María Victoria Casares y Pérez (21 November 1922 – 22 November 1996) was a Spanish-born French actress and one of the most distinguished stars of the French stage and cinema. She was credited in France as Maria Casarès.

Early life

Casares was born María Victoria Casares y Pérez in

A Coruña A Coruña (; ; also informally called just Coruña; historical English: Corunna or The Groyne) is a city and municipality in Galicia, Spain. It is Galicia's second largest city, behind Vigo. The city is the provincial capital of the province ...

, Galicia, the daughter of

Santiago Casares Quiroga Santiago Casares y Quiroga (8 May 1884 – 17 February 1950) was Prime Minister of Spain from 13 May to 19 July 1936. Casares Quiroga resigned just 48 hours after the beginning of the Spanish coup of July 1936, military insurrection that led to t ...

, a minister in

Manuel Azaña Manuel Azaña Díaz (; 10 January 1880 – 3 November 1940) was a Spanish politician who served as Prime Minister of Spain, Prime Minister of the Second Spanish Republic (1931–1933 and 1936), organizer of the Popular Front in 1935 and the la ...

's government and

Prime Minister of Spain The prime minister of Spain, officially president of the Government (), is the head of government of Spain. The prime minister nominates the Spanish government departments, ministers and chairs the Council of Ministers (Spain), Council of Mini ...

, and of Gloria Pérez. She was a volunteer in Madrid hospitals already at age fourteen. Her father was a member of the Republican government so at the outbreak of the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

(1936), the family was forced to flee Spain. Her father went to London, but she and her mother sought refuge in Paris. There, María attended the Victor Duruy school, where she learned French and was befriended by a teacher and his Spanish wife, who inspired her to go into the theatre. After graduation, she took voice classes with René Simon. She enrolled in the Paris Conservatoire, where she won First Prize for tragedy and Second Prize for comedy.

Career

In July 1942, she auditioned for Marcel Herrand who engaged her for his

Théâtre des Mathurins The théâtre des Mathurins (), also called Les Mathurins, is a Parisian theatre located at 36, rue des Mathurins, in the 8th arrondissement of Paris. It was established in 1897. Directions * 1898–1901: Marguerite Deval * 1901–1908: Ju ...

. There, over the course of the next three years, she appeared in several plays including, '' Deirdre of the Sorrows'' by J. M. Synge, ''

The Master Builder ''The Master Builder'' () is a play by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. It was first published in December 1892 and is regarded as one of Ibsen's more significant and revealing works. Performance The play was published by Gyldendal AS in C ...

'' by

Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright, poet and actor. Ibsen is considered the world's pre-eminent dramatist of the 19th century and is often referred to as "the father of modern drama." He pioneered ...

, '' Le Malentendu'' (''The Misunderstanding'') by

Albert Camus Albert Camus ( ; ; 7 November 1913 – 4 January 1960) was a French philosopher, author, dramatist, journalist, world federalist, and political activist. He was the recipient of the 1957 Nobel Prize in Literature at the age of 44, the s ...

(with whom she would later have a passionate affair), and an important premiere, ''Fédérico'', after

Prosper Mérimée Prosper Mérimée (; 28 September 1803 – 23 September 1870) was a French writer in the movement of Romanticism, one of the pioneers of the novella, a short novel or long short story. He was also a noted archaeologist and historian, an import ...

, with

Gérard Philipe Gérard Philipe () (born Gérard Albert Philip, 4 December 1922 – 25 November 1959) was a prominent French actor who appeared in 32 films between 1944 and 1959. He came to prominence during the later period of the poetic realism movement o ...

Film

Casares began to appear in films. Her first film role was in

Marcel Carné Marcel Albert Carné (; 18 August 1906 – 31 October 1996) was a French film director. A key figure in the poetic realism movement, Carné's best known films include ''Port of Shadows'' (1938), ''Le Jour Se Lève'' (1939), ''Les Visiteurs du Soi ...

's '' Les Enfants du paradis'' (1945), one of the great classics of French cinema. She also made '' Les dames du Bois de Boulogne'' (1945) for

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

, ''La Chartreuse de Parme'' ('' The Charterhouse of Parma'') (1948) for

Christian-Jaque Christian-Jaque (byname of Christian Maudet; 4 September 1904 – 8 July 1994) was a French filmmaker. From 1954 to 1959, he was married to actress Martine Carol, who starred in several of his films, including ''Lucrèce Borgia'' (1953), ''M ...

, co-starring Gérard Philipe. For Cocteau, she played Death in his '' Orphée'' (1950) with Jean Marais and François Périer and in his '' Testament d'Orphée'' (''Testament of Orpheus'') (1960). In 1989, she was nominated for the

César Award for Best Supporting Actress The César Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role (French: ''César de la meilleure actrice dans un second rôle'') is one of the César Awards, presented annually by the ''Académie des Arts et Techniques du Cinéma'' to recognize the outst ...

in '' La Lectrice''.

