French stage actresses

Brigitte Florence Fossey (French pronunciation: [bʁiʒit flɔʁɑ̃s fɔsɛ]; born 15 June 1946) is a French actress.

Marie-Christine Barrault (born 21 March 1944) is a French actress. She is best known for her performance in Cousin Cousine (1975) for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. In 2010, she released her autobiography, titled This Long Way To Get To You.

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.

Juliette Drouet (French pronunciation: [ʒyljɛt dʁuɛ]), born Julienne Josephine Gauvain (French pronunciation: [ʒyljɛn ʒozfin ɡovɛ̃]; 10 April 1806 – 11 May 1883), was a French actress. She abandoned her career on the stage after becoming the mistress of Victor Hugo, to whom she acted as a secretary and travelling companion. Juliette accompanied Hugo in his exile to the Channel Islands, and wrote thousands of letters to him throughout her life.

Joséphine-Félicité-Augustine Brohan (1824–1893) was a French actress.
The eldest daughter of Augustine Susanne Brohan and the sister of Émilie Madeleine Brohan, she was admitted to the Conservatoire when very young, twice taking the second prize for comedy.The soubrette part, entrusted for more than 150 years at the Comédie-Française to a succession of artists of the first rank, was at the moment without a representative, and Mlle Augustine Brohan made her debut there on May 19, 1841, as Dorine in Tartuffe, and Lise in Rivaux deux-mêmes.She was immediately admitted pensionnaire, and at the end of eighteen months unanimously elected sociétaire. She soon became a great favorite, not only in the plays of Molière and de Regnard, but also in those of Marivaux. On her retirement from the stage in 1866, she made an unhappy marriage with Edmond David de Gheest (died 1885), secretary to the Belgian legation in Paris.

Yvonne Printemps (French: [ivɔn pʁɛ̃tɑ̃]; born Yvonne Wigniolle; 25 July 1894 – 19 January 1977) was a French singer and actress who achieved stardom on stage and screen in France and internationally.
Printemps went on the stage in Paris at the age of 12, and at 21 she was singled out by the actor, director and playwright Sacha Guitry as a leading lady. In 1919 they were married, and worked closely together until 1932, when they divorced. Printemps never remarried, but had a personal and professional partnership with the actor Pierre Fresnay which lasted until his death in 1975.
As a performer, Printemps was famed for the quality of her singing voice and for her personal charm. Among those who composed for her were André Messager, Reynaldo Hahn, Noël Coward and Francis Poulenc. Her voice could have led her to an operatic career, but guided by Guitry she concentrated on operette and other types of musical show, along with non-musical plays and films. In addition to her many successes in Paris she appeared to great acclaim in the West End of London, and on Broadway in New York.

France Nuyen (born France Nguyễn Vân Nga on 31 July 1939) is a French-American actress, model, and psychological counselor. She is known to film audiences for playing romantic leads in South Pacific (1958), Satan Never Sleeps (1962), and A Girl Named Tamiko (also 1962), and for playing Ying-Ying St. Clair in The Joy Luck Club (1993). She also originated the title role in the Broadway play The World of Suzie Wong, based on the novel of the same name. She is a Theatre World Award winner and Golden Globe Award nominee.

Léonie Marie Julie Bathiat (15 May 1898 – 23 July 1992), known professionally as Arletty, was a French actress, singer, and fashion model. As an actress she is particularly known for classics directed by Marcel Carné, including Hotel du Nord (1938), Le jour se lève (1939) and Children of Paradise (1945). She was found guilty of treason for an affair with a German officer during World War II.

Renée Marcelle "Zizi" Jeanmaire (29 April 1924 – 17 July 2020) was a French ballet dancer, actress and singer. She became famous in the 1950s after playing the title role in the ballet Carmen, produced in London in 1949, and went on to appear in several Hollywood films and Paris revues. She was the wife of dancer and choreographer Roland Petit, who created ballets and revues for her.

Lucie Madeleine Renaud (French: [ʁəno]; 21 February 1900 – 23 September 1994) was a French actress best remembered for her work in the theatre. She did though appear in several films directed by Jean Grémillon including Remorques (Stormy Waters, 1941) and Lumière d'été (Summer Light, 1943).