Catherine Dorléac Catherine Fabienne Dorléac
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Catherine Deneuve made her film debut in 1957 and broke through with The Umbrellas of Cherbourg 1964. She won César Awards for Best Actress for The Last Metro 1980 and Indochine 1992; the latter also earned her an Academy Award nomination. She has received lifetime achievement awards including the Honorary Palme d’Or and Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement.
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Catherine Deneuve — early life, career, personal life, and legacy.
Catherine Fabienne Dorléac entered the world on October 22, 1943 in Paris, the daughter of actors Renée Simonot and Maurice Dorléac. She attended Catholic schools until age 12 and initially aspired to be an interior designer or archaeologist. Her first acting job came at age 13 as a walk-on in The Twilight Girls 1957 to earn pocket money while school was out. Growing up in a theatrical family—her sister Françoise also became an actress—Deneuve was destined for the screen.
Deneuve’s breakthrough arrived in 1964 with Jacques Demy’s musical The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, where she played a romantic young woman forced into a loveless marriage. She followed with Roman Polanski’s Repulsion 1965 as a schizophrenic killer and Luis Buñuel’s Belle de Jour 1967 as a married woman who works as a part-time prostitute. She also worked with Buñuel in Tristana 1970 and François Truffaut in Mississippi Mermaid 1969. After a less remarkable 1970s, her career revived with Truffaut’s The Last Metro 1980, earning her a César Award for Best Actress. She earned her first Academy Award nomination for Indochine 1992, winning a second César. Later notable films include Lars von Trier’s Dancer in the Dark 2000 and 8 Women 2002.
Deneuve has two children: Christian Vadim born 1963 with director Roger Vadim, and Chiara Mastroianni born 1972 with actor Marcello Mastroianni. She was married to photographer David Bailey from August 18, 1965 to January 6, 1970. She cohabited with Pierre Lescure, founder of Canal+, from 1984 to 1991, and later lived with cinematographer Hugh Johnson. Deneuve has never performed onstage due to stage fright. She used hypnotherapy to quit a three-pack-a-day smoking habit in 1985 but resumed in 1996; she quit again after a minor stroke in 2019.
Deneuve is a grand dame of French cinema, alongside Simone Signoret and Jeanne Moreau. Her image served as Marianne, the national symbol of France, from 1985 to 1989. She has received numerous lifetime honors: the Honorary Golden Bear 1998, Honorary Palme d’Or 2005, Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement 1998, and the European Film Academy Lifetime Achievement Award 2013. Her performance in Belle de Jour is ranked #59 on Premiere’s 100 Greatest Performances. She inspired younger actresses and remains an archetype of Gallic beauty. She is most remembered for her iconic roles in The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and Belle de Jour.
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A wall of memorable lines from Catherine Deneuve — lyrics, interviews, and off-the-cuff remarks captured over a lifetime.
People Who Know Me Know I’m Strong, but I’m Vulnerable.
I’m Lucky. I’m Getting Older with Some Directors Who Are Getting Older.
I Don’t See Any Reason for Marriage When There Is Divorce.
To Work Is a Noble Art.
A Star Remains Pinned on a Wall in the Public Imagination.
But Being a Film Actor Is Very Different From, Say, a Theater Actor. You Get Involved with a Character After Spending a Long Time Waiting, and This Demands a Lot of Energy and Concentration. so I Am Very Involved with the Character, but I Have to Leave It as Soon as It’s Finished. and Also, You Always Have to Be at the Right Level When It’s Time to Shoot, Which Is Not Always the Best Time for the Actor. Sometimes, If You’re Shooting a Complicated Scene, You Have to Stay in a Position and Wait for the Technician to Do His Job, and Then You Have to Be Where You’re Supposed to Be, Right on the Spot. You Don’t Rehearse All That Much on Films. If I Think of the Amount of Time I Spend on Set Compared with the Time Spent Shooting, It’s Ridiculously Short.
But That’s What I Like About Film It Can Be Bizarre, Classic, Normal, Romantic. Cinema Is to Me the Most Versatile Thing.
I Like to Be Directed, It’s True. If I Didn’t Like That, I’d Do Something Else. Being an Actor Means Being an Instrument for Someone Else.
I’m Not Always the Nicest Person to Meet, Because I Forget Very Easily That I’m an Actress When I’m Not Working. I Live Very Normally, I Go Out with My Friends, We Go to the Movies, I Queue, We Go to Restaurants. Then If Something Happens to Remind Me That I’m an Actress Then I Become a Little Different and Things Become a Little Heavy. I Like the Advantages; I Know It’s Not Right but I Like Being Famous When It’s Convenient for Me and Completely Anonymous When It’s Not.
Interestingly, People Who Have Come to Visit Me on Set Which I Don’t Like They’re Very Surprised and Say That I’m Not the Person They Know. I’m Not Available to Them, I Cannot Go off with Them, I Cannot Get Involved in Their Conversations, so They Get the Impression That They’re Seeing Someone Else. I Tell Them, Yes, I Do Love to See Them After a Shoot, but During the Shoot, I Am with the People I Work With. They Ask, How Can I Stand Being on a Set Waiting for so Long, and That It Must Be so Boring. and I Have to Explain That to Wait, for an Actor, Is Not at All Like Someone Who’s Waiting to See the Doctor. It’s Not the Kind of Wait Where You Get Bored. Even If I Try to Think About Something Else While I’m Waiting, I Am Living with the Film, with the Scene. but I Do Often Feel Tired During the Day, and I’m Lucky Because I Can Go to Sleep Very Easily, for Even 10 to 15 Minutes, Even If I’m in Costume or Under a Wig, so I Do.
Interviews Are Written by Someone Else the Journalist Makes the Decision to Add or Take Things Away and I Couldn’t Recognize My Voice, or Anything of Myself in That.
What I Don’t Like Is Close Ups, Unless the Actor Is in the Camera with Me. I Have to Feel His Presence. If I Have to Feel the Presence of the Camera Before My Partner’s, It’s Very Difficult. I Love to Do Very Long and Complicated Scenes. I Like to Have This Impression That We Are All Working Together, Where You Can See All the Technicians and Everybody Is Really Doing the Same Thing at the Same Time. with Close Ups, of Course You Have the Crew There, but Most of Them Are Just Around and It Doesn’t Involve That Many People.
My Relationship to Character Is Made up of Mental Things That You Should Not Put Words To. to Do so Would Be Immodest. the Most Decisive Moment of My Work Around a Character Happens as We Are Shooting. That Moment Is so Tense, so Exhausting That Once It Is Over, I Need Fire Doors Between the Set and Me. Back in My Dressing Room or in the Hotel, I Shut Myself Off, Because the State I Am in on Set Is Too Exhausting.
When We Are Filming, I Can Concentrate Very Quickly, but It Does Tire Me Out. It Throws Me into Such a State! a Trance Like State. So, What I Need Is Either a Trick for a Calm Type of Trance or a Sleepwalking Trick.
I Am Incapable of Working by Myself Without a Director, Without Someone to Coach Me. but That Doesn’t Tally at All with My Idea of What a Film Character Should Be. I Have to Soak in What Will Happen on Set, That Day, the Location, the Light… I Need to Know What Happens Before in the Story. to Me, That Is the Most Important Thing: to Relate to a Character in Relation to Where We Are in the Film. Maybe It Also Has to Do with the Fact That I Have Never Done Any Real Character Parts. Even with Tristana, Which Required a Bit of Character Acting. but Luis Buñuel and I Would Talk off Set, We Had Dinner Together. the Same Is True of André Téchiné. We Meet up but We Always Wind up Talking About Something Else. and Even Though We Have Ended up Talking About Something Unrelated, Something Useful Has Still Come Out of It. We Have a Conversation About Something Else But, at the Same Time, We Are Aware of What Surrounds Us, Why We Are Here the Questions Are Very Present in Our Head. but It Is Never Straightforward. No, It Is Never Straightforward.
I Do Prefer to Start Without Any Intention at All, Rather Than Arrive with My Own Idea. I Am Incapable of Deciding What a Character Is. at the Same Time, from the Moment I Have Accepted the Part and Read the Script, I Know That Things Will Circle in My Mind. It Won’t Happen All the Time but nor Will It Ever Stop Entirely. but I Am Not Obsessed, I Don’t Have Any Trouble Getting Out of Character, at Night. I Am Always Happy When Filming and I Am Always Happy to Leave at Night It’s True That There Is Always a Kind of a Nervous Fatigue. Which I Know Is Hidden Away Somewhere During the Shoot. There Are Some Things That Fall into Place Without Me Doing Anything. I Know That Now.
I Am Shocked When People Talk About Me and Sum Me up As: Blonde, Cold, and Solemn. People Will Cling on to Whatever Reinforces Their Own Assumptions About a Person.
Hollywood Was Already Changing When I Went There in 1968. I Love American Directors. I Would Love to Work for Francis Ford Coppola or Martin Scorsese. but They Don’t Need European Actresses.
Why Should I Go to the States to Do a Film I Wouldn’t Consider in Europe, Just Because It’s English Speaking?