Stage success

From 1952 onward, although she continued to appear in occasional films, she devoted herself mainly to the stage. She joined the

Festival d'Avignon The ''Festival d'Avignon'', or Avignon Festival (), is an annual arts festival held in the France, French city of Avignon every summer in July in the courtyard of the Palais des Papes as well as in other locations of the city. Founded in 1947 by ...

, the

Comédie-Française The Comédie-Française () or Théâtre-Français () is one of the few state theatres in France. Founded in 1680, it is the oldest active theatre company in the world. Established as a French state-controlled entity in 1995, it is the only state ...

and the Théâtre National Populaire under the leadership of Jean Vilar. Before her, no one actor or actress of foreign origin had ever played at Comédie-Française. She toured extensively throughout the world, appearing in the great classics of French theatre, including, in 1958, Corneille's '' Le Cid'',

Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo, vicomte Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romanticism, Romantic author, poet, essayist, playwright, journalist, human rights activist and politician. His most famous works are the novels ''The Hunchbac ...

's ''Marie Tudor'' and Marivaux's ''Le Triomphe de l'Amour'' (''The Triumph of Love'') on Broadway.

Personal life and death

Casares published her autobiography, ''Résidente privilégiée'' (''Privileged Resident'') in 1980, in which she described her 16-year affair with

. Camus never divorced his wife, but their extensive correspondence, first published in France in late 2017, lasted from 1944, with a five-year break to 1949, when they again had a chance meeting when their passion was rekindled until the end of Camus' life. She starred in a number of Albert Camus's plays and often threatened to end their stormy affair over his refusal to leave Francine Faure. Casares took French nationality in 1975 and three years later married André Schlesser, an actor known professionally as ''Dade'', who had been her longtime companion and theatrical co-star. The actress died of

colon cancer Colorectal cancer (CRC), also known as bowel cancer, colon cancer, or rectal cancer, is the development of cancer from the colon or rectum (parts of the large intestine). Signs and symptoms may include blood in the stool, a change in bowel ...

at her country house, Château de La Vergne, in the village of Alloue in

Poitou-Charentes Poitou-Charentes (; ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ) was an administrative region on the southwest coast of France. It comprised four departments: Charente, Charente-Maritime, Deux-Sèvres and Vienne. It included the historical provinces of Angoumo ...

, on the day after her 74th birthday. She bequeathed the property to the village. Today, the Domaine de la Vergne is a residence for artists and a setting for performances.

Filmography

Films

*'' Les Enfants du paradis'' (1945) Nathalie *'' Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne'' (1945) Hélène *'' Roger la Honte'' (1946) Julia de Noirville *'' The Revenge of Roger'' (1946) Julia de Terrenoire * '' Love Around the House'' (1947) Thérèse * '' The Seventh Door'' (1947) *''Bagarres'' (1948) Carmelle *'' The Charterhouse of Parma'' (1948) La duchesse Gina de San Severina * '' The Man Who Returns from Afar'' (1950) *'' Guernica'' (1950) (voice) *'' Orphée'' (1950) The Princess *'' Shadow and Light'' (1951) Caroline Bessier *''Le Jardins du Seigneur'' (1954) (voice) *'' Testament of Orpheus'' (1960) The Princess *''Hieronymus Bosch'' (1963) (voice) *''Flavia, la monaca musulmana'' (1974) Sister Agatha *''Blanche et Marie'' (1985) Louise *'' Blood and Sand'' (1987) Dolores *'' The Reader'' (1988) General's Widow *''Monte bajo'' (1989) *''Les Chevaliers de la table ronde'' (1990) Viviane *''Someone Else's America'' (1995) Alonso's Mother

TV

*''Énigmes de l'histoire'' (1956) *''Macbeth'' (1959) Lady Macbeth *''Yerma'' (1963) Yerma *''La Reine verte'' (1964) *''L'Île des chèvres'' (1975) Agata *''Britannicus'' (1977) Agrippine *''Irène et sa folie'' (1980) Le docteur Burns *''Peer Gynt'' (1981) Ase *''Les Bonnes'' (1985) Madame *''Les Nuits révolutionnaires'' (1989) La Murène

References

Sources

* ''Résidente privilégiée'', Fayard, 1980, * ''El periodismo es un cuento'' by Manuel Rivas (chapter: "La mujer rebelde"), Alfaguara, 1997, * ''Maria Casarès: L'étrangère'' by Javier Figuero & Marie-Hélène Carbonel, Fayard, 2005, * ''La extranjera'' by Javier Figuero, CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, February 2017, * ''Tu me vertiges. L'amour interdit de Maria Casarès et Albert Camus'' by Florence M.-Forsythe, Le Passeur Éditeur, March 2017, * ''Albert Camus, Maria Casarès. Correspondance inédite (1944–1959)''. Avant-propos de Catherine Camus. Gallimard, November 2017,

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Casares, Maria 1922 births 1996 deaths Conservatoire de Paris alumni Deaths from colorectal cancer in France Exiles of the Spanish Civil War in France French film actresses French National Academy of Dramatic Arts alumni French people of Galician descent French stage actresses Naturalized citizens of France Actors from A Coruña Troupe of the Comédie-Française 20th-century French actresses Children of prime ministers of Spain Actresses from Galicia (Spain)