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.
Chanson d'Yvonne
Danielle Darrieux Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Et ce nom m'agaçait plus qu'il n'est supportable
Alors, je l'ai quitté, sans un mot, sans adieu
Il y aura dix ans que j'ai brisé ce noeud
Je lui avais appris dans le plus doux moment
Que j'attendais de lui l'heureux événement
Qui anoblit la femme et enorgueillit l'homme
C'était un beau jeune homme, et j'étais demoiselle
Bien que j'aie eu déjà par hasard mes jumelles
Qu'il ne connaissait pas, elles vivaient en pension
Et ne rentraient jamais le soir à la maison
Quelques années plus tard, par un ami commun
Je lui ai fait savoir qu'un riche Mexicain
Me proposait l'amour au bord du Pacifique
Ce n'était qu'un mensonge amer et pathétique
A présent je suis seule et je n'ai plus vingt ans
J'ai voulu voir la ville où mon amour d'antan
Avait connu le jour, je m'y suis installée
Avec mes souvenirs épars et désolés
The lyrics of Danielle Darrieux's Chanson d'Yvonne tell the story of a woman who left her fiancé ten years ago because she couldn't stand his unpleasant name. She left without saying goodbye and is now alone, with no one but her memories and regrets. However, she also reflects on the happy moment when she told her fiancé she was pregnant with their child, which made her proud as a woman and him proud as a man. The child's name was Boubou, and despite being a single mother, Yvonne managed to send her twin daughters to boarding school.
Years later, Yvonne tells her former fiancé, through a common friend, that a rich Mexican man is proposing to her by the Pacific, but it's only a pathetic lie. Yvonne realizes that she is alone and in the same city where her lost love was born. She has a nostalgic, bitter attitude toward the past, along with feelings of sadness and longing. The lyrics are a poignant reflection on regret and the passage of time, highlighting the importance of seizing the moment while we can.
Line by Line Meaning
Mon fiancé avait un nom fort détestable
I disliked my fiancé's name very much.
Et ce nom m'agaçait plus qu'il n'est supportable
In fact, it annoyed me beyond what I could bear.
Alors, je l'ai quitté, sans un mot, sans adieu
Therefore, I left him without any explanation or goodbye.
Il y aura dix ans que j'ai brisé ce noeud
It has been ten years since I ended the relationship.
Je lui avais appris dans le plus doux moment
I shared with him that I was expecting a child, at a moment of intimacy.
Que j'attendais de lui l'heureux événement
I was looking forward to sharing the happy event with him.
Qui anoblit la femme et enorgueillit l'homme
Pregnancy uplifts a woman and makes a man feel proud.
Car Boubou s'annonçait, pauvre petit bonhomme
I was expecting a baby boy whom I called Boubou.
C'était un beau jeune homme, et j'étais demoiselle
He was a handsome young man and I was a young lady.
Bien que j'aie eu déjà par hasard mes jumelles
Although I had already given birth to twin girls by chance.
Qu'il ne connaissait pas, elles vivaient en pension
He did not know them, as they were raised in a boarding school.
Et ne rentraient jamais le soir à la maison
They never came home in the evening.
Quelques années plus tard, par un ami commun
Several years later, through a mutual friend,
Je lui ai fait savoir qu'un riche Mexicain
I informed him that a wealthy Mexican man
Me proposait l'amour au bord du Pacifique
Had offered me to live with him by the Pacific Ocean.
Ce n'était qu'un mensonge amer et pathétique
It was a bitter and pathetic lie.
A présent je suis seule et je n'ai plus vingt ans
Now, I am alone and not as young as I used to be.
J'ai voulu voir la ville où mon amour d'antan
I wanted to visit the city where I had previously fallen in love.
Avait connu le jour, je m'y suis installée
I decided to settle down there.
Avec mes souvenirs épars et désolés
And I am left with my scattered and sad memories.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, WARNER CHAPPELL MUSIC FRANCE
Written by: Jacques DEMY, Michel LEGRAND
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind