His piercing blue gaze was the most beautiful in the seventh art. Michèle Morgan, whose real name is Simone Roussel, died on December 20, 2016 at the age of 96 in her home in Neuilly-sur-Seine. During her lifetime, the actress was known to millions of spectators for her legendary beauty.
“In his 97th year, the most beautiful eyes in cinema closed for good this morning, Tuesday, December 20,” his family announced in a statement to AFP. From her debut at the Cours Simon in the 1930s, Michèle Morgan was revealed in Gribouille by Marc Allégret in 1937. Then the following year, she gained notoriety thanks to this cult line by Jean Gabin in Le Quai des Brumes. “You have beautiful eyes, you know,” he told her in Marcel Carné’s film.
A cult scene that marked her life as an actress. “This film allowed me to make two essential encounters: the filmmaker Marcel Carné, of course, and Jean Gabin, with whom I had a beautiful love story”, declared Michèle Morgan, according to comments relayed by Gala . From their idyll, the two actors will however be distant because of the Second World War. After filming the film Trailers together in 1941, the couple separated and the actress flew to Hollywood in the United States.
If Michèle Morgan’s career did not take off across the Atlantic, the French star found love with William Marshall whom she married in 1942. From their union was born their son Mike two years later, before the couple divorced in 1948. The one who had won the first prize for female interpretation in the history of the Cannes Film Festival (for La Symphonie pastorale in 1946) started a new life with actor Henri Vidal in 1950. An idyll that lasted for nine years until the death of her husband in 1959. Finally, Michèle Morgan married in third marriage Gérard Oury in 1960. A long love story through the decades until the death of the director in 2006.
In life as on screen, the French actress has succumbed to many partners, including those who have had the chance to give her the reply. “I had the chance to shoot ‘Gribouille’, my first film, at 17, with Raimu. It matters in the life of an actress!”, she told Télé 7 Jours in 2011. ” Then it was Gabin in ‘Quai des Brumes’ the following year. He told me: “With those eyes, you have to travel a lot and take more than one on board! There was also Gérard Philippe in ‘ Les Orgueilleux’ and ‘Les Grandes Maneuvers’. I have fond memories of Bourvil. This man was remarkably kind. A wonderful gift.”
In homage to the life of Michèle Morgan, Planet reveals an anthology of outstanding or little-known photos of her career. Between his film partners and his sublime portraits, focus in our slideshow.