Juliette Gréco

Infobox Actor
name = Juliette


birthdate = birth date and age|1927|2|7
birthplace = Montpellier, Hérault, Languedoc-Roussillon, France
spouse = Philippe Lemaire (1953-1956)
Michel Piccoli (1966-1977)
Gérard Jouannest (1988-)

Juliette Gréco (born February 7, 1927) is a French actress and popular chanson singer.

Biography

Juliette Gréco was born in Montpellier to a Corsican father and a mother active in the "Résistance", in the Hérault "département" of southern France. She was raised by her maternal grandparents. Gréco also became involved in the Résistance, and was caught but not deported because of her young age. She moved to Saint-Germain-des-Prés in Paris in 1946 after her mother left the country for Indochina with the Navy.

Gréco became a devotee of the bohemian fashion of some intellectuals of post-war France. She dressed generally in black and let her long, black hair hang free.

A famous description of Gréco is that her voice "encompasses millions of poems".citequote She was known to many of the writers and artists working in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, such as Jean-Paul Sartre and Boris Vian.citequote

Gréco spent the post liberation years frequenting the Saint Germain cafes, immersing herself in political and philosophical Bohemian culture. As a regular figure at legendary music and poetry venues like Le Tabou on Rue Dauphine, Greco became acquainted with Miles Davis and Jean Cocteau, even being given a role in Cocteau’s film ‘Orphee’ in 1949. During the same year, she began a new singing career with a number of well-known French writers writing lyrics – Raymond Queneau’s ‘Si Tu T’Imagines’ was one of her earliest songs to become popular. [Felix Ney July 2004]

American movie producer and studio head Darryl F. Zanuck, who was Gréco's paramour, cast her in several films from the late 1950s to early 1960s. [Charlotte Mosley, editor, "In Tearing Haste: Letters Between Deborah Devonshire and Patrick Leigh-Fermor" (John Murray, 2008)]

She has been married three times: to actor Philippe Lemaire (1953-1956; one daughter, Laurence-Marie Lemaire, b. 1954), actor Michel Piccoli (1966-1977), and pianist Gérard Jouannest (1988-).

Autobiography

* "Jujube", published in French by Stock in 1982.

Famous songs

* "Si tu t'imagines" (1950)
* "Je suis comme je suis" (1951)
* "Les Dames de la poste" (1952)
* "Déshabillez-moi" (1967)

Filmography

*"The Sun Also Rises" (1957)
*"The Roots of Heaven" (1958)
*"Bonjour tristesse" (1958)
*"Lily, Love Me" (1975)
*"Belphégor - Le fantôme du Louvre" (also known as "Belphegor, Phantom of the Louvre") (2001)
*"Everyman's Feast" (2002)

References

* [http://www.rfimusique.com/siteEn/biographie/biographie_6308.asp Biography of Juliette Gréco]
* Philippe Boggio. "Boris Vian". pp.152-154
* Miles Davis. "Miles". pp.126-127

External links

*imdb name|id=0344898|name=Juliette Gréco
* [http://www.europopmusic.eu/France_pages/Greco_def.html Juliette Gréco on Europopmusic.eu] (English)
* [http://arts.guardian.co.uk/features/story/0,,1782525,00.html Interview with Juliette Gréco about her friendship-relationship with Miles Davis]