Home> Facts and Trivia > Stars > Jeanne Moreau
Jeanne Moreau Facts
| Sign | Aquarius |
| Born |
Jan 23, 1928 Paris, France |
| Died |
Jul 31, 2017 Paris, France |
| Age | Died at 89 |
| Total Facts | 53 |
Vanessa Redgrave named Moreau as co-respondent in her 1967 divorce from director Tony Richardson on grounds of adultery.
Orson Welles is the first person Moreau spoke to about directing and the only one who wasn't protective about it.
After the end of her affair with director Louis Malle (1959), she had a long correspondence with Ingmar Bergman, who developed a film project for her, "L'Amour Monstre". The film was never made, because Moreau couldn't learn Swedish and Bergman couldn't learn French.
Agreed to be paid in silver plates for her work in Orson Welles's Chimes at Midnight (1965), because of the limited budget.
Attended the Lycee Edgar Quinet, in Paris.
Became world famous, when she starred in Louis Malle's controversial hit The Lovers (1958), as a provincial wife who abandons her family for a man she has just met; the film had a lot of censorship problems all over the world because of its erotic scenes and Moreau instantly became an international sex symbol.
Chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (#76). [1995]
Chosen by the magazine "Esquire" as one of "the 100 Best People in the World" (December 1997).
Considered by Orson Welles as "the greatest actress in the world".
Despite her important singing career, Moreau has rather avoided concerts. One notable exception was a Carnegie Hall concert opposite Frank Sinatra (July 1984).
During the 2002 presidential elections in France she supported Socialist candidate and former Prime Minister Lionel Jospin (March 2002).
Festival tribute at the Créteil International Women's Film Festival, France. [1999]
For personal reasons, Moreau has turned down roles in many major films, including the part of Varinia in Spartacus (1960), finally played by Jean Simmons, the Mrs. Robinson part in The Graduate (1967), played by Anne Bancroft and the part of Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which Louise Fletcher won a Best Actress Academy Award in 1976. She has also been twice replaced by Annie Girardot: in Rocco and His Brothers (1960) and in the recent The Piano Teacher (2001).
Has a Paris cinema named after her.
Has been a close friend of major literary figures, like Jean Cocteau, Jean Genet, Henry Miller, Anaïs Nin and Marguerite Duras.
Has been romantically involved with Louis Malle, Lee Marvin, fashion designer Pierre Cardin and Greek actor Thodoros Roubanis.
Has been trained for the stage at the Paris Conservatoire.
Has co-produced some of her films, like Jules and Jim (1962), Bay of Angels (1963) and Banana Peel (1963).
Has supported Lionel Jospin's 2002 presidential campaign.
Her father owned a restaurant in Monmartre, Paris, where she spent part of her childhood.
Her mother was an English dancer from Lancashire who had come to the Folies- Bergere with the Tiller Girls.
Her name has been often associated, both socially and professionally, to that of respected French writer and director Marguerite Duras; apart from their close friendship, Moreau starred in two movies based on Duras' novels, Peter Brook's Moderato cantabile (1960) and Tony Richardson's The Sailor from Gibraltar (1967), was directed by Duras in Nathalie Granger (1972), was the narrator in another Duras screen adaptation, The Lover (1992) and even went on to portray Duras in the biopic Cet amour-là (2001).
Her only son, named Jerome, was seriously injured at a car accident during the shooting of Moderato cantabile (1960); the car driver was Jean-Paul Belmondo, her co-star in the afore-mentioned film. The then-10-year-old Jerome survived the accident and is today a successful painter.
Her performance as Catherine in Jules and Jim (1962) is ranked #80 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006).
Her stage hits include Ivan Turgenev's "A Month in the Country", Jean Cocteau's "La machine infernale" (as the Sphinx), Anna Bonacci's "L'heure éblouissante", George Bernard Shaw's "Pygmalion" (as Eliza Doolittle), Tennessee Williams' "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" (as Maggie) and "The Night of the Iguana" (as Hannah Jelkes), Frank Wedekind's "Loulou" (title role) and Hermann Broch's "Le récit de la servante Zerline" (title role).
Her teaming with Brigitte Bardot in Louis Malle's Viva Maria! (1965) was one of the major media events of 1965. Thanks to the on-screen chemistry between the two top French female stars of the period, the film became an international hit.
Holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Lancaster, UK.
In 1948, when she was only 20 years old, she became the youngest full-time member in the history of Comédie Française, France's most prestigious theatrical company.
Is a close friend of Sharon Stone, who presented a 1998 American Academy of Motion Pictures life tribute to Moreau.
Is also a successful singer with a substantial recording career.
Is one of the numerous French film personalities who co-signed a petition calling for civil disobedience in the face of a xenophobic immigration law (February 1997).
Is particularly fond of reading and cooking.
Is the only actress who has presided twice over the jury of the Cannes Film Festival (in 1975 and 1995).
Is the only French actress who has been the object of a big retrospective (including 30 films) at the Museum of Modern Art of New York (February - March 1994).
Is the president of Equinoxe, an organization which supports new European scriptwriters.
Made her debut as a stage director with a Geneva and Paris production of Margaret Edson's "Wit" (April 2000).
Made her debut as an opera director with an Opera National de Paris production of Giuseppe Verdi's "Attila" ( September 2001).
Mother of Jérôme Richard (father: Jean-Louis Richard).
Named Doctor of Arts by the City University of New York (June 1997).
Offered her Rolls-Royce to a friend of hers who had financial trouble.
President of jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 1975
President of jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 1995
Provided the voiceover for the 1997 TV ads for Air France, which she also directed.
She is the first woman to enter the Academie des Beaux-Arts of Paris (January 2001).
She was made a Fellow of the British Film Institute in recognition of her outstanding contribution to film culture.
Signed the manifesto against French abortion laws published by the magazine "Le Nouvel Observateur" on 5 April 1971.
Walked off the set of the TV series "ER" (1994) (January 2000).
Was billed in her early films as "pensionnaire de la Comedie Francaise".
Was considered for the female lead in El Cid (1961), finally played by Sophia Loren.
Was President of the jury at the Berlin Film Festival in 1983.