Leslie Caron

Leslie Claire Margaret Caron (; born 1 July 1931) is a French-American actress and dancer. She is the recipient of a Golden Globe Award, two BAFTA Awards and a Primetime Emmy Award, in addition to nominations for two Academy Awards. She is one of the last surviving stars from the Golden Age of Hollywood cinema.

Caron began her career as a ballerina. She made her film debut in the musical '' An American in Paris'' (1951), followed by roles in ''The Man with a Cloak'' (1951), '' Glory Alley'' (1952) and ''The Story of Three Loves'' (1953), before her role of an orphan in '' Lili'' (also 1953), which earned her the BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actress and garnered nominations for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award.

As a leading lady, Caron starred in films such as '' The Glass Slipper'' (1955), '' Daddy Long Legs'' (1955), '' Gigi'' (1958), '' Fanny'' (1961), both of which earned her Golden Globe nominations, '' Guns of Darkness'' (1962), '' The L-Shaped Room'' (1962), '' Father Goose'' (1964) and '' A Very Special Favor'' (1965). For her role as a single pregnant woman in ''The L-Shaped Room'', Caron, in addition to receiving a second Academy Award nomination, won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama and a second BAFTA Award.

Caron's other roles include '' Is Paris Burning?'' (1966), '' The Man Who Loved Women'' (1977), '' Valentino'' (1977), '' Damage'' (1992), '' Funny Bones'' (1995), '' Chocolat'' (2000) and ''Le Divorce'' (2003). In 2007, she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for portraying a rape victim in '' Law & Order: Special Victims Unit''.

Early life and family

Caron was born in Boulogne-sur-Seine, Seine (now Boulogne-Billancourt, Hauts-de-Seine), the daughter of Margaret (née Petit), a Franco-American dancer on Broadway, and Claude Caron, a French chemist, pharmacist, perfumer and boutique owner. Claude Caron was the founder of the artisanal perfumier Guermantes. While her older brother, Aimery Caron, became a chemist like their father, Leslie was prepared for a performing career from childhood by her mother. The family lost its wealth during World War II and could not provide a dowry for Caron. "My mother said: 'There's only one profession that leads you to marrying money and becoming a princess or duchess, and that's ballet.' ... My grandfather whispered heavily: 'Margaret, you want your daughter to be a whore?' I heard it. This has always followed me".

During WWII, the family lost their fortune. Caron recalled, "My mother died of it". Her mother, who had grown up in poverty, could not cope with their reduced circumstances. She became depressed and an alcoholic and, at age 67, killed herself.

Career

Caron was initially a ballerina. Gene Kelly discovered her in the Roland Petit company "" and cast her to appear opposite him in the musical '' An American in Paris'' (1951), a role for which a pregnant Cyd Charisse was originally cast. The prosperity, sunshine and abundance of California was a cultural shock to Caron. She had lived in Paris during the German occupation, which left her malnourished and anemic. She later remarked how nice people were in comparison to wartime Paris, in which poverty and deprivation had caused people to be bitter and violent. She had a friendly relationship with Kelly, who nicknamed her "Lester the Pester" and "kid". Kelly helped the inexperienced Caron—who had never spoken on stage—adjust to filmmaking..

Her role led to a seven-year MGM contract. The films which followed included the musical '' The Glass Slipper'' (1955) and the drama ''The Man with a Cloak'' (1951), with Joseph Cotten and Barbara Stanwyck. Still, Caron has said of herself: "Unfortunately, Hollywood considers musical dancers as hoofers. Regrettable expression." She also starred in the musicals '' Lili'' (1953, receiving an Academy Award for Best Actress nomination), with Mel Ferrer; '' Daddy Long Legs'' (1955), with Fred Astaire; and '' Gigi'' (1958) with Louis Jourdan and Maurice Chevalier.

Dissatisfied with her career despite her success ("I thought musicals were futile and silly", she said in 2021; "I appreciate them better now"), Caron studied the Stanislavski method. In the 1960s and thereafter, Caron worked in European films as well. For her performance in the British drama '' The L-Shaped Room'' (1962), she won the BAFTA Award for Best British Actress and the Golden Globe, and was nominated for the Best Actress Oscar. Her other film assignments in this period included '' Father Goose'' (1964) with Cary Grant; Ken Russell's '' Valentino'' (1977), in the role of silent-screen legend Alla Nazimova; and Louis Malle's '' Damage'' (1992). Sometime in 1970, Caron was one of the many actresses considered for the lead role of Eglantine Price in Disney's ''Bedknobs and Broomsticks'', losing the role to British actress Angela Lansbury.

In 1967, she was a member of the jury of the 5th Moscow International Film Festival (MIFF). In 1989, she was a member of the jury at the 39th Berlin International Film Festival.

Caron returned to France in the early 1970s, which she later said was a mistake. "They adore someone who's really British or really American", Caron said, "but somebody who's French and has made it in Hollywood – and I was the only one who had really made it in a big way – they can't forgive". During the 1980s, she appeared in several episodes of the soap opera ''Falcon Crest'' as Nicole Sauguet. Caron is one of the few actresses from the classic era of MGM musicals who are still active in film — a group that includes Rita Moreno, Margaret O'Brien and June Lockhart. Caron's later credits include '' Funny Bones'' (1995) with Jerry Lewis and Oliver Platt; ''The Last of the Blonde Bombshells'' (2000) with Judi Dench and Cleo Laine

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