Anecdotes

Played Catherine Deneuve's mother in five films: L'homme à femmes (1960), Les demoiselles de Rochefort (1967), Le lieu du crime (1986), 8 femmes (2002) and Persepolis (2007).

Replaced Katharine Hepburn in the Broadway musical "Coco" (1970).

Studied the cello and piano at the Conservatoire de Musique in Paris.

Decades before Brigitte Bardot ("BB"), she was known for her initials "DD".

Lost her father, an army doctor, at the age of seven.

She appeared in a few films of first husband, writer/director Henri Decoin.

She was one of France's great movie stars and her eight-decade career was among the longest in film history.

Electing to return to France after her American debut, Danielle found herself working under the scrutiny of the new Nazi regime. She made the best of things, continuing to star in films and entertaining the occupation troops as a singer. Unfortunately, this latter activity caused Ms. Darrieux to be labelled a collaborator by the French underground, which at one point targetted the actress for execution. After the war, there were some awkward moments for Danielle, but the death sentence was allowed to lapse.

Around 1994, she met Jacques Jenvrin, twenty years her junior. She retired with him to a house in Bois-le-Roi (Eure)53, where she died in 2017.

Darrieux appeared in the MGM musical Rich, Young and Pretty (1951). Joseph L. Mankiewicz lured her back to Hollywood to star in 5 Fingers (1952) with James Mason. Upon returning to France, she appeared in Max Ophüls' The Earrings of Madame de... (1953) with Charles Boyer, and The Red and the Black (1954) with Gérard Philippe. She starred in Lady Chatterley's Lover (1955), whose theme of uninhibited sexuality led to its being proscribed by Catholic censors in the United States.

She fell in love with Porfirio Rubirosa, a Dominican Republic diplomat and notorious womanizer. They married in 1942. His anti-Nazi opinions resulted in his forced residence in Germany. In exchange for Rubirosa's freedom, Darrieux agreed to make a promotional trip in Berlin. The couple lived in Switzerland until the end of the war, and divorced in 1947.

Her beauty combined with her singing and dancing ability led to numerous other offers; the film Mayerling (1936) brought her to prominence.

Raised in Paris, she studied the cello at the Conservatoire de Musique.

At 14, she won a part in the musical film Le Bal (1931).

In 1970, Darrieux replaced Katharine Hepburn in the Broadway musical Coco, based on the life of Coco Chanel, but the play, essentially a showcase for Hepburn, soon folded without her. In 1971 and 1972 she also appeared in the short-lived productions of Ambassador.

Under the German occupation of France during World War II, Darrieux continued to perform, a decision that was severely criticized by her compatriots. However, it is reported that her brother had been threatened with deportation by Alfred Greven, the German manager of Continental, the only film production company permitted in occupied France.

Blind, a little diminished but in good health, the actress died in her sleep on October 17, 2017, at 1 p.m., following a fall at her home in Bois-le-Roi, at the age of 100.

She played a supporting role in her last American film, United Artists' epic Alexander the Great (1956) starring Richard Burton and Claire Bloom.

For her long service to the motion picture industry, in 1985 she was given an Honorary César Award.

In the '80s, Danielle Darrieux scored a significant success in a Paris staging of the film musical Gigi, playing the role originated in the 1985 film by Hermione Gingold.

She worked again with Demy for his film Une chambre en ville (1982), an opera-like musical melodrama reminiscent of the director's earlier work The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (Les Parapluies de Cherbourg, 1964). Once again, Darrieux provided her own vocals for her songs.

In Jacques Demy's film musical The Young Girls of Rochefort (1966) her role was the only one in which a principal actor in any of Demy's film-musicals sang his or her own musical parts. (All other actors had a separate person dub their singing parts.).

In 1963, she starred in the romantic comedy La Robe Mauve de Valentine at the Chatelet Theatre in Paris. The play was adapted from the novel by Françoise Sagan.

Her career spanning eight decades, most recently providing the voice of the protagonist's grandmother in the animated feature Persepolis (2007), which deals with the impact of the Islamic revolution on a girl's life as she grows to adulthood in Iran.

In 1935, Darrieux married director/screenwriter Henri Decoin, who encouraged her to try Hollywood. She signed a seven-year contract with Universal Studios to star in The Rage of Paris (1938) opposite Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. Afterwards, she elected to return to Paris.

At the request of director Lewis Gilbert, Darrieux worked in England to shoot The Greengage Summer (1961) with Kenneth More.

During the 1960s, she also was a concert singer.

Darrieux was a French actress of stage, television and film, as well as a singer and dancer.

On March 18, 1942, she was one of the stars of the "train de la honte" with Junie Astor, René Dary, Suzy Delair, Albert Préjean and Viviane Romance.