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 Marie-Thérèse 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 husband's 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 Jean-Louis Barrault. In Hollywood, she co-starred 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 Schubert's Impromptu in E flat.
In 1950 she appeared on stage at London's 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 Schell-directed Academy Award-nominated and Golden Globe-winner for Best Foreign-Language Foreign Film of 1974, Der Fußgänger (English title: The Pedestrian).
She died in Montgeron, Île-de-France, near Paris. Her grave is located in Sorel-Moussel, Île-de-France, where she is buried with her husband, movie director Jacques Feyder.
There are streets named after Françoise Rosay in Limoges, Montpellier, Chevry-Cossigny, Launaguet and Martigues.
Source: Article "Françoise Rosay" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
Acted in
The Pedestrian
1973
as Frau Dechamps
Not Dumb, the Bird
1972
as Mme Morelli-Johnson
Midi trente
1972
as Self
Un merveilleux parfum d'oseille
1969
as Louise de Kerfuntel
Don't Take God's Children for Wild Geese
1968
as Léontine Palpicart aka 'La Gâteuse'
The 25th Hour
1967
as Mme Nagy
L'Âge heureux
1966
as Mme Aubry
Cloportes
1965
as Gertrude, une "prêteuse" du milieu
Up from the Beach
1965
as Lili's Grandmother
Full Hearts and Empty Pockets
1964
as Borgia
Frau Cheneys Ende
1962
as Mrs. Webley
The Counterfeiters of Paris
1961
as Madame Pauline
The Full Treatment
1960
as Madame Prade
Stefanie in Rio
1960
as Leonora Guala
Lovers Woods
1960
as Madame Parisot
Without Trumpet or Drum
1959
as La grand-mère de Marguerite
Eyes of Love
1959
as Mme Montcatel mère
Riff Raff Girls
1959
as Berthe
The Sound and the Fury
1959
as Caroline Compson
The Gambler
1958
as La tante Antonia
Me and the Colonel
1958
as Madame Bouffier
Non sono più guaglione
1957
as Vincenzino's mother
Interlude
1957
as Comtesse Reinhart
The Seventh Sin
1957
as Mother Superior
Girls of Today
1955
as padrona della pensione
That Lady
1955
as Bernardine
Queen Margot
1954
as Catherine de Médicis / Catharine of Medici
Les éloquents
1954
as Self
Sul ponte dei sospiri
1953
as Lady of Sant'Agata
He Who Is Without Sin...
1952
as La contessa Lamieri
Wanda the Sinner
1952
as Anna Steiner
Smuggler's Ball
1952
as Gabrielle Demeuse
The Seven Deadly Sins
1952
as Elisabeth de Pallières, the mother (segment "Pride")
Nobody's Children
1951
as La contessa Canali
The Red Inn
1951
as Marie Martin
K – Das Haus des Schweigens
1951
as Noemi, die Amme
The 13th Letter
1951
as Mrs. Gauthier
The Naked Heart
1950
as Laura Chapdelaine
September Affair
1950
as Maria Salvatini
One Only Loves Once
1950
as Mme Monnier
Women Without Names
1950
as The Countess
The Barton Mystery
1949
as Élisabeth
Les vagabonds du rêve
1949
as Mireille Dombreval
Quartet
1948
as Lea Makart
Saraband for Dead Lovers
1948
as The Electress Sophia
La Dame de Haut-le-Bois
1947
as Countess Brévannes
Back Streets of Paris
1946
as Mme Rose, la tenancière de l'hôtel
Johnny Frenchman
1945
as Lanec Florrie
The Halfway House
1944
as Alice Meadows
Portrait of a Woman
1944
as Fanny Helder
They Were Twelve Women
1940
as La duchesse de Vimeuse
Serge Panine
1939
as Madame Devarenne
Fahrendes Volk
1938
as Madame Flora
The Chess Player
1938
as Catherine II
Peace on the Rhine
1938
as Francoise Scheffer
The Stream
1938
as Régina Berry
People Who Travel
1938
as Flora
Ramuntcho
1938
as Dolorès Detcharry
Bizarre, Bizarre
1937
as Margaret Molyneux
Life Dances On
1937
as Marguerite Audié
My Son the Minister
1937
as Sylvie - seine Mutter
The Robber Symphony
1937
as The fortune teller
Armchair 47
1937
as Gilberte Boulanger
Jenny
1936
as Jenny Gauthier
The Secret of Polichinelle
1936
as Mrs. Jouvenel
Carnival in Flanders
1936
as Cornelia
Carnival in Flanders
1935
as Madame Burgomaster
Marie des angoisses
1935
as Mme de Quersac
Gangster malgré lui
1935
Maternité
1935
as Mrs. Duchemin
Whirlpool
1935
as Madame Gardane
Pension Mimosas
1935
as Louise Noblet
Le Billet de mille
1935
as The Russian Countess
Marchand d'amour
1935
as Clara
Die Insel
1934
as Silvia
Vers l'abîme
1934
as Sylvia
Coralie and Company
1934
The Great Game
1934
as Blanche
Tambour battant
1934
as The Princess Mother
Abbot Constantine
1933
as La comtesse de Laverdens
All for Nothing
1933
as Mrs. Bossu
La Pouponnière
1933
as Mrs. Delannoy
The Woman Dressed As a Man
1932
as Princess Marie
A Father Without Knowing It
1932
as Madame Jacquet
He
1932
as Madame Husson
Luck
1931
as Mme Mougeot
The Trial of Mary Dugan
1931
as The widow
Casanova wider Willen
1931
as Blanche Brissac
Jenny Lind
1931
as Rosatti
The Magnificent Lie
1931
as Rosa Duchêne
Let Us Be Gay
1931
as Madame Boucijon
The Little Cafe
1931
as Mademoiselle Edwige
The One Woman Idea
1929
as Zuleide, Alizar's Mother
Two Timid Souls
1928
as The aunt
Madame Récamier
1928
as Madame de Staël
Le bateau de verre
1927
as Madame d'Arcy, his wife
Gribiche
1926
as Edith Maranet
Crainquebille
1922
as Shoe Store Customer