''Lady L'' is a 1965

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

based on the novel by

Romain Gary Romain Gary (; 2 December 1980), born Roman Kacew (, and also known by the pen name Émile Ajar), was a French novelist, diplomat, film director, and World War II aviator. He is the only author to have won the Prix Goncourt under two names. He i ...

and directed by Peter Ustinov. Starring Sophia Loren, Paul Newman,

David Niven James David Graham Niven (; 1 March 1910 – 29 July 1983) was a British actor, soldier, memoirist, and novelist. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance as Major Pollock in '' Separate Tables'' (1958). Niven's other roles ...

and Cecil Parker, the film focuses on an elderly Corsican lady as she recalls the loves of her life, including an anarchist and an English aristocrat. The ending of the film is very different from the ending of the novel.

Plot

As she approaches her 80th birthday, the sophisticated and still attractive Lady Lendale (widely known as "Lady L") recounts to her biographer, Sir Percy, the story of her life. Fleeing her humble origins in Corsica, she travels to Paris, where she finds work in a brothel. There she falls in love with a thief and anarchist, Armand, and becomes pregnant by him. But before he can use a bomb to assassinate a Bavarian prince, she meets the wealthy Lord Lendale, who is so enchanted by the young woman that he offers to help her and Armand escape if she will agree to marry him. He explains that several of his high society relatives are mad and he wants new blood in his family. Lady L becomes a woman of means, moving in high society, and together she and Lord Lendale raise a large family and many of their children achieve high class positions. In the end, however, she reveals her secret: with Lord Lendale's help, she has continued to be the lover of Armand, who has fathered all their children while posing as the family's chauffeur.

Cast

* Sophia Loren as Lady Louise Lendale / Lady L * Paul Newman as Armand Denis *

as Dicky, Lord Lendale * Marcel Dalio as Sapper * Cecil Parker as Sir Percy *

Philippe Noiret Philippe Noiret (; 1 October 1930 – 23 November 2006) was a French film actor. Life and career Noiret was born in Lille, France, the son of Lucy (Heirman) and Pierre Noiret, a clothing company representative. He was an indifferent student and ...

as Ambroise Gérôme *

Jacques Dufilho Jacques Dufilho (19 February 1914 – 28 August 2005) was a French actor. He was born at Bègles (Gironde) and he died at Ponsampère (Gers). Life and career Dufilho appeared in 65 French productions. Moreover, he was frequently seen in Italian ...

Dufilho as Bealu *

Eugene Deckers Eugene Francis Deckers (22 October 1917, in Antwerp – 1977, in Paris, France) was a Belgian actor. Career After establishing himself on the British stage, Deckers made his first English language film appearance in 1946. Formerly a romantic l ...

as Koenigstein *

Daniel Emilfork Daniel Emilfork (7 April 1924 – 17 October 2006) was a Chilean stage and film actor who made his career in France. Biography Emilfork was born in San Felipe, Chile after his Jewish socialist parents from Kiev fled a pogrom in Odessa. A ...

as Kobeleff * Hella Petri as Madam *

Jean Wiener Jean Wiener (or Wiéner) (19 March 1896, 14th arrondissement of Paris – 8 June 1982, Paris) was a French pianist and composer. Life Wiener was trained at the Conservatoire de Paris, where he studied alongside Darius Milhaud, and worked wi ...

as Krajewski * Roger Trapp as police inspector Dubaron * Jean Rupert *

Joe Dassin Joseph Ira Dassin (; 5 November 1938 – 20 August 1980) was an American–French singer-songwriter and actor. He was the son of film director Jules Dassin. Early life Dassin was born in New York City to American film director Jules Dassin (19 ...

as a police inspector * Jacques Legras as a police inspector * Mario Feliciani as Italian anarchist * Sacha Pitoëff as Bomb-throwing revolutionary *

Arthur Howard Arthur Howard (born Arthur John Steiner; 18 January 1910 – 18 June 1995) was an English stage, film and television actor. Life and career Born in Camberwell, London, Howard was the younger son of Lilian (née Blumberg) and Ferdinand "Frank" ...

as Butler *

Dorothy Reynolds Dorothy Reynolds (26 January 1913 – 7 April 1977) was a British writer and actress. She is mainly known for writing a number of musicals in collaboration with Julian Slade. The best known were ''Salad Days "Salad days" is a Shakespearean ...

* Jacques Ciron * Hazel Hughes *

Michel Piccoli Jacques Daniel Michel Piccoli (27 December 1925 – 12 May 2020) was a French actor, producer and film director with a career spanning 70 years. He was lauded as one of the greatest French character actors of his generation who played a wide vari ...

i as Lecoeur * Claude Dauphin as Inspector Mercier *

Catherine Allégret Catherine Allégret (born 16 April 1946) is a French actress. She is the daughter of Simone Signoret and Yves Allégret.Becker, Frawley (2004) ''And the Stars Spoke Back: A Dialogue Coach Remembers Hollywood Players of the Sixties in Paris'', Sca ...

as Pantoufle * France Arnel as Brunette * Dorothée Blank as Blonde girl * Jean-Paul Cauvin as The Little Orphan * Lo Ann Chan as the Chinese girl * Sylvain Levignac * Laurence Lignières as High society girl * Tanya Lopert as Agneau * Moustache as Delcour * John Wood (uncredited) as the Photographer * Jenny Orléans as Blonde girl * Peter Ustinov as Prince Otto of Bavaria * Janet Wilson as an extra

Production

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...

spent $2 million on pre-production for the film before cancelling the project. It was later restarted as an

international co-production A co-production is a joint venture between two or more different production companies for the purpose of film production, television production, video game development, and so on. In the case of an international co-production, production companie ...

between

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

and the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

Castle Howard Castle Howard is a stately home in North Yorkshire, England, within the civil parish of Henderskelfe, located north of York. It is a private residence and has been the home of the Carlisle branch of the Howard family for more than 300 years ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

was used for the shooting of some scenes. Interiors were shot at the

Victorine Studios Victorine Studios (French: Studios de la Victorine) are a film studio in the French city of Nice. They are also known as the Nice Studios. Several small studios have also existed in the city. Originally built in 1921 in an attempt to create a H ...

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard dialect, Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department in France. The Nice urban unit, agg ...

Release

The film had its world premiere at the

Empire, Leicester Square The Empire, Leicester Square is a cinema currently operated by Cineworld on the north side of Leicester Square, London. The Empire was originally built in 1884 as a variety theatre and was rebuilt for films in the 1920s. It is one of several c ...

in the

West End of London The West End of London (commonly referred to as the West End) is a district of Central London, west of the City of London and north of the River Thames, in which many of the city's major tourist attractions, shops, businesses, government build ...

on 25 November 1965.The Times 25/11/65, page 2

References

External links

* * * * 1965 films 1965 comedy films Films about anarchism Films based on works by Romain Gary Films directed by Peter Ustinov Films set in the 1900s Films set in Paris Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films Films based on French novels English-language French films Films shot at Victorine Studios 1960s English-language films {{1960s-comedy-film-stub