Françoise Rosay

Françoise Rosay born Françoise Bandy de Nalèche 19 April 1891 28 March 1974 was a French opera singer diseuse and actress who enjoyed a film career of over sixty years and who became a legendary figure in French cinema She went on to appear in over 100 movies in her career Rosay was born Françoise Bandy de Nalèche in Paris the illegitimate daughter of MarieThérèse Chauvin an actress known as Sylviac She originally planned to become an opera singer and in 1917 won a prize at the Paris Conservatoire and made her debut at the Palais Garnier in the title role of Salammbô by Ernest Reyer She also sang in Castor et Pollux by Rameau and Thaïs by Massenet Her first recorded film was Falstaff in 1911 and she began to work in Hollywood from 1929 onwards In 1917 she married the director Jacques Feyder with whom she remained until his death in 1948 having three sons She appeared in several films under her husbands direction including Le Grand Jeu 1933 Pension Mimosas 1934 La Kermesse héroïque Carnival in Flanders 1935 and Les Gens du voyage 1937 Rosay spent the duration of World War II in England and Switzerland where she taught acting classes at the Conservatoire de Genève She still appeared in films during this time notably the British Halfway House 1944 as the refugee French wife of a British sea captain During her career she appeared with all the great stars of French cinema including Jean Gabin Michèle Morgan Raimu Jeanne Moreau Danielle Darrieux Micheline Presle Paul Meurisse Gérard Philipe Louis Jouvet Michel Simon Simone Signoret Fernandel and JeanLouis Barrault In Hollywood she costarred with Charles Boyer Maurice Chevalier and Buster Keaton and worked with directors such as William Dieterle September Affair 1949 Martin Ritt The Sound and the Fury 1958 Ronald Neame The Seventh Sin 1956 and Peter Glenville Me and the Colonel 1957 with Danny Kaye In England she appeared in The Alien Corn a segment of the W Somerset Maugham anthology film Quartet A highly accomplished pianist herself in real life she played the role of a famous piano virtuoso who gives aspiring pianist Dirk Bogarde a compassionate but honest and devastating critical appraisal of his likelihood of becoming a great musician which results in his suicide She performs in the film Schuberts Impromptu in E flat In 1950 she appeared on stage at Londons Winter Garden Theatre playing the title role in Madame Tic Tac but it had only a short run It was not until 1938 that her biological father Count François Louis Bandy de Nalèche acknowledged her as his daughter Her final appearance on film was in the Maximilian Schelldirected Academy Awardnominated and Golden Globewinner for Best ForeignLanguage Foreign Film of 1974 Der Fußgänger English title The Pedestrian She died in Montgeron ÎledeFrance near Paris Her grave is located in SorelMoussel ÎledeFrance where she is buried with her husband movie director Jacques Feyder There are streets named after Françoise Rosay in Limoges Montpellier ChevryCossigny Launaguet and Martigues Source Article Françoise Rosay from Wikipedia in English licensed under CCBYSA 30