Jeanne Moreau is an icon of the French cinema who also experienced a streak of success as a vocalist during the 1960s.
Background
Ethnicity:
Moreau's father was French and her mother was English, a native of Lancashire in England and of part-Irish descent.
MOREAU, Jeanne was born on January 23, 1928 in Paris. Daughter of AnatoleDdsird Moreau and Katherine Buckley.
Education
Moreau ultimately lost interest in school at age 16 and, after attending Jean Anouilh's Antigone, found her calling as an actor.
Holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Lancaster, UK.
Named Doctor of Arts by the City University of New York (June 1997).
Career
Born on January 23, 1928, in Paris, she broke into the film industry during the 1950s, appearing most notably in a pair of 1958 films by Louis Malle, Ascenseur Pour l'Échafaud and Les Amants. Following her breakthrough success in these films, she appeared in a long line of others by prominent directors, most notably François Truffaut, who immortalized her in his classic Jules et Jim (1962), as well as Jean-Luc Godard (A Woman Is a Woman, 1961), Michelangelo Antonioni (La Notte, 1961), Orson Welles (The Trial, 1962), Luis Buñuel (Diary of a Chambermaid, 1964), Rainer Werner Fassbinder (Querelle, 1982), and Wim Wenders (Until the End of the World, 1991). Moreau's recording career as a vocalist was sparked by her memorable performance of the song "Le Tourbillon" in Jules et Jim. Released as a 45-rpm single by Philips in 1962, "Le Tourbillon" was written by Cyrus Bassiak (born Serge Rezvani). The full-length album Jeanne Moreau (1963), comprised of a dozen songs by Rezvani, was released on the Disques Jacques Canetti label in the wake of "Le Tourbillon." Subsequent silver-screen singing performances of note include the songs "Embrasse-Moi," a Bassiak song from the film Peau de Banane (1963), and "Ah les P'tites Femmes de Femmes de Paris," a duet with Brigitte Bardot from the film Viva Maria (1965). There was also another full-length album of Bassiak songs released on Disques Jacques Canetti, 12 Chansons (1966). Moreau's two full-lengths were later compiled by the British label Él on The Immortal Jeanne Moreau (2008). Numerous other best-of collections were compiled over the years, most of them featuring soundtrack recordings such as "Le Tourbillon" alongside material from her full-lengths.
Politics
Signed the manifesto against French abortion laws published by the magazine "Le Nouvel Observateur" on 5 April 1971.
Is one of the numerous French film personalities who co-signed a petition calling for civil disobedience in the face of a xenophobic immigration law (February 1997).