, near Paris. Her grave is located in Sorel-Moussel
Sorel-Moussel
Sorel-Moussel is a commune in the Eure-et-Loir department in northern France.-Population:-References:*...

, Île-de-France, where she is buried with her husband, movie director Jacques Feyder
Jacques Feyder
Jacques Feyder was a Belgian actor, screenwriter and film director who worked principally in France, but also in the USA, Britain and Germany. He was a leading director of silent films during the 1920s, and in the 1930s he became associated with the style of poetic realism in French cinema...

.

Partial filmography

  • Les Vampires
    Les Vampires
    Les Vampires is a 1915/1916 ten-part silent film serial. It was written and directed by Louis Feuillade and stars Musidora as "Irma Vep" a femme fatale whose name is a suspicious anagram of "vampire." The serial is set in Paris and follows the exploits of a gang of master criminals who call...

    (1915)
  • Crainquebille
    Crainquebille
    Crainquebille is a 1922 French silent drama film directed by Jacques Feyder. The film is known for its realism.-Plot:Jérôme Crainquebille , is an ageing modest vegetable seller who has sold groceries from his cart in Halles market in Paris for over 40 years. One day, whilst waiting for a customer...

    (1922)
  • Le Grand Jeu
    Le Grand Jeu (1934 film)
    Le Grand Jeu is a 1934 French film directed by Jacques Feyder. It is a romantic drama set against the background of the French Foreign Legion, and the film was an example of poetic realism in the French cinema. The title Le Grand Jeu refers to the practice of reading the cards. Blanche asks whether...

    (1934)
  • Pension Mimosas
    Pension Mimosas
    Pension Mimosas is a 1935 French film directed by Jacques Feyder. Based on an original scenario by Feyder and Charles Spaak, it is a psychological drama set largely in a small hotel on the Côte d'Azur, and it provided Françoise Rosay with one of the most substantial acting roles of her...

    (1935)
  • La Kermesse héroïque
    Carnival in Flanders (film)
    Carnival in Flanders is a 1935 French historical romantic comedy film directed by Jacques Feyder. Its original French title is La Kermesse héroïque and it is widely known under that name...

    (English release title: Carnival in Flanders) (1935)
  • Drôle de drame ou L'étrange aventure de Docteur Molyneux
    Bizarre, Bizarre
    Bizarre, Bizarre is a 1937 French comedy film directed by Marcel Carné. It is based on the 1912 novel His First Offence by J. Storer Clouston.-Cast:*Louis Jouvet as Archibald Soper*Françoise Rosay as Margaret Molyneux...

    (English release title: Bizarre, Bizarre) (1937)
  • Les Gens du voyage
    Les Gens du voyage
    Les Gens du voyage is a 1938 French-German film directed by Jacques Feyder.- Plot :Due to an accident at the Barlay Circus, animal trainer Flora finds Fernand, a former prison escapee, and refers him to manager, Edouard Barlay. The son of Flora , Marcel, does the acrobatics with the manager's...

    (1938)
  • The Halfway House
    The Halfway House
    The Halfway House is a 1944 British drama film directed by Basil Dearden and starring Tom Walls, Mervyn Johns and Glynis Johns. It also features the French actress Françoise Rosay...

    (1944)
  • Macadam
    Back Streets of Paris
    Back Streets of Paris is a 1946 French drama film directed by Marcel Blistène.- Plot :This story involves Madame Rose, a hotelkeeper in a Paris suburb who will stop at nothing, including murder...

    (English release title: Back Streets of Paris) (1946)
  • Saraband for Dead Lovers
    Saraband for Dead Lovers
    Saraband for Dead Lovers is a 1948 British historical drama film directed by Basil Dearden and starring Stewart Granger and Joan Greenwood. It is based on the novel by Helen Simpson...

    (1948)
  • Quartet (1948)
  • September Affair
    September Affair
    September Affair is a 1950 film, directed by William Dieterle, starring Joan Fontaine, Joseph Cotten and Jessica Tandy. It was produced by Hal B. Wallis.-Plot:...

    (1950)
  • Maria Chapdelaine
    The Naked Heart
    The Naked Heart is a 1950 French language motion picture melodrama directed by Marc Allégret, based on the novel Maria Chapdelaine by Louis Hémon...