I Am a Feminist Through Experience Not Choice. I Was a Feminist from a Very Early Age Because I Am from a Family of Women, so It Comes Naturally to Me. Over the Years I Have Been Involved with Various Causes for Women.
I Think the Best Decade of My Life Was Between 40 and 50. Forty Was the Turning Point for Me as an Actress.
I Like Men Who Have a Light Spirit. It’s Okay to Be Serious About Your Work but in Everyday Life It’s Difficult to Find Men Who Are Very Alive and Positive. in Life I Like People Who Are Cheerful.
I Could Never Have Been a Model in the Way Actresses Today Are Expected to Be; I Was Never Thin Enough. I Love a Wonderful Meal at the End the Day and a Good Burgundy. I Try to Be Careful but I Am Not American I Am Not Always Worrying About Calories and Working Out.
I Am a Contradiction. I Am Impetuous. I Go for What I Want. I Cannot Wait to Test the Waters, I Throw Myself In. That’s How I Became a Mother. I Wanted Those Two Children from Those Two Men. Marriage, Fatherhood, All That Was a Secondary Consideration. I Was Only Seventeen When I Was with Roger Vadim. I Was so in Love with Him. He Was the First Man I Had Loved. I Wanted a Child from That Love. I Needed to Have That Child. Roger Didn’t Want to Marry Me, Not When I Was Pregnant. but It Never Even Crossed My Mind Not to Have That Child. It Was Natural and Beautiful and Important to Me to Have That Baby. Then, After He Was Born, Roger Wanted to Marry but I Rejected Him. It Was Too Late. Something Important Had Gone Out of It.
I’m Not Interested in Giving More of Myself Than I’ve Done. I’ve No Desire to Be More Public. I’m Not Interested in Talking About the Past, Because If You Are Still Working, Doing Things, You Have to Look Forward. You Have to Look for Things, Read Things. of Course in My Private Life, I Do Look at the Past.
I Couldn’t Do Justice to the Image Media Gave to Me, by the Way. Sometimes It’s Frustrating That People Face Me Prejudiced. Especially in the Beginning I Feel a Distance. but Once People Become Acquainted Closer with Me, They Are Relieved in General.
When It Comes to Falling in Love, Experience Doesn’t Help You in Any Way.
In France, Most of the Actors Are Homosexual. in England, Many Are, and the Same in the States; but in Most European Countries It Is a Vast Majority. Acting Is a Very Unrespected Profession in France, Still. so Being an Actress, I Can’t Help Becoming Friends with Those Men… It Is Not Difficult, Since They Usually Make Good Friends. but Sometimes Actresses Have to Worry About Falling in Love with Bisexuals. It Can Be a Problem, Because Some Develop an Attachment to a Man Who Is More Interested in Men but Wants to Use Her As… Une Barbe, How Do You Say, a Beard… Especially If the Actress Is Popular. I Am Not at All Prejudiced About Anyone Who Is Different, Since I Feel I Myself Am Different, but One Thing I Do Not Want Is to Fall in Love with a Homosexual or Even a Bisexual. This Man, for Me, Must Like Women Only. Otherwise, I Am Not Comfortable in Bed with Him.
For Years I Was a Big Star in France and Europe, but in the States They Still Called Me a Starlet in Magazine Stories and Photos… It Was Chanel Who Brought Me to the Americans. Before That, I Was Only Known as Mastroianni’s Woman or to Art House Moviegoers or to Homosexuals, Who Are Generally Informed About Many More Things Than Other Men.
I Cannot Imagine Having a Physical Relationship with a Woman. I Have Not Done That. but I Really Love Women. I Have a Very Strong Relationship with a Woman That I Have Known for a Long Time. I Knew Her for Some Time Before I Knew That She Was a Lesbian, but That Never Changed Anything About My Relationship with Her.
I Have No Ambition. I Am Sure That I Should, But… I Do Films When They Are Proposed. but I Never Go and Look for Them.
There Are Many Female Columnists and Women in General Who Hate Me Through Jealousy. It Is Strange, Because If They Knew My Looks Make Me No Happier Than Anyone Else, Perhaps We Could Be Friends.
The Relationship I Had with Susan Sarandon Was Very Good, and I Think Something Came Out of It Onto the Screen. You Can Tell. There Was Something Very Natural Between Us. She Is a Very Warm Lady. It Was a Very Long Shoot, and Neither of Us Was in Our Own Countries, so We Spent a Lot of Time Together. Afterward, We Saw Each Other and Wrote to Each Other. We Have a Bond. I Have a Picture of Her Children in My Home. She Is Always in My Mind and Heart. Also I Think the Scene We Did Was Very Sophisticated and Good Looking. I Think It Was a Very Idealistic Image of Women Together, a Very Good Thing to Have on Film for Homosexuality.
