 Nathalie Kay "Tippi" Hedren (born January 19, 1930) is an American actress, animal rights activist, and former fashion model.  A successful fashion model who appeared on the front covers of Life and Glamour magazines, among others, Hedren became an actress after she was discovered by director Alfred Hitchcock while appearing on a television commercial in 1961. She received world recognition for her work in two of his films: the suspense-thriller The Birds (1963), for which she won a Golden Globe, and the psychological drama Marnie (1964). She has appeared in over 80 films and television shows, including Charlie Chaplin's final film A Countess from Hong Kong (1967). Among other honors, her contributions to world cinema have been recognized with the Jules Verne Award and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.  Hedren's strong commitment to animal rescue began in 1969 while she was shooting two films in Africa and was introduced to the plight of African lions. She started her own nonprofit organization, the Roar Foundation, in 1983; it supports the Shambala Preserve, an 80-acre (32 ha) wildlife habitat that enables her to continue her work in the care and preservation of lions and tigers.  Tippi Hedren and her daughter Melanie Griffith with a lion BiographyNathalie Kay Hedren was born in New Ulm, Minnesota, on January 19, 1930. Her paternal grandparents were Swedish immigrants, while her mother was of German and Norwegian descent. As a teenager, she took part in department store fashion shows. On reaching her 20th birthday, Hedren bought a ticket to New York City, where she joined the Eileen Ford Agency. Within a year, she made her unofficial film debut as "Miss Ice Box" in the musical comedy The Petty Girl.  Tippi Hedren in film Marnie, 1964 Although she received several film offers during that time, Hedren had no interest in acting, as she knew it was very difficult to succeed. She had a highly successful modeling career during the 1950s and early 1960s, appearing on the covers of Life, The Saturday Evening Post, McCall's, and Glamour, among others.  Tippi Hedren Life Magazine cover, 1950s In 1961, after seven years of marriage to the actor Peter Griffith, Hedren divorced and returned to California with her daughter, Melanie Griffith. That same year, director Alfred Hitchcock, saw her in a commercial for a diet drink called Sego, while watching The Today Show, and persuaded her to sign a seven-year contract. According to Hitchcock: "I was not primarily concerned with how she looked in person. Most important was her appearance on the screen, and I liked that immediately. She has a touch of that high-style, lady-like quality which was once well-represented in films by actresses like Irene Dunne, Grace Kelly, Claudette Colbert, and others, but which is now quite rare." Hitchcock was impressed with Hedren, he not only asked costume designer Edith Head to design clothes for Hedren's private life, and personally advised her about wine and food, but also asked her to play the leading role in his upcoming film The Birds.  Tippi Hedren with Alfred Hitchcock Hitchcock became her drama coach, and gave her an education in film-making, as she attended many of the production meetings such as script, music, or photography conferences. While promoting The Birds, Hitchcock was full of praise for his new protégée, and compared her to Grace Kelly.  Tippi Hedren in film The Birds, 1963  Tippi Hedren in film The Birds, 1963 Hedren received the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year, and her role as Melanie Daniels in The Birds was named by Premiere as one of the greatest movie characters of all time.
Hitchcock was so impressed with Hedren's acting abilities, he decided to offer her the leading role of his next film, Marnie (1964), a romantic drama and psychological thriller from the novel by Winston Graham, during the filming of The Birds. Hedren voiced doubts about her ability to play the demanding role, but Hitchcock assured her she could do it. As opposed to The Birds, where she had received little acting guidance, for this film Hedren studied every scene with Hitchcock.  Tippi Hedren with Sean Connery in film Marnie, 1964 Hedren recalled Marnie as her favorite of the two films she did with Hitchcock for the challenge of playing an emotionally battered young woman who travels from city to city assuming various guises to rob her employers. Despite its original lukewarm reception, the film was later acclaimed and described as a "masterpiece" and Hedren's performance is now regarded as one of the finest in any Hitchcock film. Marnie was the second and last collaboration between Hedren and Hitchcock. During the filming of Marnie, Hedren found Hitchcock's behavior toward her increasingly difficult to bear as filming progressed. Hedren told him Marnie would be their last film together and later recalled how Hitchcock told her he would destroy her career. Hedren's contract terms gave Hitchcock the final say as to any work she could take on and he used that power to turn down several film roles on her behalf. In 1966, Hitchcock finally sold her contract to Universal Studios who ultimately released her from her contract. In 1983, author Donald Spoto published his second book about Hitchcock, The Dark Side of a Genius, for which Hedren agreed to talk for the first time in detail about her relationship with the director. For years after its release, Hedren was not keen to talk about it in interviews, but thought the chapter devoted to her story was "accurate as to just what he was". In Spoto's third book about Hitchcock, Spellbound by Beauty (2008), Hedren revealed that Hitchcock actually made offensive demands on her. Hedren's first feature film appearance after Marnie was in A Countess from Hong Kong (1967), starring Marlon Brando and Sophia Loren, but her part was little more than a cameo, and after that, although she appeared in various films and tv series, Tippi Hedren never again played any leading role in any major film, except Roar, a film about a family's misadventures in a research park filled with lions, tigers, and other wild cats, played by Tippi Hedren and her family, including her daughter Melanie, her then husband Noel Marshall(who also wrote the script), and his own sons. The film took many years to make and left Hedren and her family members wounded to different degrees during filming. When it was finally released in 1981, it cost $17 million and grossed only $2 million, but it was a turning point in Hedren's life. In 1983, she established the nonprofit The Roar Foundation to take care of the big cats. After Roar, Hedren accepted any low-budget television or cinema role that could help bring funds to her foundation to provide protection, shelter, care, and maintenance for the animals at the Shambala Preserve. As of 2020, Hedren still maintains more than a dozen lions and tigers; her granddaughter Dakota Johnson is involved in their care.  Tippi Hedren and her daughter Melanie Griffith and her grand daughter Dakota Johnson In 2006, a Louis Vuitton ad campaign paid tribute to Hedren and Hitchcock with a modern-day interpretation of the deserted railway station opening sequence of Marnie. In 2012, her look from The Birds (1963) inspired designer Bill Gaytten to design for John Galliano Pre-Fall 2012 collection. In 2016, Tippi Hedren published her autobiography, Tippi: A Memoir, co-written with Lindsay Harrison. In 2018, at age 88, Hedren became the new face of Gucci's timepieces and jewelry and starred as a mysterious fortune teller in the brand's commercial ad, The Fortune Teller.  Further interestArticles 
