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Elina Labourdette

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Élina Labourdette
Born(1919-05-21)21 May 1919
Died30 September 2014(2014-09-30) (aged 95)
Other namesÉlina Janine Alice Henri-Labourdette
OccupationActress
Years active1938–1983
Known forLes Dames du Bois de Boulogne (1945)
Edward and Caroline (1951)
Spouse
(m. 1956; died 1997)
Children1

Élina Labourdette (born Élina Janine Alice Henri-Labourdette, 21 May 1919 – 30 September 2014) was a French actress.[1] Her career consisted mostly of flirtatious coquette roles on stage and screen.[2] She is best known for her performances in Robert Bresson's Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne (1945) and in Jacques Demy's Edward and Caroline (1951).

Biography

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Élina Labourdette was born on 21 May 1919 in the 16th arrondissement of Paris.[3] The daughter of the renowned coachbuilder and automobile designer Jean Henri-Labourdette [fr], Élina at first wanted to be a dancer,[4] before having to give up her dream of becoming a prima ballerina for health reasons. She learned rhythmic dance with Irène Popard and classical dance with Alexandre Volinine [fr].[4] During her school years, she took her first acting lessons with the actress Ève Francis. In 1938 at the age of nineteen, she made her first film The Shanghai Drama, directed by Georg Wilhelm Pabst. She then spent six months in England where, in addition to learning English, she took theatre and singing lessons. René Clair made her the teacher heroine of his film Air pur but the Second World War stopped the project.[4] In 1944, towards the end of the war, she appeared in Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne directed by Robert Bresson, the film for which she became famous and remains best known. She played, with subtlety and great modernity, a cabaret dancer who has become a prostitute and is manipulated by a woman wishing to take revenge on a lover who rejected her, by throwing him into the arms of the dancer.

In 1950, Labourdette joined the theatre company of Madeleine Renaud and Jean-Louis Barrault, with whom she performed alongside her film career. She also did dubbing, notably lending her voice to Grace Kelly in the French versions of John Ford's Mogambo (1953) and Alfred Hitchcock's To Catch a Thief (1955). In 1956 she acted under the direction of Jean Renoir in Elena and Her Men, alongside Ingrid Bergman and Jean Marais. In 1961, she played a notable supporting role in Lola, Jacques Demy's first feature film. Her cinema film career ended with Le Clair de terre, a 1970 film by filmmaker Guy Gilles.[5] From the end of the 1950s, she appeared several times in French soap operas and television films, including the popular Les Cousins de la Constance.

During her career, Labourdette worked for several notable directors, including G. W. Pabst, René Clair, Robert Bresson, René Clément, Jacques Becker, Gilles Grangier, Jean-Paul Le Chanois, Jean Renoir, and André Cayatte .

She was the second wife of journalist and writer Louis Pauwels from 1956 until his death in 1997. In 1961, they adopted a daughter, Zoé.

Labourdette died on 30 September 2014 in Le Mesnil-le-Roi, Yvelines, aged 95.[6]

Filmography

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Year Title Role Notes
1938 Prison sans barreaux Uncredited
1938 The Shanghai Drama Vera Blonski
1941 The Pavilion Burns Denise
1943 Des jeunes filles dans la nuit [fr] Germaine
1945 Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne Agnès
1947 Les trafiquants de la mer [fr] Hélène
1950 The Adventurers of the Air Gisèle Lesieur
1950 The Glass Castle Marion
1951 Edward and Caroline Florence Borch de Martelie
1951 Monsieur Fabre Countess de La Tour
1951 Tapage nocturne [fr] Caroline, the secretary
1952 The Case Against X Catherine Villard
1952 My Husband Is Marvelous Micheline
1953 La vierge du Rhin [fr] Geneviève Labbé
1955 To Paris with Love Sylvia Gilbert
1955 Papa, maman, ma femme et moi Marguerite, the florist
1956 It Happened in Aden Simone
1956 Elena and Her Men Paulette Escoffier
1957 The Truth About Women Countess
1960 The Night of Suspects Gaby Farnoux
1961 Lola Mme Desnoyers
1961 Vacances en enfer [fr] Mme Martel
1962 Tales of Paris Jacqueline (segment "Sophie")
1962 Snobs ! [fr] Mme de Saint-Aigne
1962 Five Miles to Midnight Mme. Lafont
1962 Le Glaive et la balance [fr] Simone Darbon
1968 Au pan coupé [fr] Owner of the Au pan coupé bar
1968 The Young Wolves Mme Sinclair
1970 Le Clair de terre [fr] Woman guide

Television

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Year Title Role Notes
1958 La Répétition ou l'Amour puni Hortensia Film by Jean-Paul Carrère [fr]
1960 Les Cinq Dernières Minutes (series) Jacqueline Masserey Season 1, episode 16: Dernier cri [fr] by Claude Loursais [fr]
1964 La Cousine Bette [fr] Baroness Adeline Hulot d'Ervy Film by Yves-André Hubert
1967 Julie de Chaverny ou la Double Méprise [fr] Mme Lambert Film by Jean-Pierre Marchand [fr]
1973 Un grand amour de Balzac [fr] Laure de Berny Series
1974 Président Faust [fr] Cathy Faust Film by Jean Kerchbron [fr]
1974 Julie Charles [fr] Mme de Lamartine Film by Jean Kerchbron [fr]
1974 Les Jardins du roi [fr] Madeleine Vaindrier Film by Jean Kerchbron [fr]
1975 Monsieur Jadis [fr] The mother Film by Michel Polac [fr]
1976 Anne, jour après jour [fr] Espérance Series by Bernard Toublanc-Michel
1978 Allégra [fr] Vanina Film by Michel Wyn [fr]
1979 Les Moyens du bord [fr] Évelyne Film by Bernard Toublanc-Michel
1979 Cinéma 16 [fr] (series) Clémence Lavaronnière Episode L'Œil du sorcier [fr] by Alain Dhénaut [fr]
1978 Les Jeunes Filles [fr] Mme Dandillot Film by Lazare Iglésis [fr]
1981 Le Piège à loups [fr] Aunt Jo Film
1983 Deux amies d'enfance

References

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  1. ^ "Élina Labourdette". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 5 February 2017.
  2. ^ Reader p.21
  3. ^ Foucart, Yvan. "Elina Labourdette". Les Gens du Cinéma (in French). Retrieved 6 May 2024.
  4. ^ a b c Henry, Pierre (13 November 1945). "Élina Labourdette, telle qu'elle est". Gallica (in French). LaPresse. p. 7. Retrieved 5 May 2024.
  5. ^ She nevertheless agreed to appear for Jacques Burtin in 2011 in Le Dernier Kodachrome, a tribute to cinema and dreams.
  6. ^ "L'actrice Elina Labourdette, "dame du bois de Boulogne", est morte". Libération (in French). AFP. 30 September 2014. Retrieved 5 May 2024.

Bibliography

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