    (English release title: The Naked Heart) (1950)
  • The 13th Letter
    The 13th Letter
    The 13th Letter is a 1951 film directed by Otto Preminger. The film is a remake of Le Corbeau directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot.-Plot:...

    (1951)
  • Wanda la peccatrice
    Wanda la peccatrice
    Wanda la peccatrice is a 1952 Italian film directed by Duilio Coletti....

    (1952)
  • Le Banquet des fraudeurs
    The Smugglers' Banquet
    The Smugglers' Banquet is a 1952 Belgian crime film directed by Henri Storck. It was entered into the 1952 Cannes Film Festival.-Cast:* Marguerite Daulboys* Yves Deniaud – Van Mol* Arthur Devère – Fabriekskoncierge* Marthe Dua...

    (English release title: The Smugglers' Banquet) (1952)
  • Les Sept péchés capitaux
    The Seven Deadly Sins
    The Seven Deadly Sins is a satirical ballet chanté in seven scenes composed by Kurt Weill to a German libretto by Bertolt Brecht in 1933 under a commission from Boris Kochno and Edward James. It was translated into English by W. H. Auden and Chester Kallman...

    (English release title: The Seven Deadly Sins) (1952)
  • La Reine Margot
    La Reine Margot (1954 film)
    La Reine Margot is a 1954 French drama film directed by Jean Dréville, scripted by Abel Gance from the novel of the same name by Alexandre Dumas. It stars Jeanne Moreau and Louis de Funès...

    (1954)
  • Ragazze d'oggi
    Girls of Today
    Girls of Today is a 1955 Italian comedy film directed by Luigi Zampa and starring Marisa Allasio.-Cast:* Marisa Allasio - Anna* Paola Quattrini - Simonetta* Lili Cerasoli - Sofia* Paolo Stoppa - Peppino Bardellotti* Eduardo Bergamo...

    (English release title: Girls of Today) (1955)
  • Me and the Colonel
    Me and the Colonel
    Me and the Colonel is a 1958 film based on the play "Jacobowsky und der Oberst" by Franz Werfel. It was directed by Peter Glenville and stars Danny Kaye, Curd Jürgens and Akim Tamiroff....

    (1958)
  • The Sound and the Fury
    The Sound and the Fury (film)
    The Sound and the Fury is a 1959 film directed by Martin Ritt. It is an adaptation of the novel with the same name.- Cast :*Yul Brynner : Jason Compson*Joanne Woodward : Quentin Compson*Margaret Leighton : Caddy Compson*Jack Warden : Benjy Compson...

    (1959)
  • The Full Treatment
    The Full Treatment
    The Full Treatment is a 1960 British mystery film directed by Val Guest and starring Claude Dauphin, Diane Cilento and Ronald Lewis. A racing driver, involved in a bad accident, goes to the Cote D'Azur to recuperate. While there he becomes increasingly prone to violence, and draws a Harley Street...

    (1960)
  • La Métamorphose des cloportes
    La Métamorphose des cloportes
    La Métamorphose des cloportes is a 1965 French and Italian crime film comedy directed by Pierre Granier-Deferre.-Cast:*Lino Ventura ... Alphonse Maréchal*Charles Aznavour ... Edmond*Irina Demick ... Catherine Verdier*Maurice Biraud ... Arthur...

    (1965)
  • Trois milliards sans ascenseur
    Sette cervelli per un colpo perfetto
    Sette cervelli per un colpo perfetto is a 1972 French-Italian film, directed by Roger Pigaut. It stars actor Gabriele Ferzetti.- Cast :* Michel Bouquet - Albert* Serge Reggiani - Pierrot* Marcel Bozzuffi - Gus* Dany Carrel - Lulu...

    (1972)
  • Der Fußgänger
    The Pedestrian (film)
    The Pedestrian is a 1973 film directed by Maximilian Schell. It is about the trial of an elderly war criminal. The film was a co-production between companies in Germany, Switzerland and Israel.-Cast:*Peggy Ashcroft - Lady Gray...

    (English release title: The Pedestrian) (1973)

External links

  • Françoise Rosay at Find A Grave
    Find A Grave
    Find a Grave is a commercial website providing free access and input to an online database of cemetery records. It was founded in 1998 as a DBA and incorporated in 2000.-History:...

  • Françoise Rosay at Cinémathèque française
  • Fan Site
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