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 Giovanni Boldini(1842-1931), Self-portrait at Montorsoli, (1892), Florence, Uffizi Gallery, Vasari Corridor Giovanni Boldini (31 December 1842 – 11 July 1931) was an Italian genre and portrait painter who lived and worked in Paris for most of his career. According to a 1933 article in Time magazine, he was known as the "Master of Swish" because of his flowing style of painting. BiographyGiovanni Boldini was born in Ferrara, the son of a painter of religious subjects, and in 1862 went to Florence for six years to study and pursue painting and met there other realist painters known as the Macchiaioli, who were Italian precursors to Impressionism. Their influence is seen in Boldini's landscapes which show his spontaneous response to nature, although it is for his portraits that he became best known. Moving to London, Boldini attained success as a portraitist. He completed portraits of premier members of society including Lady Holland and the Duchess of Westminster. From 1872 he lived in Paris, where he became a friend of Edgar Degas. He became the most fashionable portrait painter in Paris in the late 19th century, with a dashing style of painting which shows some Macchiaioli influence and a brio reminiscent of the work of younger artists, such as John Singer Sargent and Paul Helleu. He was nominated commissioner of the Italian section of the Paris Exposition in 1889, and received the Légion d'honneur for this appointment. In 1897 he had a solo exhibition in New York. He participated in the Venice Biennale in 1895, 1903, 1905, and 1912.  Portrait of Franca Florio by Giovanni Boldini The famous Giovanni Boldini's "Portrait of Franca Florio" was commissioned by Ignazio Florio. Boldini’s initial, beautifully provocative version, painted in 1901 was not approved of by Ignazio Florio. He reportedly found it risqué and "unnatural and unreal" looking and demanded that Boldini lengthen the dress and add full sleeves with wide black lace. Once Boldini had reworked the work to oblige his commissioner’s discontent it was exhibited at the 1903 Venice Biennial. The portrait remained like this until 1924 when, with the demise of the Florio family’s wealth, Baron Maurice de Rothschild acquired it. Therefore, Rothschild engaged Boldini to restore it to its original sensual version. After two auction (Christie's 1995 and Sotheby's 2005), the painting has been on display at the Grand Hotel Villa Igiea in Palermo since 2006. In 2017 it went to auction again. It is said that the necklace in the painting, with 365 pearls, one for each day of the year, was a present from the husband, begging forgiveness for his many affairs.  Portrait of Sarah Bernhardt(1844-1923) by Giovanni Boldini(31 December 1842-11 January 1931), 1904  Photographic portrait of Giovanni Boldini (1910)  Oil painting Lady in Rose, 1924, by Giovanni Boldini(31 December 1842-11 January 1931), Museo Boldini, Ferrara  Detail Oil painting Lady in Rose, 1924, by Giovanni Boldini(31 December 1842-11 January 1931), Museo Boldini, Ferrara A Boldini portrait of his former muse Marthe de Florian, a French actress, was discovered in a Paris flat in late 2010, hidden away from view on the premises that were unvisited for over 50 years. The portrait has never been listed, exhibited or published and the flat belonged to de Florian's granddaughter, who inherited the flat after her father's death in 1966 and lived in the South of France after the outbreak of the Second World War and never returned to Paris. A love-note and a biographical reference to the work painted in 1888, when the actress was 24, cemented its authenticity. A full-length portrait of the lady in the same clothing and accessories, but less provocative, hangs in the New Orleans Museum of Art. The discovery of his painting in the 70-years-empty apartment forms the background to Michelle Gable's 2014 novel A Paris Apartment.  Portrait of the actress Marthe de Florian aged 24 by Giovanni Boldini(31 December 1842-11 January 1931) Further interestBooks: Videos:
