Madeleine Robinson(1917-2004)

The actress chose the stage name "Robinson" after the novel Robinson Crusoe because it denoted liberty, as her Czech birth name meant "freedom".

She was the daughter of a Czechoslovak pastry cook father and a French tram ticket collector mother. At 14 Robinson, whose real name was Svoboda, began work in a factory, and then became an errand-girl before working as a maid for a painter.