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.

Chanson de la poupée
Danielle Darrieux Lyrics

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C'est un refrain du temps passé
Qui chante en ma mémoire
D'une fillette au cœur blessé
C'est la touchante histoire
Un écho du passé

Sa lèvre est rose, d'une rose en fleur
Et ses yeux du ciel ont la couleur

Elle a de quoi plaire aux fils de rois
Mais son cœur est en désarroi

Car la fillette au minois charmant
Est en porcelaine simplement
Son doux regard n'a pour horizon
Qu'un des murs de la maison

Chaque nuit quand tout repose
L'espoir vient me griser
Et je sens ma lèvre rose
Rougir sous un baiser

Ce n'est qu'un rêve, hélas, quel tourment!
D'être en porcelaine simplement

Ma lèvre est rose et le restera
Nul jamais ne m'aimera

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to Danielle Darrieux's Chanson de la poupée tell the story of a porcelain doll, a fillette whose beauty can catch the eyes of princes, but whose heart is shattered. The song is a reflection on the past, an echo of the touching story of the little girl whose charming face is made of porcelain, whose sweet gaze can only look up to the walls of the house she's in. Her face is painted with the color of roses, and her eyes are as blue as the sky, but she's in disarray inside, unable to feel the love and affection she deserves. The refrain is a haunting reminder of the sad reality of being a fragile and lifeless object, whose beauty can only be admired, but whose soul is trapped forever in the stillness of time.

The song is a melancholic masterpiece that captures the essence of the porcelain dolls. It's a tribute to the beauty of the past and a reminder of the fleetingness of life. It's a reflection on love, longing, and the unbridgeable gap between the living and the illusory. The slow and melancholic melody transports the listener to a nostalgic time, a time when porcelain dolls were among the most loved and cherished possessions, a time when we all had a touch of innocence and beauty in our hearts.

Chanson de la poupéeDanielle Darrieux Lyrics

Chanson de la poupée
Danielle Darrieux Lyrics