Websites:  Gérard Albert Philip, dit Gérard Philipe, né le 4 décembre 1922 à Cannes et mort le 25 novembre 1959 à Paris, est un acteur français. Actif au théâtre comme au cinéma, il fut en France, jusqu'à sa mort prématurée, l'une des principales vedettes de l'après-guerre. Le public garde de lui une image juvénile et romantique, qui en fait l'une des icônes du cinéma français.  Biographie Gérard naît le 4 décembre 1922 dans la villa Les Cynanthes à Cannes (Alpes-Maritimes). Il est issu d'une famille aisée, composée de Marcel Philip (1893-1973) et de Marie Elisa Villette (1894-1970), dite « Minou ». Sa mère est la fille d'un pâtissier beauceron établi à Chartres et d'une émigrée tchèque directement venue de Prague. Son père, riche hôtelier (propriétaire de divers établissements sur la Côte d'Azur et à Paris) et avocat dans un cabinet de contentieux juridique cannois, appartenait en 1936 à la ligue nationaliste des Croix-de-Feu, puis s'enthousiasma pour Jacques Doriot et son rêve de national-socialisme à la française, adhéra au Parti populaire français et devint secrétaire de la fédération de Cannes. Propriétaire-gérant du Parc palace-hôtel à Grasse, il y abrita l'état-major mussolinien en 1940 puis l'état-major nazi en 1942. Il est condamné à mort après la guerre pour ses crimes de collaboration et se réfugie en Espagne et devient professeur de français à Barcelone. En 1928, Gérard est, avec son frère Jean, interne au lycée de l'Institut Stanislas de Cannes tenu par les marianistes, où il est bon élève. Il y obtient, au début de la guerre, son baccalauréat. Inscrit à la faculté de droit à Nice en 1942, son père le destine à une carrière de juriste, mais, rencontrant de nombreux artistes réfugiés sur la Côte d’Azur, alors en zone libre depuis 1940, il décide de devenir comédien. Sa mère le soutient dans ce choix.  En 1940, la famille Philip déménage à Grasse où Marcel gère le Parc Palace Hôtel. C'est à cette période que de nombreux artistes rejoignent la Zone libre ; la Côte d'Azur devient un foyer d'activité intense.  En 1941, Gérard entame des études de droit à Nice mais songe à quitter cette voie pour devenir acteur, hypothèse à laquelle s'oppose son père. La même année, le cinéaste Marc Allégret rencontre Marie, qui pratique des séances de voyance et de spiritisme à l'hôtel de son mari. Sachant que son fils veut faire du théâtre, elle persuade le réalisateur de l'auditionner. Il fait donc passer une audition à Gérard, une scène d’Étienne, une pièce de Jacques Deval où justement un fils de 17 ans voit sa vocation de comédien contrecarrée par son père. Il est impressionné par « une sorte de violence [...] qu'on sentait à tout instant prête à bouillonner ». Le cinéaste lui conseille de s’inscrire au Centre des jeunes du cinéma à Nice, puis l’envoie prendre les cours d’art dramatique de Jean Wall et Jean Huet à Cannes.  Il passe une audition en 1942 devant Maurice Cloche pour le film d'aventures Les Cadets de l'océan, mais n'obtient pas de rôle. Il fait également un essai pour Le Blé en herbe aux côtés de Danièle Delorme mais le projet est censuré par le régime de Vichy.  Gérard Philipe avec Danièle Delorme, photo pour film Blé en herbe Il débute finalement au théâtre dans Une grande fille toute simple, d'André Roussin dont la première a lieu le 11 juillet au casino de Cannes. La pièce connaît un grand succès et tourne dans le sud de la France, ainsi qu'en Suisse. Son talent est déjà apprécié et reconnu par ses pairs. Afin de satisfaire la superstition de sa mère, il rajoute un -e à son nom de famille, de la sorte, son prénom et son nom forment désormais 13 lettres. En novembre, la zone libre est occupée par l’armée allemande.  En 1943, Gérard Philipe tourne avec la pièce Une Jeune Fille savait d'André Haguet, qui rencontre un succès à Paris. Il confirme ses dons d'acteurs. Marc Allégret l'engage tout d'abord pour une silhouette dans le film La Boîte aux rêves, réalisé par son frère Yves, puis lui donne un petit rôle dans Petites du quai aux fleurs. La famille Philip s’installe rue de Paradis, dans le 10e arrondissement de Paris. Gérard acquiert son indépendance financière et habite avec Jacques Sigurd rue du Dragon, à Saint-Germain-des-Prés. Son ami, qui écrira de nombreux scénarios et dialogues dans les films où jouera Gérard, l'initie à la littérature moderne et lui fait découvrir Caligula d'Albert Camus.  Il obtient son premier succès et la célébrité à l’âge de vingt ans, dans le rôle de l’ange du Sodome et Gomorrhe de Jean Giraudoux. Le directeur du théâtre, Jacques Hébertot, témoigne : « Dès les premières répétitions, nous nous aperçûmes que nous n'avions rien à apprendre à ce jeune comédien. Il était habité. » En dépit du succès, Gérard Philippe s’inscrit au Conservatoire national supérieur d'art dramatique, suit les cours de Denis d'Inès et obtient le second prix de comédie l'année suivante.  