Micheline Presle(1922-2024)

Elegant, dark-haired Parisian Micheline Presle (billed in the U.S. as Micheline Prelle) was the daughter of a businessman whose surname was Chassagne. Taking acting classes as a teen, she was discovered by Georg Wilhelm Pabst and cast in Jeunes filles en détresse (1939) (portraying Jacqueline Presle, whose last name she chose as her own marquee name). Very early into her film career, she was awarded the Prix Suzanne Bianchetti as the "most promising young actress" in French cinema.

While Micheline proceeded to make movies during the Occupation with such offerings as Paradis perdu (1939) (dual role), La comédie du bonheur (1940), Histoire de rire (1941), La nuit fantastique (1942), Félicie Nanteuil (1944), and Falbalas (1945), she was regarded as an important young French star in the post-war years when she appeared in the classic films Boule de suif (1945) and, in particular, Le diable au corps (1947), both gaining her world-wide notice.

After a brief post-war marriage to Michel Lefort, Micheline's second marriage to US actor-turned-producer William Marshall in 1949 led her to attempt Hollywood pictures. Receiving a 20th Century-Fox contract, none of the those pictures, which included La belle de Paris (1950), Guérillas (1950) and La taverne de la Nouvelle-Orléans (1951), the last one produced and directed by husband Marshall, captured the hearts of American audiences despite co-starring opposite Hollywood's top male superstars stars at the time -- John Garfield, Tyrone Power and Errol Flynn.

Divorced in 1954, Micheline never truly adjusted to the Hollywood way of life and returned quite willingly to Paris with her daughter, the future actress/director Tonie Marshall. She would, however, return briefly to the US in the early 1960s to appear in the Dee/Darin comedy fluff Un mari en laisse (1962) and the spy drama Pas de lauriers pour les tueurs (1963).

The supremely talented Micheline continued to reign supreme back in Europe and appeared frequently on the stage as well. Some of her post-Hollywood films (mid-1950's on) included La maison du souvenir (1954), Si Versailles m'était conté (1954) (as Madame de Pompadour), La mariée est trop belle (1956), Les louves (1957), Les mystères d'Angkor (1960), Vénus impériale (1962) (as Napoleon's Josephine), Meurtre par accident (1964), La Religieuse (1966), Le Roi de cœur (1966), Peau d'âne (1970), Les Pétroleuses (1971), L'événement le plus important depuis que l'homme a marché sur la Lune (1973), Néa (1976), Démons de midi (1979), Les Voleurs de la nuit (1983), Beau temps mais orageux en fin de journée (1986), Les portes du pouvoir (1990), Fanfan (1993), Les misérables (1995) and Le journal du séducteur (1996).

Into the millennium, Micheline graced a large number of French films such as Le coeur à l'ouvrage (2000), Charmant garçon (2001), Le diable dans la boîte (1977), Mauvais genres (2001), France Boutique (2003) (directed by daughter Tonie), Grabuge! (2005), Plein sud (2009), Comme des frères (2012) and her last, an unbilled part in Tu veux... ou tu veux pas? (2014).

Nominated for a supporting actress Cesar Award for her role as in the Venice Film Festival winner I Want to Go Home (1989), Micheline received an honorary César Award in 2004.