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01
In the documentary Delphine Seyrig, portrait d’une comète 2000, Michael Lonsdale tells a poignant anecdote about a succulent plant she gave him. He claims that it kept flourishing for about 15 years, but never again after her death.
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02
She once joked that, had she not been an actress, her ideal job would have been to sell tickets at the cinema, so that she could see a lot of movies.
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03
She signed the Manifesto of the 343 to support the legalization of abortion in France.
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04
She often wore Chanel, having gotten to know Coco Chanel when she designed her clothes for Last Year at Marienbad 1961.
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05
She named Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, and Ingrid Bergman as some of her acting idols.
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06
Marguerite Duras once called her a famous stranger with regard to her relatively little fame among large audiences.
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07
She was short of breath and had nodules on her vocal cords, which caused her to give a particular rhythm to her sentences. These trademark intonations are one reason her voice is considered the most beautiful of French cinema.
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08
She was fluent in German because of her Alsatian ancestry.
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09
In her autobiography Le temps et rien d’autre, Françoise Fabian shares an anecdote about a stage production of Old Times where Seyrig sat in silence for ten minutes until latecomers settled before delivering her first line.
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10
She was well-known for having great power on stage plays, usually choosing her directors herself or making them bend to her wishes.
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11
The feasts she had at her apartment in Place des Vosges were legendary among French actors. Jean-Pierre Marielle once called it the best night club in all of Paris.
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12
She admired Marilyn Monroe both for her acting abilities and for her patience to pose for Hollywood photographers.
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13
Shortly before she died, she had approached her frequent collaborator Chantal Akerman to direct a production of A Streetcar Named Desire in which she would play Blanche. Akerman wasn’t available, and the production was never done.
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14
As of February 2014, she is the only 20th-century actress with a Paris street named after her. There was talk in 2013 to name one for Romy Schneider, but the project was postponed indefinitely.
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15
She once mentioned the role of Countess Bathory in Daughters of Darkness 1971 as the favorite of her career.
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16
In his autobiography Désordre, Jean-Claude Carrière tells an anecdote about her name: Guy Bechtel named his daughter Delphine after her because he had met Seyrig in a Protestant college after the war.
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17
She once criticized the movies of Ingmar Bergman for their unrealistic portrayal of women and compared them unfavorably to Henrik Ibsen’s plays.
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18
She is buried at Cimetière du Montparnasse in Paris, against the wall of the cemetery, in part due to a theater-related anecdote about Marie Dorval.
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19
During the shooting of Muriel 1963, Alain Resnais introduced her to Agnès Varda, Liliane de Kermadec, and Marguerite Duras, and she later worked with all three.
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20
One year after Stolen Kisses 1968, she collaborated again with François Truffaut in Mississippi Mermaid 1969, her voice reading newspaper announcements.
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21
In the early 1960s, she introduced Lee Strasberg to the French theater world, dreaming of a method acting workshop in Paris.
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22
She used to credit Alain Resnais for passing on to her the love of cinema.
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23
Before she died, she was considering directing a western and a sequel to her documentary Be Pretty and Shut Up! 1981.
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24
During her 1956–1961 stay in New York, she lived in Greenwich Village.
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25
In the early stages of her career, many thought her unique voice would be an obstacle; she even saw coaches who tried to change it.
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26
She considered herself a feminist who was also socialist, as opposed to her friend Jane Fonda, whom she called a socialist who was also feminist.
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27
In the 1970s, she proposed a deal to Marguerite Duras: she would star in 12 movies a year if given a few days off monthly. The contract was never sealed.
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28
She appeared in 6 movies with Michael Lonsdale, including Comédie 1966, Stolen Kisses 1968, and The Day of the Jackal 1973.
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29
Michael Lonsdale nicknamed her The Actress with the Cello Voice.
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30
She personally introduced Joan of Arc of Mongolia 1989 at the New York Gay and Lesbian Film Festival.
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31
Her neighbors in Place des Vosges were Annie Girardot and Francis Blanche.
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32
Her friend Jean-Claude Carrière stated that she used to lend her apartment to women for abortions under licensed doctors.
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33
In 1972, she lent her apartment to Harvey Karman for the first demonstration of the super coil abortion technique.
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34
Both Delphine Seyrig and Emmanuelle Riva played an unnamed heroine nicknamed Elle in a film penned by Marguerite Duras: The Music 1966 and Hiroshima Mon Amour 1959, respectively.
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35
Her biographer François Poiriée coined the nickname Déesse because her initials D and S form the French word for goddess.
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36
Always kept visiting son Duncan Youngerman in New York after he relocated there to study.
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37
She used to ride a motor-scooter.
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38
On the set of The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie 1972, Luis Buñuel enjoyed embarrassing Stéphane Audran by calling her Mrs. Chabrol. Seyrig told Audran that Buñuel was doing this without malice.