Du 20 au 25 août 1944, il participe à la Libération de Paris, notamment de l'Hôtel de Ville. La notoriété de Gérard Philipe au théâtre et en tournée grandit encore grâce à la création de Caligula d’Albert Camus, toujours au théâtre Hébertot. C'est par cette pièce que le découvre le réalisateur René Clair, avec qui il va longtemps collaborer : « Je fus déconcerté par l'aspect romantique et intellectuel du jeune acteur que je voyais. » Il ne se présente pas au concours en juin et démissionne du conservatoire en octobre.  Gerard Philippe dans le film le pays sans etoiles Il tient son premier rôle principal au cinéma dans Pays sans étoiles de Georges Lacombe, sorti en avril 1946 ; le film surprend mais séduit la critique et le public. En juin sort également L'Idiot de Georges Lampin, que Philipe considère comme sa « première vraie expérience du cinéma. C'est dans ce film que j'ai commencé à sentir mon métier. »  Gérard Philipe dans L'Idiot 1946 Le film Le Diable au corps de Claude Autant-Lara en 1947, où Gérard Philipe est le partenaire de Micheline Presle, marque un tournant dans sa carrière car il confirme à fois son succès en France, tout en lui apportant une consécration internationale. Il remporte le prix d’interprétation au Festival international de Bruxelles ; le film, lui, remporte le prix de la critique internationale.  Gérard Philipe dans Le Diable au corps 1947  Gérard Philipe dans Le Diable au corps 1947  Gérard Philipe dans Le Diable au corps 1947  Gérard Philipe et Maria Casarès jouent la pièce Les Épiphanies, de Henri Pichette, au théâtre Edouard VII (1947) L'année 1950 s'avère être décisive pour Gérard Philipe. Le 16 mars a lieu la première de gala, en présence du président de la République Vincent Auriol, de La Beauté du diable, film de René Clair que Gérard Philipe avait une première fois refusé. Le 27 septembre sort La Ronde, de Max Ophuls. Considéré aujourd'hui comme un chef d’œuvre, le film est mal accueilli par la critique, pour des raisons à la fois esthétiques et morales, bien qu'il obtienne plusieurs distinctions dans plusieurs festivals internationaux.  Gérard Philipe dans le film La Ronde 1950 L'année suivante, Jean Vilar est nommé directeur du Théâtre National Populaire (TNP) et dirige une troupe composée de jeunes comédiens et comédiennes aux carrières prometteuses comme Philippe Noiret, Jeanne Moreau, Charles Denner. Philipe déclare : « [...] pour moi le TNP c'est chez moi, c'est ma maison ». Le 29 septembre, Gérard Philipe signe son contrat d'engagement d'un an au TNP, tacitement reconductible. Malgré sa carrière et sa renommée internationale, il rassure le nouveau directeur quant à sa rémunération : il est prêt à toucher un cachet inférieur au cinéma pour ne pas mettre en péril le budget de la troupe. Son salaire est fixé à 30 000 francs bruts mensuels (750€ en 2019), auxquels s'ajoutent 400 francs par répétition (10€ en 2019). Jean Vilar témoignera qu'en huit ans, il ne demandera aucune augmentation de salaire, ni traitement de faveur, ni clause particulière. Sur les affiches, son nom figure à sa place alphabétique.   Gérard Philipe dans Fanfan la Tulipe,1952 Gérard Philipe ne délaisse pas le cinéma pour autant et joue en 1952 dans Fanfan la Tulipe de Christian-Jaque avec Gina Lollobrigida, qui lui vaut de devenir une « idole des jeunes » à travers le monde (Japon, États-Unis, Hongrie...). Il assure également sa première régie au TNP avec Lorenzaccio d'Alfred de Musset, pièce qui connaît un grand succès au Festival d'Avignon, puis à Paris l'année suivante.  Gérard Philipe dans Fanfan la Tulipe,1952  Gérard Philipe dans Lorenzaccio En 1956, il réalise en coproduction avec l'Allemagne de l'Est et avec l'aide de Joris Ivens, le long métrage Les Aventures de Till l'espiègle, avec Jean Vilar et Jean Carmet. Production ambitieuse mais mal maîtrisée, le film ne rencontre pas le succès en France et les sévères critiques affectent Gérard Philipe qui ne réalisera pas d'autre film.  