Marie Madeleine Berthe Lebeau (10 June 1923 – 1 May 2016) was a French film actress who also appeared in American films, most notably ''
Casablanca
Casablanca, also known in Arabic as Dar al-Bayda ( ar, الدَّار الْبَيْضَاء, al-Dār al-Bayḍāʾ, ; ber, ⴹⴹⴰⵕⵍⴱⵉⴹⴰ, ḍḍaṛlbiḍa, : "White House") is the largest city in Morocco and the country's econom ...
''.
Early life
Lebeau married actor
Marcel Dalio
Marcel Dalio (born Marcel Benoit Blauschild; 23 November 1899 in Paris – 18 November 1983) was a French movie actor. He had major roles in two films directed by Jean Renoir, ''La Grande Illusion'' (1937) and ''The Rules of the Game'' (1939). ...
in 1939; it was his second marriage. They had met while performing a play together. She had already appeared in her first film, an uncredited role as a student in the melodrama ''
Young Girls in Trouble'' (''Jeunes filles en détresse'', 1939).
In June 1940, Lebeau and Dalio (who was
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
) fled Paris ahead of the invading
German Army
The German Army (, "army") is the land component of the armed forces of Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German ''Bundeswehr'' together with the ''Marine'' (German Navy) and the ''Luftwaf ...
and reached
Lisbon
Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...
. They are presumed to have received transit visas from
Aristides de Sousa Mendes
Aristides de Sousa Mendes do Amaral e Abranches () GCC, OL (July 19, 1885 – April 3, 1954) was a Portuguese consul during World War II.
As the Portuguese consul-general in the French city of Bordeaux, he defied the orders of Antóni ...
, allowing them to enter Spain and journey on to Portugal. It took them two months to obtain visas to Chile.
[
However, when their ship, the S.S. ''Quanza'', stopped in Mexico, they were stranded, along with around 200 other passengers, when the Chilean visas they had purchased turned out to be forgeries. Eventually, they were able to get temporary Canadian passports and entered the United States.][ Lebeau made her Hollywood debut in '']Hold Back the Dawn
''Hold Back the Dawn'' is a 1941 American romantic drama film in which a Romanian gigolo marries an American woman in Mexico in order to gain entry to the United States, but winds up falling in love with her. It stars Charles Boyer, Olivia de Havi ...
'' (1941), which featured Charles Boyer
Charles Boyer (; 28 August 1899 – 26 August 1978) was a French-American actor who appeared in more than 80 films between 1920 and 1976. After receiving an education in drama, Boyer started on the stage, but he found his success in American fi ...
and Olivia de Havilland
Dame Olivia Mary de Havilland (; July 1, 1916July 26, 2020) was a British-American actress. The major works of her cinematic career spanned from 1935 to 1988. She appeared in 49 feature films and was one of the leading actresses of her time. ...
in the leading roles. The following year, she appeared in the Errol Flynn
Errol Leslie Thomson Flynn (20 June 1909 – 14 October 1959) was an Australian-American actor who achieved worldwide fame during the Golden Age of Hollywood. He was known for his romantic swashbuckler roles, frequent partnerships with Olivia ...
movie '' Gentleman Jim'', a biography of Irish-American boxer James J. Corbett
James John "Jim" Corbett (September 1, 1866 – February 18, 1933) was an American professional boxer and a World Heavyweight Champion, best known as the only man who ever defeated the great John L. Sullivan (hence the " man who beat the man ...
.[
Lebeau learned English during a seven-week stay with Dalio on a Portuguese freighter that was seeking a port for landing.][ ]
''Casablanca''
Later that year she was cast in the role of Yvonne, Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey DeForest Bogart (; December 25, 1899 – January 14, 1957), nicknamed Bogie, was an American film and stage actor. His performances in Classical Hollywood cinema films made him an American cultural icon. In 1999, the American Film In ...
's character's discarded mistress, in ''Casablanca
Casablanca, also known in Arabic as Dar al-Bayda ( ar, الدَّار الْبَيْضَاء, al-Dār al-Bayḍāʾ, ; ber, ⴹⴹⴰⵕⵍⴱⵉⴹⴰ, ḍḍaṛlbiḍa, : "White House") is the largest city in Morocco and the country's econom ...
''. Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Di ...
signed her to a $100-a-week contract for twenty-six weeks to be in a number of films. On 22 June, while she was filming her scenes in ''Casablanca'', her husband, Marcel Dalio, who played Emil the croupier in the same film, filed for divorce in Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
on the ground of desertion. They divorced in 1942. Shortly before the release of the film, Warner Bros. terminated her contract. After Joy Page
Joy Page (born Joy Cerrette Paige; November 9, 1924 – April 18, 2008) was an American actress. She is best known for her role as the Bulgarian refugee Annina Brandel in ''Casablanca'' (1942). She was sometimes credited as Joanne Page.
Early l ...
died in April 2008, Lebeau was the last surviving credited cast member of ''Casablanca
Casablanca, also known in Arabic as Dar al-Bayda ( ar, الدَّار الْبَيْضَاء, al-Dār al-Bayḍāʾ, ; ber, ⴹⴹⴰⵕⵍⴱⵉⴹⴰ, ḍḍaṛlbiḍa, : "White House") is the largest city in Morocco and the country's econom ...
''.
She told Charlotte Chandler
Lyn Erhard, better known under the pen name of Charlotte Chandler, is an American biographer and playwright. Chandler authored biographies of Groucho Marx, Federico Fellini, Billy Wilder, Bette Davis, Marlene Dietrich, Joan Crawford, Ingrid Bergman ...
