- Born
- Died
- Nickname
- The French Bette Davis
- Height5′ 2½″ (1.59 m)
- When people gave Louis Malle credit for making a star of Jeanne Moreau in Elevator to the Gallows (1958) immediately followed by The Lovers (1958), he would point out that Moreau by that time had already been "recognized as the prime stage actress of her generation." She had made it to the Comédie Française in her 20s. She had appeared in B-movie thrillers with Jean Gabin and Ascenseur was in that genre. The technicians at the film lab went to the producer after seeing the first week of dailies for Ascenseur and said: "You must not let Malle destroy Jeanne Moreau". Malle explained: "She was lit only by the windows of the Champs Elysées. That had never been done. Cameramen would have forced her to wear a lot of make-up and they would put a lot of light on her, because, supposedly, her face was not photogenic". This lack of artifice revealed Moreau's "essential qualities: she could be almost ugly and then ten seconds later she would turn her face and would be incredibly attractive. But she would be herself".
Moreau has told interviewers that the characters she played were not her. But even the most famous film critic of his generation, Roger Ebert, thinks that she is a lot like her most enduring role, Catherine in François Truffaut's Jules and Jim (1962). Behind those eyes and that enigmatic smile is a woman with a mind. In a review of The Clothes in the Wardrobe (1993) Ebert wrote: "Jeanne Moreau has been a treasure of the movies for 35 years... Here, playing a flamboyant woman who nevertheless keeps her real thoughts closely guarded, she brings about a final scene of poetic justice as perfect as it is unexpected".
Moreau made her debut as a director in Lumiere (1976) -- also writing the script and playing Sarah, an actress the same age as Moreau whose romances are often with directors for the duration of making a film. She made several films with Malle.
Still active in international cinema, Moreau presided over the jury of the 1995 Cannes Film Festival.- IMDb mini biography by: Dale O'Connor <daleoc@worldnet.att.net>
- SpousesWilliam Friedkin(February 8, 1977 - 1979) (divorced)Jean-Louis Richard(September 27, 1949 - 1951) (divorced, 1 child)
- Unconventional, earthy sexiness
- Emotionally unstable, passionate characters
- Her only son, Jerome, was seriously injured in a car accident during the shooting of Seven Days... Seven Nights (1960); the driver was Jean-Paul Belmondo, her co-star in that film. The then-ten-year-old Jerome survived the accident to become a successful painter.
- Agreed to be paid in silver plates for her work in Orson Welles' Chimes at Midnight (1965), because of the limited budget.
- Considered by Orson Welles as "the greatest actress in the world".
- Is the only French actress to have been the object of a major retrospective of her work (including 30 films) at the Museum of Modern Art of New York (February-March 1994).
- Became world-famous when she starred in Louis Malle's controversial film The Lovers (1958) as a provincial wife who abandons her family for a man she has just met; the film had censorship problems all over the world because of its erotic scenes and Moreau instantly became an international sex symbol.
- While I'm doing the role, I'm the part. I'm the person. But once I'm finished I'm me.
- I've worked hard. I'm passionate and my world is cinema, acting, theater, creativity, art, painting, books, music, sculpture, landscapes, movements of people in the streets. Everything.
- Acting deals with very delicate emotions. It is not putting up a mask. Each time an actor acts he does not hide; he exposes himself.
- Don't take care of yourself because you want to stop time. Do it for self-respect. It's an incredible gift, the energy of life. You don't have to be a wreck. You don't have to be sick. One's aim in life should be to die in good health. Just like a candle that burns out.
The life you had is nothing. It is the life you have that is important.
Some people are addicts. If they don't act, they don't exist. - At the beginning of my career, I was seeking something traditional, strict; just to prove to my father that being an actress is not being a whore.
- The Old Lady Who Walked in the Sea (1995) - $400,000
- Viva Maria! (1965) - $200,000
- The Yellow Rolls-Royce (1965) - $70,000
- The Train (1965) - $60,000
- Diary of a Chambermaid (1965) - $50,000
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