Gérard Philipe avec Nicole Navaux, dit Anne Philipe sa femme En 1942, Gérard Philipe rencontre Nicole Navaux, une ethnologue épouse du diplomate François Fourcade. Ils se lient en 1946, se marient le 29 novembre 1951 à la mairie de Neuilly-sur-Seine après le divorce de Nicole. Il demande à son épouse de reprendre son premier prénom, Anne, qu'il trouve plus poétique. Ils ont deux enfants. Installés boulevard d'Inkermann à Neuilly, puis rue de Tournon à Paris en 1956, Anne et Gérard avec leurs enfants passent leurs vacances d’été à Ramatuelle, en Provence, dans une propriété de la famille d'Anne.  Gerard Philipe et Brigitte Bardot, Cannes Film Festival En septembre 1957, Gérard Philipe est élu à la tête du Comité National des Acteur, nouveau syndicat qu'il soutient matériellement et financièrement, allant jusqu'à mettre à disposition l'un des pièces de son appartement. Il milite notamment en faveur d'un meilleur salaire et d'indemnités de répétions, face à l'évolution du métier d'acteur, dans un contexte de développement du cinéma et de la télévision.  Gérard Philipe avec Jeanne Moreau dans Les liaisons dangereuses (1959) par Roger Vadim Sa jeunesse, sa beauté et son charisme dans les films d'Yves Allégret, Christian-Jaque, Marcel Carné, Claude Autant-Lara, René Clair, René Clément, Luis Buñuel ou Roger Vadim lui valent une renommée internationale mais pas celle des « jeunes turcs », les futurs cinéastes de la Nouvelle Vague, qui rejettent l'acteur même si ce dernier souhaitait prendre part à ce nouveau mouvement. Au théâtre, Jean Vilar lui conseille ne pas se reposer sur ses acquis et des rôles classiques, il lui promet de lui trouver plutôt un personnage inconnu du répertoire international.  Gérard Philipe Paris Match Decembre 1959 Le 5 novembre 1959, Gérard Philipe est hospitalisé à la clinique Violet, où on lui diagnostique un cancer du foie. Son épouse et les médecins lui taisent la vérité, lui laissant croire qu'il s'agit d'une opération réussie contre un abcès. Il décède le 25 novembre à Paris, au 17, rue de Tournon, où un panneau Histoire de Paris lui rend hommage, quelques jours avant son 37ème anniversaire.  La mort de Gérard Philipe entraînera une profonde émotion en France, où le comédien était très populaire. Conformément à ses dernières volontés, il est enterré vêtu du costume de Don Rodrigue (Le Cid), dans le petit cimetière de Ramatuelle .  Gérard Philipe en 1954 dans le costume de Don Rodrigue. Jean Vilar lui rend un dernier hommage le 28 novembre, sur la scène du théâtre de Chaillot : « La mort a frappé haut. Elle a fauché celui-là même qui [...] pour nous-même exprimait la vie. [...] Travailleur acharné, travailleur secret, travailleur méthodique, il se méfiait cependant de ses dons qui étaient ceux de la grâce. »  Gérard Philipe(4 December 1922-25 November 1959) French actor Biography Gérard Philipe (4 December 1922 – 25 November 1959) was a prominent French actor who appeared in 34 films between 1944 and 1959. Active in both theater and cinema, he was, until his untimely death, one of the main stars of the post-war period. His image has remained youthful and romantic, which has made him one of the icons of French cinema.  Born Gérard Albert Philip in Cannes in a well-off family, he was of one quarter Czech ancestry from his maternal grandmother. His father, Marcel Philip (1893–1973), was a barrister and businessman in Cannes; his mother was Maria Elisa "Minou" Philip, née Vilette (1894–1970). On his mother's advice, in 1944 Gérard changed his surname from "Philip" to "Philipe". As a teenager Philipe took acting lessons before going to Paris to study at the Conservatoire of Dramatic Art.  Philipe made his film debut in Les Petites du quai aux fleurs (1943), directed by Marc Allégret, in an uncredited role. When he was 19 years old, he made his stage debut at a theater in Nice; and the following year his strong performance in the Albert Camus play Caligula made his reputation.  