, author of a biography of female lead Ingrid Bergman
Ingrid Bergman (29 August 191529 August 1982) was a Swedish actress who starred in a variety of European and American films, television movies, and plays.Obituary ''Variety'', 1 September 1982. With a career spanning five decades, she is often ...
, in the 1990s: "It wasn't that I was cut out, it was because they kept changing the script, and each time they changed it, I had less of a part". "It was not personal, but I was so disappointed".
Lebeau's best moments in ''Casablanca'' are during the scene when French nationals sing "La Marseillaise
"La Marseillaise" is the national anthem of France. The song was written in 1792 by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle in Strasbourg after the declaration of war by France against Austria, and was originally titled "Chant de guerre pour l'Armée du R ...
", drowning out a group of German soldiers singing "Die Wacht am Rhein
"" (, ''The Watch on the Rhine'') is a German patriotic anthem. The song's origins are rooted in the historical French–German enmity, and it was particularly popular in Germany during the Franco-Prussian War and the First World War. The origin ...
". The camera captures the (genuine) tears on her face, and later at the end of the anthem when she cries out "''Vive la France ! Vive la liberté !''" France had fallen to Nazi forces, and many of the actors performing in the scene were real-life refugees from Europe.
After ''Casablanca''
Following ''Casablanca'', Lebeau appeared in two further American films. The first was a large role in the war drama ''Paris After Dark
''Paris After Dark'' is a 1943 American war drama film directed by Léonide Moguy and starring George Sanders, Philip Dorn and Brenda Marshall. It portrays the activities of the French resistance in occupied Paris during World War II. The portraya ...
'' (1943), with her former husband. The following year, Lebeau had a smaller role in ''Music for Millions
''Music for Millions'' is a 1944 musical film, musical comedy film directed by Henry Koster and starring Margaret O'Brien, José Iturbi, Jimmy Durante, June Allyson, Marsha Hunt (actress, born 1917), Marsha Hunt, Hugh Herbert, Harry Davenport (ac ...
''. She appeared on Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
in the play ''The French Touch'' in a production directed by René Clair
René Clair (11 November 1898 – 15 March 1981), born René-Lucien Chomette, was a French filmmaker and writer. He first established his reputation in the 1920s as a director of silent films in which comedy was often mingled with fantasy. He wen ...
. After the end of World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, Lebeau returned to France and continued her acting career. She appeared in ''Les Chouans
''Les Chouans'' (, ''The Chouans'') is an 1829 novel by French novelist and playwright Honoré de Balzac (1799–1850) and included in the ''Scènes de la vie militaire'' section of his novel sequence ''La Comédie humaine''. Set in the French ...
'' (''The Royalists'', 1947) and worked in Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...
, appearing in a film with Jean Simmons
Jean Merilyn Simmons, (31 January 1929 – 22 January 2010) was a British actress and singer. One of J. Arthur Rank's "well-spoken young starlets", she appeared predominantly in films, beginning with those made in Great Britain during and afte ...
, ''Cage of Gold
''Cage of Gold'' is a 1950 British drama film directed by Basil Dearden, and starring Jean Simmons, David Farrar, and James Donald. '' (1950).[
]
Later years
She would appear in 20 more films, mainly French, including ''La Parisienne
LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States.
La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment Music
* La (musical note), or A, the sixth note
* "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figur ...
'' (1957), with Brigitte Bardot
Brigitte Anne-Marie Bardot ( ; ; born 28 September 1934), often referred to by her initials B.B., is a former French actress, singer and model. Famous for portraying sexually emancipated characters with hedonistic lifestyles, she was one of the ...
as the star, as well as in Federico Fellini
Federico Fellini (; 20 January 1920 – 31 October 1993) was an Italian film director and screenwriter known for his distinctive style, which blends fantasy and baroque images with earthiness. He is recognized as one of the greatest and most i ...
's ''8½
' (Italian title: , ) is a 1963 surrealist comedy-drama film directed and co-written (with Tullio Pinelli, Ennio Flaiano and Brunello Rondi) by Italian filmmaker Federico Fellini. The metafictional narrative centers on Guido Anselmi, played by Ma ...
'' (1963). Lebeau's last two films were Spanish productions in 1965.[
In 1988, she married her third husband, Italian screenwriter ]Tullio Pinelli
Tullio Pinelli (24 June 1908 – 7 March 2009) was an Italian screenwriter known for his work on the Federico Fellini films ''I Vitelloni'', ''La Strada'', ''La Dolce Vita'' and ''8½''.
Biography
Born in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, Pinelli began ...
who had contributed to the script of ''8½''.[
]
Death
Lebeau died on 1 May 2016 in Estepona
Estepona () is a town and municipality in the comarca of the Costa del Sol, southern Spain. It is located in the province of Málaga, part of the autonomous community of Andalusia. Its district covers an area of 137 square kilometers in a fertile ...
, Spain, aged 92, after breaking her thigh bone. French culture minister Audrey Azoulay
Audrey Azoulay (; born 4 August 1972) is a French civil servant and politician who has been serving as the Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) since 2017, becoming the second female le ...
said of Madelaine Lebeau after her death: "She was a free woman who lived by her own rules, totally inhabiting the roles entrusted to her by leading directors. She will forever be the face of French resistance."
Filmography
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lebeau, Madeleine
1923 births
2016 deaths
20th-century French actresses
French film actresses
French expatriates in Spain
People from Antony, Hauts-de-Seine
French expatriate actresses in the United States