Jeanne Renée Deneuve (10 September 1911 – 11 July 2021), known professionally as Renée-Jeanne Simonot, was a French actress and voice artist. She was married to actor Maurice Dorléac, the mother of actresses

Catherine Deneuve Catherine Fabienne Dorléac (born 22 October 1943), known professionally as Catherine Deneuve (, , ), is a French actress as well as an occasional singer, model, and producer, considered one of the greatest European actresses. She gained recogni ...

and

Françoise Dorléac Françoise Paulette Louise Dorléac (21 March 194226 June 1967) was a French actress. She was the elder sister of Catherine Deneuve, with whom she starred in the 1967 musical, ''The Young Girls of Rochefort''. Her other films include Philippe ...

and the grandmother of actor

Christian Vadim Christian Vadim (born 18 June 1963) is a French actor. He is the son of actress Catherine Deneuve and film director Roger Vadim. Career He made his film debut in 1983, working with his father in the film '' Surprise Party'', and appeared in ...

and actress Chiara Mastroianni.

Early life and career

Born in

Le Havre Le Havre (, ; nrf, Lé Hâvre ) is a port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the river Seine on the Channel southwest of the Pays de Caux, very ...

, France to Joseph-Sévère Deneuve and Antoinette-Jeanne Deneuve (née Schenardi), she debuted at the Odéon Theatre in 1918 at the age of seven. Primarily a stage actress, she remained there for 28 years, holding the post of "leading lady". Her daughter Catherine chose to use her maiden name, Deneuve, as her stage name. Simonot is Renée's stage name, which she took from an opera singer and family friend. Renée Simonot was one of the first French actresses to begin the

dubbing Dubbing (re-recording and mixing) is a post-production process used in filmmaking and video production, often in concert with sound design, in which additional or supplementary recordings are lip-synced and "mixed" with original production sou ...

of American films in France from the beginning of the talkies in 1929 through the 1930s. She was the voice of

Olivia de Havilland Dame Olivia Mary de Havilland (; July 1, 1916July 26, 2020) was a British-American actress. The major works of her cinematic career spanned from 1935 to 1988. She appeared in 49 feature films and was one of the leading actresses of her time. ...

(in most of her films), Sylvia Sidney,

Judy Garland Judy Garland (born Frances Ethel Gumm; June 10, 1922June 22, 1969) was an American actress and singer. While critically acclaimed for many different roles throughout her career, she is widely known for playing the part of Dorothy Gale in '' The ...

Donna Reed Donna Reed (born Donna Belle Mullenger; January 27, 1921 – January 14, 1986) was an American actress. Her career spanned more than 40 years, with performances in more than 40 films. She is well known for her portrayal of Mary Hatch Bailey in ...

and Esther Williams, among others.

Personal life

She had her first daughter, Danielle, out of wedlock on 27 October 1936 with actor

Aimé Clariond Aimé Clariond (10 May 1894 – 31 December 1959) was a French stage and film actor. Clariond was born in Périgueux, Dordogne, France and died in Paris. Selected filmography * ''The Brothers Karamazov'' (1931) - Ivan Karamazoff * '' Amourous ...

. Simonot told '' Le Point'' magazine in 2013: "Mr. Clariond was not my husband. He was married, not divorced and separated from his wife for a long time. The only happiness he gave me is a child. For the rest, he was charming, but we could not count on him." While dubbing for MGM, she met Maurice Dorléac and they married in 1940. The couple had three daughters:

Françoise Françoise () is a French feminine given name (equivalent to the Italian Francesca) and may refer to: * Anne Françoise Elizabeth Lange (1772–1816), French actress * Claudine Françoise Mignot (1624–1711), French adventuress * Françoise Adn ...

(1942–1967),

Catherine Katherine, also spelled Catherine, and other variations are feminine names. They are popular in Christian countries because of their derivation from the name of one of the first Christian saints, Catherine of Alexandria. In the early Christ ...

(born 22 October 1943) and Sylvie (born 14 December 1946). Simonot had been a widow since 1979 and lived in Paris. In an interview conducted a few months before her 102nd birthday in 2013, she said: "My old age is not sad. I am lucky to be very surrounded. There is not a day where I don't get a phone call or a visit from my children and grandchildren." In 2019, ahead of her 108th birthday, daughter Catherine told ''

Gala Gala may refer to: Music * ''Gala'' (album), a 1990 album by the English alternative rock band Lush *'' Gala – The Collection'', a 2016 album by Sarah Brightman *GALA Choruses, an association of LGBT choral groups *''Gala'', a 1986 album by T ...

'': "It's pretty amazing, it comes from her genes. My sisters and I are holding her. She has been in a home for two or three years. At the same time it's a little scary, it still seems very far in life. I am all the more surprised by her longevity that she is not sick." Simonot died in Paris in July 2021 at the age of 109.Mort de Renée Simonot, mère de Catherine Deneuve et doyenne des actrices
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Selected stage work

*1921: ''

Les Misérables ''Les Misérables'' ( , ) is a French historical novel by Victor Hugo, first published in 1862, that is considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century. In the English-speaking world, the novel is usually referred to by its origin ...

'' (

Cosette Cosette () is a fictional character in the 1862 novel ''Les Misérables'' by Victor Hugo and in the many adaptations of the story for stage, film, and television. Her birth name, Euphrasie, is only mentioned briefly. As the orphaned child of an u ...

) by

Paul Meurice Paul Meurice (5 February 1818 - 11 December 1905) was a French novelist and playwright best known for his friendship with Victor Hugo. Biography Meurice was born and died in Paris. In 1836, aged eighteen, he was introduced to Hugo by his frie ...

and Charles Hugo based on the novel by

Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the great ...

, Odéon Theatre *1922: ''Molière'' by and , directed by Firmin Gémier, Odéon Theatre *1928: ''La Belle Aventure'' by

Gaston Arman de Caillavet Gaston Arman de Caillavet (13 March 1869 – 13 January 1915) was a French playwright. Early life Gaston Arman de Caillavet was born on 13 March 1869. He was the son of Albert Arman de Caillavet and Léontine Lippmann. His maternal grandfa ...

, Robert de Flers and Étienne Rey, Odéon Theatre *1932: ''Le Favori'' by Martial Piéchaud, Odéon Theatre *1934: ''Jeanne d'Arc'' by Saint-Georges de Bouhélier, Odéon Theatre

References

External link

{{DEFAULTSORT:Simonot, Renee 1911 births 2021 deaths 20th-century French actresses Dorléac family French centenarians French child actresses French film actresses French people of Norman descent French stage actresses French voice actresses Actresses from Le Havre Women centenarians