Gerard Philipe in play Caligula by Albert Camus Philippe had a lead role in The Idiot (1946), an adaptation of the novel of Fyodor Dostoevsky by director Georges Lampin. This was widely seen overseas and established Philippe as a leading man. He was invited to work with the Théâtre national populaire (T.N.P.) in Paris and Avignon, whose festival, founded in 1947 by Jean Vilar, is France's oldest and most famous. Philippe gained fame as a result of his performance in Claude Autant-Lara's Devil in the Flesh (1947), alongside Micheline Presle. It was a huge box office success. He went on to star in La Chartreuse de Parme (1948) by director Christian-Jacque, which was even more popular than Devil in the Flesh. He followed it with Such a Pretty Little Beach (1949) by Yves Allégret; All Roads Lead to Rome (1949)(again with Micheline Presle) by Jean Boyer; and Beauty and the Devil (1950) by René Clair. Philippe was one of several stars in Max Ophüls' version of La Ronde (1950). He followed it with another all-star film, Lost Souvenirs (1951) by Christian-Jacques. In 1951, Philipe married Nicole Fourcade (1917–1990), an actress/writer, with whom he had two children. She adopted the pseudonym, Anne Philipe, and wrote about her husband in two books, the first called Souvenirs (1960) and a second biography titled Le Temps d'un soupir (No Longer Than a Sigh, 1963).  Livre « Gérard Philipe » Souvenirs et témoignages de Anne Philipe et Claude Roy In 1953, Philippe starred in Fan Fan the Tulip, a swashbuckling adventure with Gina Lollobrigida directed by Christian-Jacque which was very popular.  He was in Beauties of the Night (1952), again with Lollobrigida, and Martine Carol, directed by Clair; The Proud and the Beautiful (1953) with Michèle Morgan and two more all-star anthologies: It Happened in the Park (1953) and Royal Affairs in Versailles (1954). Philippe tried an English movie, Lovers, Happy Lovers! (1954) (also known as Knave of Hearts), directed by René Clément and co-starring Valerie Hobson. He then did The Red and the Black (1954) with Danielle Darrieux and had a big success with The Grand Maneuver (1955) by René Clair, co-starring Morgan. Phillippe did The Best Part (1956) for Yves Allégret and was one of many stars in If Paris Were Told to Us (1956). He wrote, directed and starred in Bold Adventure (1956), a comic adventure film. He starred in Lovers of Paris (1957) by Julien Duvivier and Montparnasse 19 (1958) by Jacques Becker.  Gerard Philipe and Anouk Aimée in film Montparnasse 19(1958) directed by Jacques Becker He was one of many stars in Life Together (1958) and top billed in The Gambler (1958). In 1958 he went to New York and performed on Broadway in the all-French Lorenzaccio and Le Cid. Phillipe played Valmont in Roger Vadim's modern day version of Les liaisons dangereuses (1959), appearing alongside Jeanne Moreau. His last film was Fever Mounts at El Pao (1960) directed by Luis Buñuel.  He died from liver cancer while working on a film project in Paris, a few days short of his 37th birthday. In accordance with his last wishes, he is buried, dressed in the costume of Don Rodrigue (The Cid), in the village cemetery in Ramatuelle, Var near the Mediterranean coast. To commemorate the centenary of the cinema in 1995, the French government issued a series of limited edition coins that included a 100 franc coin bearing the image of Philipe. Among the most popular French actors of modern times, he has been elevated to mythic status in his homeland, not least because of his early death at the peak of his popularity. In 1986, his portrait appeared on a French commemorative postage stamp.  There is a film festival named in his honour as well as a number of theatres and schools (such as the College Gérard Philipe – Cogolin) in various parts of France. In Germany he has been scarcely less respected than in his native country; a cultural centre is named after him in Berlin.  