Little-known facts about Catherine Deneuve — origins, oddities, and behind-the-scenes details from a public life.
Due to stage fright, Deneuve has never performed onstage.
Fashion designer Yves Saint-Laurent dressed her for several films including Belle de Jour 1967 and The Hunger 1983.
Her daughter Chiara Mastroianni, born 28 May 1972, is from her relationship with Marcello Mastroianni.
She used hypnotherapy in 1985 to quit a three-pack-a-day smoking habit but started again in 1996; she quit again after a stroke in November 2019.
She turned down the role of Bond girl Tracy in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service 1969, which went to Diana Rigg.
Her son Christian Vadim, born 18 June 1963, is from her relationship with Roger Vadim.
She liked Breaking the Waves 1996 so much that she wrote a letter to Lars von Trier asking for a role, leading to her part in Dancer in the Dark 2000.
Her image was used to represent Marianne, the national symbol of France, from 1985 to 1989.
She speaks fluent French, Italian, and English, plus semi-fluent German and Spanish.
Marilyn Monroe is her favorite actress, and The Misfits 1961 is her favorite film.
She attended Catholic schools until age 12 and says she believes in God but does not practice religion.
In September 2020, her mother Renée Simonot turned 109 years old.
She is one of 12 French actresses to receive an Academy Award nomination.
In her early life she aspired to be an interior designer or archaeologist; she took her first acting job at 13 to make pocket money.
She resigned as a UNESCO goodwill ambassador to protest Angola’s nomination of Pierre Falcone.
She sued the San Francisco-based lesbian magazine Deneuve for trademark infringement; the magazine changed its name to Curve in 1996.
She published a collection of diaries, A l’ombre de moi-meme, about the filming of Indochine and Dancer in the Dark.
Her performance in Belle de Jour is ranked #59 on Premiere’s 100 Greatest Performances of All Time.
She testified about her own illegal abortion in 1971 to help French women obtain abortion rights.
She and Marcello Mastroianni made five films together including One Hundred and One Nights 1995 and Liza 1972.
She was awarded a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars on January 18, 2000.
She was the fourth French actress nominated for an Academy Award for a French-language performance.
She served as a member of the international jury of the Shanghai Television Festival.
In 1979, she was set to star in Alfred Hitchcock’s The Short Night, canceled due to Hitchcock’s declining health.
She lived with Irish cinematographer Hugh Johnson, whom she met on the set of The Hunger 1983.
She launched her own fragrance, Deneuve, in 1986, which won a FiFi Award in 1987; she also designs glasses, shoes, jewelry, and greeting cards.
She auditioned for the role of Francesca Johnson in The Bridges of Madison County 1995 but lost to Meryl Streep.
She has co-starred with Gérard Depardieu in ten films, including The Last Metro 1980 and Potiche 2010.
She and her daughter Chiara Mastroianni have appeared together in eight films, including A Christmas Tale 2008 and Beloved 2011.
Empire magazine ranked her #38 among the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history.
She has a tribal tattoo on the back of her neck and on her left foot.
She and Jacqueline Bisset have a noted connection: Mastroianni played Bisset’s love interest while dating Deneuve, and Vincent Perez played Deneuve’s love interest while dating Bisset.
Biographer Gilles Lhote claims Deneuve and singer Johnny Hallyday had a 56-year affair starting in 1961.
She turned down a role in Basic Instinct 2 2006 that went to Charlotte Rampling.
She likes to watch Mad Men, and Jon Hamm’s character Don Draper mentions her in an episode.
She is a grandmother of five: Igor, Milo, Anna, Lou, and Mona.
From 1984 to 1991, she cohabited with Pierre Lescure, founder of Canal+.
She was replaced by Isabelle Huppert in I Heart Huckabees 2004.
She has been parodied on Saturday Night Live by Nora Dunn and Cecily Strong.
Her interests include gardening, drawing, photography, reading, music, cinema, fashion, antiques, and decoration.
She has questioned journalists’ overuse of the word still in descriptions of her.
She visited Argentina to receive an honorary award at the San Luis Cine International Festival.
She is credited with helping descandalize out-of-wedlock births.
She is involved with Amnesty International’s program to abolish the death penalty.
She has been a spokesmodel for Chanel No. 5 and MAC.
Her role in Mississippi Mermaid 1969 was played by Angelina Jolie in the remake Original Sin 2001.
A song called Catherine Deneuve exists by Juan Antonio Canta.
Empire magazine ranked her #89 in The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time.
She was honored at the Créteil International Women’s Film Festival.
She was hospitalized in Paris after a minor stroke in 2019.
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