Laura Duke Condominas (also known as Laura Duke), born in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

in April 1951, is the daughter of French-American artist and film-maker

Niki de Saint-Phalle Niki de Saint Phalle (; born Catherine Marie-Agnès Fal de Saint Phalle; 29 October 193021 May 2002) was a French-American sculptor, painter, filmmaker, and author of colorful hand-illustrated books. Widely noted as one of the few female monum ...

and American novelist

Harry Mathews Harry Mathews (February 14, 1930 – January 25, 2017) was an American writer, the author of various novels, volumes of poetry and short fiction, and essays. Mathews was also a translator of the French language. Life Born in New York City to an ...

. As an actress, she is most notable for her portrayal of

Guinevere Guinevere ( ; cy, Gwenhwyfar ; br, Gwenivar, kw, Gwynnever), also often written in Modern English as Guenevere or Guenever, was, according to Arthurian legend, an early-medieval queen of Great Britain and the wife of King Arthur. First ment ...

Robert Bresson Robert Bresson (; 25 September 1901 – 18 December 1999) was a French film director. Known for his ascetic approach, Bresson contributed notably to the art of cinema; his non-professional actors, Ellipsis (narrative device), ellipses, and s ...

's film '' Lancelot du lac'' (1974). She grew up in France in the artistic and film-making milieu of her mother, who was struggling with mental distress. Her parents separated by mutual agreement in 1960, and she and her brother Philip went to live with her father. She married Laurent Condominas, a model and photographer linked to the " Zanzibar Films" collective of avant garde French film-makers, also known as the "Dandies of

May 1968 The following events occurred in May 1968: May 1, 1968 (Wednesday) *CARIFTA, the Caribbean Free Trade Association, was formally created as an agreement between Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Guyana, and Trinidad and Tobago. *RAF Strike Co ...

". The group were financed until 1970 by Sylvina Boissonnas, a French heiress with an interest in film production. Laurent appeared in Patrick Deval's film ''Acéphale (Headless)'' (1969) which followed a young man wandering through the aftermath of the 1968 Paris protests. A daughter, Bloum (now known as Bloum Cardenas), was born to the couple in 1971 in

Bali Bali () is a province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller neighbouring islands, notably Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, and Nu ...

, Indonesia. Bresson had been planning a film of the

grail legend The Holy Grail (french: Saint Graal, br, Graal Santel, cy, Greal Sanctaidd, kw, Gral) is a treasure that serves as an important motif in Arthurian literature. Various traditions describe the Holy Grail as a cup, dish, or stone with miracul ...

for a long period. His original choice to play Guenièvre (Guinevere) 20 years previously had been Niki de Saint Phalle, Laura's mother, but the project had been delayed again and again. His final selection of Laura came about by chance when he came across a photograph of the daughter with no prior information about who she was or that she was in fact the direct descendant of his first choice. ''Lancelot du lac'' was filmed from the end of June to the start of September 1973 in

Noirmoutier-en-l'Île Noirmoutier-en-l'Île (), commonly referred to as Noirmoutier, is a commune located in the northern part of the island of Noirmoutier, just off the coast of the Vendée department in the Pays de la Loire region in western France. History T ...

in the

Vendée Vendée (; br, Vande) is a department in the Pays de la Loire region in Western France, on the Atlantic coast. In 2019, it had a population of 685,442.

, and first screened at Cannes in May 1974. Laura Duke later appeared in her mother's film ''Un rêve plus long que la nuit'' (1976) with Laurent, and a minor part in '' La Nuit porte-jarretelles'' (1985) a film by

Virginie Thévenet Virginie Thévenet (born 12 January 1957, in Paris) is a French actress, director and screenwriter. Films with Virginie Thévenet as actress * 1970 : '' Les Stances de Sophie'', by Moshé Mizrahi * 1972 : ''Faustine et le Bel Été'' * 1972 : ' ...

. In 2008-2009, Duke hosted several key production meetings for the full-dome panoramic film ''Maya Skies''. During this time, she began to develop The Curved Blackboard, a

STEAM Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization ...

arts immersion outreach program, intended to benefit at-risk youth in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

. During 2015-2017, The Curved Blackboard held its first two years of classes as part of the

Berkeley Unified School District The Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD) is the public school district for the city of Berkeley, California, United States. The district is managed by the Superintendent of Schools, and governed by the Berkeley Board of Education, whose member ...

, under Laura's direction. The project was funded by the UC Berkeley Chancellor's Community Partnership Fund and the

BALSA APEX program. The Curved Blackboard was included in the BALSA APEX showcase May 9, 2016. In the 2017-2018 school year, The Curved Blackboard received funding from the BUSD Strategic Impact Grants for a series of after-school programs combining art, science and practical making. Duke works as a cultural designer in

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Condominas, Laura Duke 1951 births French film actresses Living people Actresses from Boston French people of American descent 20th-century French actresses