Françoise Rosay
- Known for
- Acting
- Born
- April 17, 1891
- Died
- March 28, 1974
- Birthplace
- Paris, France
Françoise Rosay born Françoise Bandy de Nalèche, (19 April 1891 – 28 March 1974) was a French opera singer, diseuse, and actress who enjoyed a film career of over sixty years and who became a legendary figure in French cinema. She went on to appear in over 100 movies in her career. Rosay was born Françoise Bandy de Nalèche in Paris, the illegitimate daughter of Marie-Thérèse Chauvin, an actress known as Sylviac. She originally planned to become an opera singer, and in 1917, won a prize at the Paris Conservatoire and made her debut at the Palais Garnier in the title role of Salammbô by Ernest Reyer. She also sang in Castor et Pollux by Rameau and Thaïs by Massenet. Her first recorded film was Falstaff in 1911, and she began to work in Hollywood from 1929 onwards. In 1917, she married the director Jacques Feyder, with whom she remained until his death in 1948, having three sons. She appeared in several films under her husband's direction, including Le Grand Jeu (1933), Pension Mimosas (1934), La Kermesse héroïque (Carnival in Flanders) (1935) and Les Gens du voyage (1937). Rosay spent the duration of World War II in England and Switzerland, where she taught acting classes at the Conservatoire de Genève. She still appeared in films during this time, notably the British Halfway House (1944) as the refugee French wife of a British sea captain. During her career, she appeared with all the great stars of French cinema, including Jean Gabin, Michèle Morgan, Raimu, Jeanne Moreau, Danielle Darrieux, Micheline Presle, Paul Meurisse, Gérard Philipe, Louis Jouvet, Michel Simon, Simone Signoret, Fernandel and Jean-Louis Barrault. In Hollywood, she co-starred with Charles Boyer, Maurice Chevalier and Buster Keaton and worked with directors such as William Dieterle (September Affair, 1949), Martin Ritt (The Sound and the Fury, 1958), Ronald Neame (The Seventh Sin, 1956) and Peter Glenville (Me and the Colonel, 1957) with Danny Kaye. In England she appeared in The Alien Corn, a segment of the W. Somerset Maugham anthology film Quartet. A highly accomplished pianist herself in real life, she played the role of a famous piano virtuoso who gives aspiring pianist Dirk Bogarde a compassionate but honest and devastating critical appraisal of his likelihood of becoming a great musician – which results in his suicide. She performs in the film Schubert's Impromptu in E flat. In 1950 she appeared on stage at London's Winter Garden Theatre, playing the title role in 'Madame Tic Tac' but it had only a short run. It was not until 1938 that her biological father, Count François Louis Bandy de Nalèche, acknowledged her as his daughter. Her final appearance on film was in the Maximilian Schell-directed Academy Award-nominated and Golden Globe-winner for Best Foreign-Language Foreign Film of 1974, Der Fußgänger (English title: The Pedestrian). She died in Montgeron, Île-de-France, near Paris. Her grave is located in Sorel-Moussel, Île-de-France, where she is buried with her husband, movie director Jacques Feyder. They had three sons. There are streets named after Françoise Rosay in Limoges, Montpellier, Chevry-Cossigny, Launaguet and Martigues. Source: Article "Françoise Rosay" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA.
Filmography
Michel Audiard et le mystère du triangle des Bermudes 2002
as Self (archive footage)
The Pedestrian 1973
as Frau Dechamps
Not Dumb, the Bird 1972
as Mrs. Morelli-Johnson
3000 Million Without an Elevator 1972
as Madame Dubreuil
Un merveilleux parfum d'oseille 1969
as Louise de Kerfuntel
Don't Take God's Children for Wild Geese 1968
as Léontine Palpicart aka 'La Gâteuse'
The 25th Hour 1967
as Mme Nagy (uncredited)
L'Âge heureux 1966
as Mme Aubry
Cloportes 1965
as Gertrude, supplies specialist in the mafia
Up from the Beach 1965
as Lili's Grandmother
Ruy Blas 1965
as La duchesse d'Albuquerque
Full Hearts and Empty Pockets 1964
as Borgia
Frau Cheneys Ende 1962
as Mrs. Webley
