20th-century French actresses

Magali Noël Guiffray (27 June 1931 – 23 June 2015), better known as Magali Noël, was a French actress and singer.

Frédérique Hoschedé (born 14 July 1953), better known by the stage name Dorothée, is a French singer and television presenter. She was a continuity announcer on French public broadcaster Antenne 2 from 1977 to 1983, but she is best known for having presented children's television shows like Les mercredis de la jeunesse (1973), Dorothée et ses amis (1977–1978), Récré A2 (1978–1987), and especially Club Dorothée (1987–1997), which totalled up to about thirty hours of broadcast per week and popularized Japanese animation in France (with titles like Dragon Ball, Saint Seiya, City Hunter, or Hokuto no Ken sparking controversy and complaints from the CSA as well as some political figures, for their violent content).Dorothée is a singer with a large discography (one album per year on average between 1980 and 1996), singing pop music for children, and she has recorded well-known French traditional nursery rhymes in a record collection called Le jardin des chansons. Several of her songs were used for the openings of animated series featured in Club Dorothée (including "Candy" and "Sophie et Virginie"). One of her trademarks is that each of her albums, from Hou ! la menteuse in 1982 to Dorothée 2010, featured a song with the word "valise" (suitcase) in its title, with a similar melody but a different arrangement and partially updated lyrics, totalling sixteen "valise" songs.Between 1990 and 1996, Dorothée performed 56 shows at the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy (now called AccorHotels Arena), still the record for a female artist and the third-highest total number of concerts in this venue behind Michel Sardou and Johnny Hallyday. In addition, her 1992 tour attracted more people in France than Johnny Hallyday and Michael Jackson, earning her a "Fauteuil d'Or" award for more than 500,000 tickets sold.Later in her musical career, Dorothée developed a particular interest in early rock music. In 1993 and 1994, she presented three special prime time shows called Dorothée Rock'n'roll Show, in which she sang duets with major rock and roll and rhythm and blues artists, including Ray Charles, Chuck Berry, Cliff Richard, Henri Salvador, Percy Sledge, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, and Jerry Lee Lewis, with whom she sang "Great Balls of Fire", which also featured on her album Une histoire d'amour (1992). Her 1994 album, Nashville Tennessee, was recorded in the titular city of Nashville, in the recording studio made famous by Elvis Presley and Bill Haley.Dorothée had a brief stint in cinema, appearing in three movies between 1979 and 1980, including a prominent role in L'amour en fuite by François Truffaut. She also made a cameo appearance in the 2019 live action Nicky Larson movie.

Juliette Mayniel (22 January 1936 – 21 July 2023) was a French actress. She appeared in more than 30 films and television shows between 1958 and 1978. At the 10th Berlin International Film Festival, she won the Silver Bear for Best Actress for her role in the film The Fair.

Gina Manès (born Blanche Moulin; 7 April 1893 – 6 September 1989) was a French film actress and a major star of French silent cinema. After an early appearance in a Louis Feuillade film, she had significant roles in films of Germaine Dulac and Jean Epstein, including Cœur fidèle.

Judith Magre (born 20 November 1926) is a French actress, born in Montier-en-Der, Haute-Marne.

Corinne Luchaire (11 February 1921 – 22 January 1950) was a French film actress who was a star of French cinema on the eve of World War II. Her association with the German occupation led her to be sentenced to "national indignity" after the war, and after writing an autobiography, she died from tuberculosis at age 28.

Paulette Dubost (8 October 1910 – 21 September 2011) was a French actress who began her career at the age of 7 at the Paris Opera.
She appeared in over 250 films and worked with directors such as Marcel Carné, Jean Renoir, Max Ophüls (Le Plaisir 1952 and Lola Montès, 1955) and François Truffaut. Her best-known role is as Lisette in Renoir's The Rules of the Game (La règle du jeu, 1939). Originally intended to be a small role offering only a couple of days' work, the extent of her part grew during the four-month shooting schedule.She died three weeks before her 101st birthday.

Jacqueline Doyen (14 February 1930 – 3 September 2006) was a French actress. She appeared in 80 films and television shows between 1956 and 1995.

Marie Déa (born Odette Alice Marie Deupès 17 May 1912 – 1 March 1992) was a French actress. She appeared in more than 50 films from 1939 to 1983.
She was married to the actor Lucien Nat.

Josette Day (Paris, July 31, 1914 – Paris, June 27, 1978) was a French film actress.
Born Josette Noële Andrée Claire Dagory, she began her career as a child actress in 1919 at the age of five. When she was 18, Day was the mistress of Paul Morand and later was in a relationship with famous French writer and director Marcel Pagnol, whom she met in January 1939 and lasted part of World War II. She did not marry him.In 1946, she played her best-known role, alongside Jean Marais, as Belle in Jean Cocteau's 1946 film Beauty and the Beast.
Her films include Allo Berlin? Ici Paris! (1932), The Merry Monarch (based on Les Aventures du roi Pausole) (1933), Lucrèce Borgia (1935), L'homme du jour (1937), Accord final (1938), La Belle et la Bête (1946) and Les Parents terribles (1948).
Despite numerous parts in famous French films, Day ended her career as an actress in 1950 when only 36 years old. She retired to marry wealthy chemical businessman Maurice Solvay (descendant of Ernest Solvay, founder of the notable Solvay company). In February 1959, while on cruise in the Pacific, she and Solvay met a Tahitian girl at a Papeete market named Hinano Tiatia, whom the couple took under legal guardianship and who was the center of Solvay's inheritance dispute having not been adopted at the time of his sudden death in 1960.