Michèle Girardon (9 August 1938 – 25 March 1975), sometimes credited as Michele Girardon, was a French actress.

Career

Born in Lyon, France, Girardon began acting as early as 1956, and had a small but noticeable role as a deaf-mute beauty in director

Luis Buñuel Luis Buñuel Portolés (; 22 February 1900 – 29 July 1983) was a Spanish-Mexican filmmaker who worked in France, Mexico, and Spain. He has been widely considered by many film critics, historians, and directors to be one of the greatest and ...

's '' La mort en ce jardin (Death in the Garden)'' (1956). She soon became prominent in a host of films, including those of notable directors of the French New Wave. She is probably best known as an actress for her work in director

Louis Malle Louis Marie Malle (; 30 October 1932 – 23 November 1995) was a French film director, screenwriter, and producer who worked in both French cinema and Hollywood. Described as "eclectic" and "a filmmaker difficult to pin down," Malle's filmogr ...

's ''

Les Amants ''The Lovers'' (french: Les amants) is a 1958 French drama film directed by Louis Malle which stars Jeanne Moreau, Alain Cuny, and Jean-Marc Bory. Based on the posthumously-published 1876 short story ''Point de Lendemain'' by Dominique Vivant (174 ...

(The Lovers)'' in 1958, and the 1961 Howard Hawks production of ''

Hatari! ''Hatari!'' (, Swahili for "Danger!") is a 1962 American adventure romantic comedy film starring John Wayne as the leader of a group of professional game catchers in Africa.McCarthy, Todd. ''Howard Hawks: the grey fox of Hollywood'', New York, G ...

'' starring John Wayne and

Hardy Krüger Hardy Krüger (; born Eberhard August Franz Ewald Krüger; 12 April 1928 – 19 January 2022) was a German actor and author, who appeared in more than 60 films from 1944 onwards. After becoming a film star in Germany in the 1950s, Krüger increa ...

; for the latter, as she spoke no

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

when cast in the role, she taught herself English while on the set, according to a July 1961 ''

Life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for Cell growth, growth, reaction to Stimu ...

'' magazine profile of the actress. The same article stated she was signed to a five–year contract with

Paramount Studios Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production and distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldest film studio in the world, the second-oldest ...

. 1963 proved to be her most active year, with several avant garde films to her credit including

Pierre Kast Pierre Kast (; 22 September 1920, Paris20 October 1984, Rome) was a French people, French screenwriter and film and television director. Biography A member of the ''Cahiers du cinéma'' in the 1950s, Kast created many short films and documentarie ...

's ''Vacances Portugaises (

Portuguese Vacation ''Portuguese Vacation'' (French: ''Vacances portugaises'') is a 1963 French-Portuguese drama film directed by Pierre Kast and starring Françoise Arnoul, Michel Auclair and Jean-Pierre Aumont.Oscherwitz & Higgins p.26 Cast * Françoise Arnoul as ...

s)'',

André Cayatte André Cayatte (3 February 1909, in Carcassonne – 6 February 1989, in Paris) was a French filmmaker, writer and lawyer, who became known for his films centering on themes of crime, justice, and moral responsibility. Cayatte began his directoral ...

's experimental 'paired' films ''Jean-Marc ou La vie conjugale (Anatomy of a Marriage: My Days with Jean-Marc)'', and ''Françoise ou La vie conjugale (Anatomy of a Marriage: My Days with Françoise)'', and director

Éric Rohmer Jean Marie Maurice Schérer or Maurice Henri Joseph Schérer, known as Éric Rohmer (; 21 March 192011 January 2010), was a French film director, film critic, journalist, novelist, screenwriter, and teacher. Rohmer was the last of the post-World ...

's ''La Boulangère de Monceau (The Girl at the Monceau Bakery)''. Girardon also worked in television. In 1967, she played Nicole in the first season of ''Les Chevaliers du ciel''. The success of this series brought her a very high level of popularity.

Later years and death

During the 1960s, Girardon became romantically involved with a married

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

nobleman and occasional actor,

José Luis de Vilallonga José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced differently in each language: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ). In French, the name ''José'', pronounced , is an old vernacul ...

, whom she had first met on the set of ''Les Amants''. The couple lived together throughout much of the 1960s. By 1971, Girardon's acting career was over and after finally obtaining his divorce in 1972, de Vilallonga ended their relationship to marry another woman, Ursula Dietrich. Girardon never married or had children and became increasingly despondent. She committed suicide via an overdose of sleeping pills at the age of 36 in Lyon on 25 March 1975. She is interred near

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

in the Cimetière de Bagneux,

Hauts de Seine Hauts-de-Seine (; ) is a département in the Île-de-France region, Northern France. It covers Paris's western inner suburbs. It is bordered by Paris, Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne to the east, Val-d'Oise to the north, Yvelines to the west a ...

Filmography

References

External links

* * 1938 births 1975 suicides 20th-century French actresses Actresses from Lyon Burials at the Cimetière parisien de Bagneux Drug-related suicides in France French film actresses French television actresses Spaghetti Western actresses Western (genre) film actresses {{France-actor-stub