Lucy Gérard (2 June 1872 – 20 November 1941), born Marie-Louise Philiberte Lucy Gérard, was a French actress on stage and in silent films; in her later career she was billed as Lucy Mareil.

Early life

Lucy Gérard was born in

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, on 2 June 1872. She studied with François Jules Edmond Got at the

Paris Conservatoire The Conservatoire de Paris (), or the Paris Conservatory, is a college of music and dance founded in 1795. Officially known as the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (; CNSMDP), it is situated in the avenue Jean Ja ...

Career

Gérard began acting in her teens, with her Paris debut in 1888, in the opera ''Isoline''. She was active on the Paris stage, including a role in ''La Montagne Enchantée'' (1897) with Jane Hading. She was a popular subject of souvenir postcards,

cigarette card Cigarette cards are trading cards issued by tobacco industry, tobacco manufacturers to stiffen cigarette packaging and nicotine marketing, advertise cigarette brands. Between 1875 and the 1940s, cigarette companies often included collectible car ...

s, and

cabinet card The cabinet card was a style of photograph that was widely used for Portrait photography, photographic portraiture after 1870. It consisted of a thin photograph mounted on a card typically measuring 108 by 165 mm ( by inches). History The ...

s, and Italian artist

Giovanni Boldini Giovanni Boldini (31 December 1842 – 11 January 1931) was an Italian genre and portrait painter who lived and worked in Paris for most of his career. According to a 1933 article in ''Time'' magazine, he was known as the "Master of Swish" beca ...

made a pastel portrait of her. As "Lucy Mareil", she appeared in at least a dozen French silent films, including ''Blessure d'amour'' (1916), ''C'est pour les orphelins!'' (1917), ''Les leçons de chant de Rigadin'' (1918), ''Madame et son filleul'' (1919), ''Chouquette et son as'' (1919), ''Les cinqs gentlemen maudits'' (1920), ''L'empereur des pauvres'' (1921), ''La flamme'' (1922), and ''Petit Ange et son pantin'' (1923).

Personal life

Lucy Gérard died in Paris in 1941, aged 69 years.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gérard, Lucy 1872 births 1941 deaths French stage actresses Conservatoire de Paris alumni Actresses from Lyon French silent film actresses 20th-century French actresses