Denise Grey (born Édouardine Verthuy; 17 September 1896 – 13 January 1996) was an Italian-born actress who became a naturalized French citizen.
Biography
Édouardine Grey was born in
Châtillon in the
Aosta Valley
The Aosta Valley ( ; ; ; or ), officially the Autonomous Region of Aosta Valley, is a mountainous Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region in northwestern Italy. It is bordered by Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Fr ...
of north-west Italy, close to the French border. The town at the time primarily spoke the
Valdôtain dialect
Valdôtain (; endonym: , , ) is a dialect of Arpitan (Franco-Provençal) spoken in the Aosta Valley in Italy, and the common language of the Aosta Valley. It is commonly known as ''patois'' or . It is not an official language, the two regional o ...
. She was
naturalized
Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-national of a country acquires the nationality of that country after birth. The definition of naturalization by the International Organization for Migration of the ...
as a French citizen on 13 July 1922. She started working in the film industry in 1915 in the silent film ''En famille'', an adaptation of the novel by
Hector Malot, before dedicating herself to theatre work. She went back to working in films, now talkies, in the 1930s. She came to fame in the 1940s with films such as ''
Monsieur Hector'' (1940), ''Boléro'' (1942) or ''Devil in the Flesh'' (1947). Old age did not end her career. For example, in 1972, she starred in a French television series called ''
Les Rois maudits''. Thanks to the film ''
La Boum'', in which she plays "Poupette", the great-grandmother of
Sophie Marceau
Sophie Marceau (; born Sophie Danièle Sylvie Maupu, 17 November 1966) is a French actress. As a teenager, she achieved popularity with her debut films ''La Boum'' (1980) and ''La Boum 2'' (1982), receiving a César Award for Most Promising Act ...
, she gained recognition from a new audience growing up in the 1980s. In 1986, she sang ''Devenir vieux'' (Becoming Old).
She was a member of the
Comédie-Française between 1944 and 1946 and between 1957 and 1958.
Personal life
She had a daughter: Suzanne Grey, also an actress, who was born on 28 June 1917 and died on 13 December 2005.
Death
She died in 1996, a few months before reaching the age of 100. She rests next to her husband in the cemetery of
Arradon (
Morbihan
The Morbihan ( , ; ) is a departments of France, department in the administrative region of Brittany (administrative region), Brittany, situated in the northwest of France. It is named after the Gulf of Morbihan, Morbihan (''small sea'' in Breton ...
).
Selected filmography
* ''Nemrod et compagnie'' (1916) - Esther Nuno
* ''Les bleus de l'amour'' (1918) - Mimi Bertin
* ''Honneur d'artiste'' (1920) - Miss Nicholson
* ''Jeunes filles à marier'' (1935)
* ''
The Lady from Vittel'' (1937) - Mme Bleu
* ''Trois artilleurs au pensionnat'' (1937) - Hortense, deuxième institrice
* ''Trois artilleurs à l'opéra'' (1938) - Paulette
* ''
Serge Panine'' (1939) - Lady Harton
* ''
Monsieur Hector'' (1940) - Maroussia de Dragomir
* ''Montmartre sur Seine'' (1941) - Moussette
* ''L'oasis dans la tourmente'' (1942)
* ''
Bolero
Bolero is a genre of song which originated in eastern Cuba in the late 19th century as part of the trova tradition. Unrelated to the older Spanish dance of the same name, bolero is characterized by sophisticated lyrics dealing with love. It h ...
'' (1942) - Anne-Marie Houiller
* ''
Romance for Three'' (1942) - Loys Erland
* ''
The Blue Veil'' (1942) - Madame Volnar-Bussel
* ''
The Honourable Catherine'' (1943) - Madame d'Ambroisie
* ''Des jeunes filles dans la nuit'' (1943) - La mère d'Andrée
* ''Vingt-cinq ans de bonheur'' (1943) - Élisabeth Castille
* ''Retour de flamme'' (1943) - Madame de Nogrelles
* ''
Goodbye Leonard'' (1943) - Bernardine Léonard - la femme insupportable et dépensière de Félicien
* ''L'aventure est au coin de la rue'' (1944) - Madame Laurat-Dossin
* ''
Majestic Hotel Cellars'' (1945) - Madame Van Bell
* ''L'extravagante mission'' (1945) - Mme Brockseller
* ''
Madame et son flirt'' (1946) -La pseudo-cousine Léa
* ''
Strange Fate'' (1946) - Madame d'Evremond
* ''
The Ideal Couple'' (1946) - Antoinette
* ''L'insaisissable Frédéric'' (1946) - Miss Baxter
* ''On demande un ménage'' (1946) - Sabine Robinet
* ''Six heures à perdre'' (1947) - Mme. de Witt
* ''
Devil in the Flesh'' (1947) - Madame Grangier
* ''
Four Knaves'' (1947) - Madame de la Bastide
* ''
Coincidences
A coincidence is a remarkable concurrence of events or circumstances that have no apparent causal connection with one another. The perception of remarkable coincidences may lead to supernatural, occult, or paranormal claims, or it may lead to be ...
'' (1947) - Madame Bardolas
* ''Et dix de der'' (1948) - Betty
* ''Une femme par jour'' (1949) - La duchesse
* ''Bonheur en location'' (1949) - Gilde
* ''
Rome Express'' (1950) - Margot
* ''
Not Any Weekend for Our Love
Not or NOT may also refer to:
Language
* Not, the general declarative form of yes and no, "no", indicating a negation of a related statement that usually precedes
* ... Not!, a grammatical construction used as a contradiction, popularized in the ...
