20th-century French actresses

Marie_Bell

Marie Bell (23 December 1900 – 14 August 1985), born Marie-Jeanne Bellon-Downey, was a French tragedian, comic actor and stage director. She was the director of the Théâtre du Gymnase in Paris from 1962 onwards, and this theatre now bears her name.

Marie_Trintignant

Marie Trintignant (French pronunciation: [maʁi tʁɛ̃tiɲɑ̃] ; 21 January 1962 – 1 August 2003) was a French film and stage actress. She appeared in over 30 movies during her 36-year career. Her family was deeply involved in France's film industry, as her father was an actor and her mother was a director, producer, and screenwriter.
In 2003, Trintignant began an affair with Bertrand Cantat, the lead singer of French rock band Noir Désir. That same year, Cantat, Trintignant, and Trintignant's mother traveled to Lithuania so Trintignant and her mother could finish work on a television movie. On 26 July 2003, while in their shared hotel room, Cantat flew into a jealous rage during an argument over a text message sent to Trintignant by her husband, from whom she was separated; Cantat proceeded to beat Trintignant severely about the head and face. She died days later from cerebral edema brought about by her injuries. Cantat was convicted of "murder with indirect intent" in her death and received an eight-year prison sentence, of which he served four before his early release. Trintignant's case became a cause célèbre in the discussion of domestic violence and leniency towards perpetrators.

Marianne_Oswald

Marianne Oswald (January 9, 1901 – February 25, 1985) was the stage name of Sarah Alice Bloch, a French singer and actress born in Sarreguemines in Alsace-Lorraine. She took this stage name from a character she much admired, the unhappy Oswald in the Ibsen play Ghosts. She was noted for her hoarse voice, heavy half-Lorraine, half-German accent, and for singing about unrequited love, despair, sadness, and death. She sang the songs of Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht. She was friends with Jean Cocteau, Jacques Prévert, François Mauriac, and Albert Camus. In fact, the text for one of her album covers was written by Camus. She was an inspiration for the composers Francis Poulenc and Arthur Honegger.

Brigitte_Lahaie

Brigitte Lahaie (born Brigitte Lucie Jeanine Van Meerhaeghe; 12 October 1955) is a French radio talk show host, mainstream film actress and former pornographic actress. She performed in erotic films from 1976 through 1980 and is a member of the XRCO Hall of Fame.

Ophelie_Winter

Ophélie Kleerekoper-Winter (born 20 February 1974) is a French pop and R&B singer and actress. She is the daughter of Dutch singer David Alexandre Winter and French fashion model Catherine Fefeu. She rose to prominence in much of Europe after signing with EastWest Records in 1995 and released her hit song "Dieu m'a donné la foi" which reached number one on the French singles chart as well as other hits: "le feu qui m'attise", "Shame on U", "Elle Pleure"" and "Sache"".