The Counterfeiters of Paris 1961
as Madame Pauline
The Full Treatment 1960
as Madame Prade
Stefanie in Rio 1960
as Leonora Guala
Lovers Woods 1960
as Madame Parisot
Twentieth Century Theatre: Colombe 1960
as Madame Alexandra
Without Trumpet or Drum 1959
as La grand-mère de Marguerite
Eyes of Love 1959
as Mrs. Montcatel mother
Riff Raff Girls 1959
as Berthe
The Sound and the Fury 1959
as Caroline Compson
The Gambler 1958
as Aunt Antonia
Me and the Colonel 1958
as Madame Bouffier
Non sono più guaglione 1957
as Vincenzino's mother
Interlude 1957
as Comtesse Reinhart
The Seventh Sin 1957
as Mother Superior
Girls of Today 1955
as padrona della pensione
That Lady 1955
as Bernardine
Queen Margot 1954
as Catherine de Médicis / Catharine of Medici
- Les éloquents
Les éloquents 1954
as Self
Sul ponte dei sospiri 1953
as Lady of Sant'Agata
He Who Is Without Sin... 1952
as La contessa Lamieri
Wanda the Sinner 1952
as Anna Steiner
Smuggler's Ball 1952
as Gabrielle Demeuse
The Seven Deadly Sins 1952
as Elisabeth de Pallières, the mother (segment "L'Orgueil")
Nobody's Children 1951
as La contessa Canali
The Red Inn 1951
as Marie Martin
K – Das Haus des Schweigens 1951
as Noemi, die Amme
The 13th Letter 1951
as Mrs. Gauthier
The Naked Heart 1950
as Laura Chapdelaine
September Affair 1950
as Maria Salvatini
One Only Loves Once 1950
as Mme Monnier
Women Without Names 1950
as The Countess
The Barton Mystery 1949
as Élisabeth
The Dream Vagabonds 1949
as Mireille Dombreval
Quartet 1948
as Lea Makart (segment "The Alien Corn")
Saraband for Dead Lovers 1948
as The Electress Sophia
La Dame de Haut-le-Bois 1947
as Countess Brévannes
Back Streets of Paris 1946
as Mrs. Rose, hotel landlady
Johnny Frenchman 1945
as Lanec Florrie
The Halfway House 1944
as Alice Meadows
Portrait of a Woman 1944
as Fanny Helder
They Were Twelve Women 1940
as La duchesse de Vimeuse
Serge Panine 1939
as Madame Devarenne
Fahrendes Volk 1938
as Madame Flora
The Chess Player 1938
as Catherine II
Peace on the Rhine 1938
as Francoise Scheffer
The Stream 1938
as Régina Berry
People Who Travel 1938
as Flora
Ramuntcho 1938
as Dolorès Detcharry
Bizarre, Bizarre 1937
as Margaret Molyneux
Life Dances On 1937
as Marguerite Audié
- My Son the Minister
My Son the Minister 1937
as Sylvie - seine Mutter
The Robber Symphony 1937
as The fortune teller
Armchair 47 1937
as Gilberte Boulanger
Jenny 1936
as Jenny Gauthier
The Last Four on Santa Cruz 1936
as Nadja Danouw
The Secret of Polichinelle 1936
as Mrs. Jouvenel
Carnival in Flanders 1936
as Cornelia
Carnival in Flanders 1935
as Madame Burgomaster
Marie des angoisses 1935
as Mme de Quersac
Gangster malgré lui 1935
Actor
- Maternité
Maternité 1935
as Mrs. Duchemin
Whirlpool 1935
as Madame Gardane
Pension Mimosas 1935
as Louise Noblet
Le Billet de mille 1935
as Russian Countess
Marchand d'amour 1935
as Clara
The Island 1934
as Silvia
Vers l'abîme 1934
as Sylvia
Coralie and Company 1934
Actor
The Great Game 1934
as Blanche
- Tambour battant
Tambour battant 1934
as The Princess Mother
Abbot Constantine 1933
as La comtesse de Laverdens
All for Nothing 1933
as Mrs. Bossu
La Pouponnière 1933
as Mrs. Delannoy
The Woman Dressed As a Man 1932
as Princess Marie
- A Father Without Knowing It
A Father Without Knowing It 1932
as Madame Jacquet
He 1932
as Madame Husson
- Luck
Luck 1931
as Mme Mougeot
The Trial of Mary Dugan 1931
as La veuve
Casanova Against His Will 1931
as Blanche Brissac
Jenny Lind 1931
as Rosatti
The Magnificent Lie 1931
as Rosa Duchêne
Buster se marie 1931
as Polly Hathaway
- Let Us Be Gay
Let Us Be Gay 1931
as Madame Boucijon
The Little Cafe 1931
as Mademoiselle Edwige
- Échec au roi
Échec au roi 1930
as The Queen
Si l'empereur savait ça 1930
as Princess Plata d'Ettingen
Marius à Paris 1930
Actor
The One Woman Idea 1929
as Zuleide, Alizar's Mother
Two Timid Souls 1928
as The aunt
Madame Récamier 1928
as Madame de Staël
Le bateau de verre 1927
as Madame d'Arcy, his wife
Gribiche 1926
as Edith Maranet
Faces of Children 1925
Assistant Director, Writer
Crainquebille 1922
as Shoe Store Customer
Credits from TMDB.