'' (1950) - Gabrielle, fille du baron
* ''La ronde des heures'' (1950) - Madame Méry-Mirecourt
* ''
My Friend Sainfoin'' (1950) - La mère d'Eugénie
* ''
Blonde
Blond () or blonde (), also referred to as fair hair, is a human hair color characterized by low levels of eumelanin, the dark pigment. The resultant visible hue depends on various factors, but always has some yellowish color. The color can be ...
'' (1950) - Isabelle Truche
* ''
Tomorrow We Get Divorced'' (1951) - Mme Tourelle
* ''Les petites Cardinal'' (1951) - Mme Cardinal
* ''Allô... je t'aime'' (1952) - Mme Dupuis
* ''
Article 519, Penal Code'' (1952) - Madre di Clara
* ''
The Tour of the Grand Dukes'' (1953) - La baronne
* ''
The Father of the Girl'' (1953) - Isabelle Marinier
* ''
Dortoir des grandes'' (1953) - Mme. Hazard-Habran - La directrice
* ''
Julieta'' (1953) - Mme Valender - la mère de Julietta et Martine
* ''
The Pirates of the Bois de Boulogne'' (1954) - Mme. Grossac
* ''
The Sheep Has Five Legs'' (1954) - Mme Durand-Perrin, la mère
* ''
Rasputin'' (1954) - La princesse Dikvona
* ''
Poisson d'avril'' (1954) - Clémentine Prévost
* ''El torero'' (1954) - (uncredited)
* ''
Service Entrance'' (1954) - Madame Thévenot
* ''
Il seduttore'' (1954) - Jacqueline's Mother
* ''Fantaisie d'un jour'' (1954) - Mme. de Cédillon
* ''
Spring, Autumn and Love
''Spring, Autumn and Love'' (French: ''Le printemps, l'automne et l'amour'') is a 1955 French-Italian comedy drama film directed by Gilles Grangier and starring Fernandel, Nicole Berger and Andrex.Parish p.177
The film's sets were designed by ...
'' (1955) - La cliente
* ''La villa Sans-Souci'' (1955)
* ''La rue des bouches peintes'' (1955) - Winifred
* ''L'auberge en folie'' (1956) - La grand-mère
* ''
Mitsou'' (1956) - Estelle
* ''Une nuit aux Baléares'' (1957) - Marguerite Vargas
* ''La peau de l'ours'' (1957) - Mme Legrand, la belle-mère
* ''
On Foot, on Horse, and on Wheels'' (1957) - Marguerite Martin
* ''Sylviane de mes nuits'' (1957) - Mme Anita de Santos
* ''
Carve Her Name with Pride
''Carve Her Name with Pride'' is a 1958 British war Drama (film and television), drama film based on the book of the same name by R. J. Minney.
The film, directed by Lewis Gilbert, is based on the true story of Special Operations Executive agen ...
'' (1958) - Mrs. Bushell
* ''
It's All Adam's Fault'' (1958) - Jeanne Sandret
* ''Police judiciaire'' (1958) - Madame Jambert
* ''Le tombeur'' (1958) - Natacha Olivaro
* ''
Mimi Pinson'' (1958) - La grand-mère
* ''
A Dog, a Mouse, and a Sputnik'' (1958) - Marguerite Martin
* ''Le confident de ces dames'' (1959) - La comtesse de Corte Bianca
* ''
Bombs on Monte Carlo'' (1960) - Contesse Tamm
* ''Le panier à crabes'' (1960) - L'impresario
* ''
Love and the Frenchwoman
''Love and the Frenchwoman'' is the US title of a 1960 French anthology film originally entitled ''La française et l'amour''. It starred Jean-Paul Belmondo and Dany Robin.
The movie was a big hit in France with admissions of 3,056,736.< ...
'' (1960) - Danielle's mother (segment "Divorce, Le")
* ''
La Bonne Soupe'' (1964) - Mme Boudard mère
* ''Pas de caviar pour tante Olga'' (1965) - Mrs. Dumont-Freville
* ''La maison de campagne'' (1969) - La baronne de Bocquigny
* ''
Hello-Goodbye'' (1970) - Concierge
* ''Mais qui donc m'a fait ce bébé?'' (1971)
* ''
Les Rois maudits'' (1972, TV Mini-Series) - Mme de Hongrie
* ''
La boum'' (1980) - Poupette
* ''N'oublie pas ton père au vestiaire...'' (1982) - La dame à la moto
* ''
La Boum 2'' (1982) - Poupette
* ''En cas de guerre mondiale, je file à l'étranger'' (1983) - Madame Toussaint mère
* ''Le voleur de feuilles'' (1984) - Isabelle Debecker
* ''Le gaffeur'' (1985) - La mère de Gabriel
* ''Les saisons du plaisir'' (1988) - Emmanuelle de La Grandière Van Bergh
* ''
A Fine Romance'' (1991) - Madame Legris
References
External links
*
1896 births
1996 deaths
People from Châtillon, Aosta Valley
Italian emigrants to France
Naturalized citizens of France
French stage actresses
French film actresses
French silent film actresses
French television actresses
Troupe of the Comédie-Française
Officers of the Ordre national du Mérite
20th-century French actresses
{{France-stage-actor-stub