Anecdotes

Other than her native French, she was proficient in Spanish, German, Italian and Russian as well as English.

Was a Technical Advisor/Dialogue Coach at MGM and worked as a Dialogue Supervisor and Drama coach at Warner Brothers. She taught French to many actors, including Lauren Hutton and Richard Gere in American Gigolo (1980).

Born in Paris, her mother, Emilia Speltiens Zemoz, was French, and her father, Pantion Pierre Zemoz, was Italian.

Working in broadcasting in France in her early years, she moved to New York on her 21st birthday and became a US citizen. She studied with Uta Hagen and at the Actors Studio in New York. To improve her English, Chauvin attended the Berlitz school of languages and took in American movies nearly every day.

Some of her former acting students include Raquel Welch, Suzanne Somers, Kin Shriner, Kevin Nealon and Wil Shriner.

Battled breast cancer for four decades.

Lilyan was an animal and nature advocate for many years and was an active supporter of the Wilderness Society.

Anglisized pronunciation of her last name: "show-VAN" (capitalization indicating emphasis).

Was fluent in French and did some ADR voice work and dialogue coaching for foreign actors.

Discovered in New York by actress Judith Anderson.

A veteran actress in both leading and supporting roles, Chauvin started on the English stage before moving to America.

Taught acting privately and at both University of Southern California (USC) and University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

Former vice-president of Women in Film, she was a 39-year member and served on the Board five times.

Was on the Women's Steering Committee of the Director's Guild of America (DGA).

As a producer and director, she won the 1991 "Angel Award" for the program "Hollywood Structured," as host of the weekly cable TV program.