Norma Bengell and John Herbert in As Cariocas. Norma Bengell: Iconic (and controversial) Brazilian film, stage & TV star made history as first actress seen naked (full frontal) in a…
Jeanne Moreau

Jeanne Moreau: Iconic 20th-century actress & French New Wave symbol
One of the greatest film icons of the 20th century, Jeanne Moreau was born on Jan. 23, 1928, in Paris.
She began her show business career in the late 1940s, appearing on stage at the Comédie-Française and later at the Théâtre National Populaire.
Moreau would become an international star of the first magnitude following lead roles in Louis Malle’s thriller Elevator to the Gallows (1958) and The Lovers (1959), which created a stir because of a – for the time – daring sex scene.
Other major Jeanne Moreau movies include Roger Vadim’s Les liaisons dangereuses (1959), an updated, Nouvelle Vague version of Pierre Choderlos de Laclos’ classic novel, co-starring Gérard Philipe; Michelangelo Antonioni’s psychological drama La Notte (1961), with Moreau as Marcello Mastroianni’s dissatisfied wife; and François Truffaut’s Jules and Jim (1962), in which she is seen frolicking in a three-way with Oskar Werner and Henri Serre.
Also: Joseph Losey’s Eva (1962), as an ambitious seductress out to get Stanley Baker; Luis Buñuel’s Diary of a Chambermaid (1964), as the titular diarist; and Lumiere, which Moreau herself directed.
She was last seen on the big screen in Alex Lutz’s 2015 release Le talent de mes amis (“The Talent of My Friends”).
Jeanne Moreau died on July 31, 2017.
-
Sara Montiel Sara Montiel: Legendary Spanish movie and recording superstar Sara Montiel, a.k.a. Sarita Montiel a.k.a. Saritisima, one of the Spanish-speaking world’s biggest film and recording stars, died yesterday, April…
-
International cinema and Hollywood Divas in Brazil. In As Divas no Brasil / Divas in Brazil, Brazilian author Evânio Alves narrates numerous little-known stories – some tragic, some humorous, some…
-
BAFTA Fellowship: Very few Women, Few Outside UK/Hollywood Axis despite sometimes more than 1 annual honoree in recent years.
-
Michelangelo Antonioni, the film master of modern alienation, despair, and ennui, was the third important personage of world cinema to die in the last three days – Ingmar Bergman and…
-
Nathalie Baye & Juan Diego Top San Sebastian Film Festival Awards 2006 San Sebastian Film Festival: Sept. 21–30. At a awards ceremony yesterday, Sept. 30, the 54th Donostia-San Sebastian Film…
-
Michelangelo Antonioni movies at LACMA “Modernist Master: Michelangelo Antonioni,” is the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s (website) retrospective honoring the Italian filmmaker, whose body of work includes revered classics…
-
Go West: Gay movie about Romeo and Romeo romance directed by a European Film Award winner has sparked religious and nationalist outrage in Bosnia.
-
French film stars Catherine Deneuve, Jeanne Moreau and Juliette Binoche are among the celebrities offering support for two journalists (and their driver) currently being held as hostages in Iraq.
European Film Awards: Veterans Jeanne Moreau and Liv Ullmann + Alain Resnais and Helen Mirren among presenters, winners and honorees.
Banned Chinese film – but is it really? – wins Tribeca Film Festival’s top prize, while Russian space drama + El Salvador Civil War tale are Moscow and Seattle faves.