Danielle Yvonne Marie Antoinette Darrieux (1 May 1917 – 17 October 2017) wa… Read Full Bio ↴Danielle Yvonne Marie Antoinette Darrieux (1 May 1917 – 17 October 2017) was a French actress and singer.

Beginning in 1931, she appeared in more than 110 films. She was one of France's great movie stars and her eight-decade career was among the longest in film history. She turned 100 in May 2017.

Darrieux was born in Bordeaux, France during World War I to a physician who was serving in the French Army. Her father died when she was seven years old. Raised in Paris, she studied the cello at the Conservatoire de Musique. At 13, she won a part in the musical film Le Bal (1931). Her beauty combined with her singing and dancing ability led to numerous other offers, and the film Mayerling (1936) brought her to fame.

In 1935, Darrieux married director/screenwriter Henri Decoin, who encouraged her to try Hollywood. She signed with Universal Studios to star in The Rage of Paris (1938) opposite Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. Afterwards, she elected to return to Paris.

Under the German occupation of France during World War II, she continued to perform, a decision that was severely criticized by her compatriots. However, it is reported that her brother had been threatened with deportation by Alfred Greven, the manager of the German run film production company in occupied France, Continental. She got a divorce and then fell in love with Porfirio Rubirosa, a Dominican Republic diplomat and notorious womanizer. They married in 1942. His anti-Nazi opinions resulted in his forced residence in Germany. In exchange for Rubirosa's freedom, Darrieux agreed to make a promotional trip in Berlin. The couple lived in Switzerland until the end of the war, and divorced in 1947. She married scriptwriter Georges Mitsikidès in 1948, and they lived together until his death in 1991.

She gave a good performance in the 1951 MGM musical Rich, Young and Pretty. Joseph L. Mankiewicz lured her back to Hollywood to star in 5 Fingers (1952) opposite James Mason. Upon returning to France, she appeared in Max Ophüls' The Earrings of Madame de... (1953) opposite Charles Boyer, and The Red and the Black (1954) opposite Gérard Philippe. The next year she starred in Lady Chatterley's Lover, whose theme of uninhibited sexuality led to its being proscribed by Catholic censors in the United States.

During the late 1950s, she played a supporting role in her last American film, United Artists' epic Alexander the Great (1956) starring Richard Burton and Claire Bloom. In 1961 she went to England at the request of director Lewis Gilbert to star in The Greengage Summer opposite Kenneth More. In 1963, she starred in the romantic comedy La Robe Mauve de Valentine at the Chatelet Theatre in Paris. The play was adapted from the novel by Françoise Sagan. Then, in 1966, she played a memorable supporting role in Jacques Demy's musical The Young Girls of Rochefort. She is notable for being the only principal actor in any of Demy's film-musicals to sing her own songs. (All other actors had a separate person voice their singing parts.) During the 1960s she also was a concert singer.

In 1970, Darrieux replaced Katharine Hepburn in the Broadway musical Coco, based on the life of Coco Chanel, but the play, essentially a showcase for Hepburn, soon folded without her. In 1971 and 1972 she also appeared in the short-lived productions of Ambassador. In 1982, she worked again with Demy for his film Une chambre en ville, an opera-like musical melodrama reminiscent of the director's earlier masterpiece The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. Once again, Darrieux provided her own vocals for her songs.

For her long service to the motion picture industry, in 1985 she was given an Honorary César Award. She continued to work, her career spanning eight decades, most recently providing the voice of the protagonist's grandmother in the animated feature, Persepolis (2007), which deals with the impact of the Islamic revolution on a girl's life as she grows to adulthood in Iran.

Danielle Darreux died on 17 October 2017 aged 100.

She was paid homage in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds (2009): when Shosanna Dreyfus is preparing to take the Nazis down, her assistant calls her Danielle Darrieux.

Au vent léger
Danielle Darrieux Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Au vent léger
Qui frôle d′un geste las
On voit neiger
Des tourbillons de lilas
Ô souvenirs que la brise réveille

Tu souriais tendrement ce soir-là
La fin du jour

Nous trouva silencieux
Les mots d'amour
Je les lisais dans tes yeux
Ô belle nuit dont mon cœur s′émerveille
Où nos serments s'élançaient vers les cieux

Je t'aimerai toujours
Je te suivrai toujours
Et je vivrai toujours
Auprès de toi
Douce ivresse
D′un instant
Que caresse
Le printemps
Je veux penser à toi
Sans me lasser, pour toi
Je veux lutter, pour toi
Je veux souffrir
Phrases brèves
Fous désirs
C′est un rêve
Qui s'achève

Rien n′est changé mais toi seul(e) n'es plus là
Dans le soir lourd
Seul(e) au hasard du chemin
Ô mon amour
Ma main recherche ta main

Ô belle nuit qui n′eut pas de pareille
Rêve d'amour, rêve sans lendemain

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of Danielle Darrieux's song "Au vent léger" paint a picture of a nostalgic and bittersweet love. The song begins by describing a light breeze that brushes by with weariness, bringing with it swirling lilac blossoms. This breeze serves as a metaphor for memories that are awakened by its touch. The lyrics then reminisce about a particular evening when the singer's beloved smiled tenderly. As the day came to an end, they sat in silence, but the words of love were spoken through the gaze in their eyes. The beauty of the night and the promises made between them are highlighted.

The chorus expresses the eternal devotion of the singer to their beloved. They declare that they will always love and follow them, and that they will continue to live by their side. The next verse describes the intoxicating feeling of a moment, caressed by the spring. The singer expresses their desire to constantly think of their beloved, to fight and suffer for them. The lyrics convey a sense of longing and a willingness to endure hardships for the sake of love.

The song takes a melancholic turn in the final verse, where the singer laments the absence of their beloved. They find themselves alone in the heavy evening, searching for their hand. The night, once so beautiful and unparalleled, now feels like an unrealized dream, a love that had no continuation. The lyrics capture the longing and heartache experienced when love is lost but the memories remain.

Au vent légerDanielle Darrieux Lyrics

Au vent léger
Danielle Darrieux Lyrics