Background
Jacqueline Bisset was born on September 13, 1944 in Weybridge.
Jacqueline Bisset was born on September 13, 1944 in Weybridge.
She worked hard: The Knack (65, Richard Lester); Drop Dead. Darling (66, Ken Hughes); Two for the Road (67, Stanley Donen); Casino Royale (67); The Cape Town Affair (67, Robert D. Webb); The Sweet Ride (67, Harvey Hart); The Detective (68, Gordon Douglas); her first chance, as relief to motor-car assault courses, in Bullitt (68, Peter Yates); La Promesse (68, Paul Feyder); The First Time (69. James Neilson); Airport (69, George Seaton); The Grasshopper (69, ferry Paris); The Mephisto Waltz (70, Paul Wendkos); Believe in Me (71, Stuart Hagman); Stand Up and Be Counted (71, Jackie Gooper); Secrets (71. Philip Saville); The Life and Times of Judge Rot/ Bean (72. John Huston); and The Thief Who Came to Dinner (72, Bud Yorkin).
Her part as the insecure actress in Day for Night (73, François Truffaut) used her kindlv, and was far above the run of junk she had been used to.
It probably helped to promote her to international stardom, but no one yet had trusted her with a complex part or much more than the duty of being photographed: How to Destroy the Reputation of the Greatest Secret Agent (73, Philippe de Broca); Murder on the Orient Express (74, Sidney Lumet); The Spiral Staircase (75, Peter Collinson); St. Ives (76, J. Lee Thompson); The Deep (77, Yates) as a species of dripping poster; The Greek Tycoon (78, Thompson); and Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe? (78, Ted Kotcheff).
Since then, she has made Inchon (80. Terence Young); When Time Ran Out (80, James Goldstone); Rich and Famous (81, George Cukor), which she coproduced; I Love You, I Love You Not (82, Armenia Balducci); Class (83, Lewis John Carlino); as the wife in Under the Volcano (84, John Huston); Forbidden (85, Anthony Page), for TV; as Anna Karenina (85, Simon Langton), also on TV; Choices (86, David Low'd 1 Rich); High Season (87, Clare Peploe); Scenes from the Class St niggle in Beverly Hills (89, Paul Bartel); Wild Orchid (90, Zalman King); and The Maid (90, Ian Toyton).
In some quarters, there has been a move to elevate Ms. Bisset to the level of Charlotte Rampling, or even Jeanne Moreau. Alas, the work points steadily in a different direction: Rossini! Rossini! (91, Mario Monicelli); Les Marmottes (93, Elie Choraqui); Hoffman's Hunger (93, Leon de Winter); Cnmebroker (93, Ian Barry); on TV in Leave of Absence (94, Tom McLoughlin); La Cérémonie (95, Claude Chabrol); September (96, Colin Bucksey); Once You Meet a Stranger (96, Tommy Lee Wallace); End of Summer (96, Linda Yellen); Dangerous Beauty (98, Marshall Herskovitz); Joan of Arc (99, Christian Duguay); as Mary in Jesus (99, Roger Young) for TV; Les Gens Qui s’Aiment (99, Jean Charles Tacchella); Britannic (00, Brian Trenchard-Smith); Sex ù Mrs. X (00, Arthur Allan Seidelman); as Sarah in In the Beginning (00, Kevin Connor); Neiv Year’s Day (00, Suri Krish- namma); Joan of Arc: The Virgin Warrior (00, Ronald F. Maxwell); The Sleepy Time Gal (01, Christopher Munch).
Bisset scholars treasure an early quickie exploitation picture in which the lady appeared nude. Miss Bisset scorns to discuss the item, and follows her trade of lolling around in a wet T-shirt or masquerading as Jackie O. The scale of exploitation shifts, and as it grows greedier so shame and discretion fall away, leaving naked professionalism.