Further interestArticles  De Gérard Philipe à Alain Delon : une certaine idée du Français, par Régis Debray  Frederic Leighton self portrait Name: frederic leighton birth place: Scarborough, England birth date: 3 December 1830 zodiac sign: Sagittarius death place: London, England death date: 25 January 1896  Solitude by Sir Frederic Leighton Profile Frederic Leighton, 1st Baron Leighton, PRA (3 December 1830 – 25 January 1896), known as Sir Frederic Leighton between 1878 and 1896, was a British painter, draughtsman and sculptor. His works depicted historical, biblical, and classical subject matter. Leighton was the bearer of the shortest-lived peerage in history; after only one day his hereditary peerage became extinct upon his death.  the painter's honeymoon 1864 by Sir Frederic Leighton Biography Leighton was born in Scarborough to Augusta Susan and Dr. Frederic Septimus Leighton. He had two sisters including Alexandra who was Robert Browning's biographer. He was educated at University College School, London. He then received his artistic training on the European continent, first from Eduard von Steinle and then from Giovanni Costa. At age 17, in the summer of 1847, he met the philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer in Frankfurt and drew his portrait, in graphite and gouache on paper — the only known full-length study of Schopenhauer done from life. When he was 24 he was in Florence; he studied at the Accademia di Belle Arti, and painted the procession of the Cimabue Madonna through the Borgo Allegri. From 1855 to 1859 he lived in Paris, where he met Ingres, Delacroix, Corot and Millet. In 1860, he moved to London, where he associated with the Pre-Raphaelites. He designed Elizabeth Barrett Browning's tomb for Robert Browning in the English Cemetery, Florence in 1861. In 1864 he became an associate of the Royal Academy and in 1878 he became its President (1878–96). His 1877 sculpture, Athlete Wrestling with a Python, was considered at its time to inaugurate a renaissance in contemporary British sculpture, referred to as the New Sculpture. American art critic Earl Shinn claimed at the time that "Except Leighton, there is scarce any one capable of putting up a correct frescoed figure in the archway of the Kensington Museum." His paintings represented Britain at the great 1900 Paris Exhibition. Leighton was knighted at Windsor in 1878, and was created a baronet, of Holland Park Road in the Parish of St Mary Abbots, Kensington, in the County of Middlesex, eight years later. He was the first painter to be given a peerage, in the 1896 New Year Honours. The patent creating him Baron Leighton, of Stretton in the County of Shropshire, was issued on 24 January 1896; Leighton died the next day of angina pectoris  The Bath of Psyche 1879 by Sir Frederic Leighton On his death Leighton's barony was extinguished after existing for only a day; this is a record in the Peerage. His house in Holland Park, London has been turned into a museum, the Leighton House Museum. It contains many of his drawings and paintings, as well as some of his former art collection including works by Old Masters and his contemporaries such as a painting dedicated to Leighton by Sir John Everett Millais. The house also features many of Leighton's inspirations, including his collection of Iznik tiles. Its centrepiece is the magnificent Arab Hall. The Hall is featured in issue ten of Cornucopia. A blue plaque commemorates Leighton at Leighton House Museum.  Idyll by Frederic Leighton 1880-1881  Leighton was an enthusiastic volunteer soldier, enrolling with the first group to join the 38th Middlesex (Artists') Rifle Volunteer Corps (later to be known as the Artists Rifles). His qualities of leadership were immediately identified, and he was promoted to command a Company within a few months. On 6 January 1869 Captain Leighton was elected to command the Artists Rifles by a general meeting of the corps. In the same year he was promoted to major and in 1875 to lieutenant colonel. Leighton resigned as commanding officer in 1883. The painter James Whistler famously described the then, Sir Frederic Leighton, the commanding officer of the Artists Rifles, as the: “Colonel of the Royal Academy and the President of the Artists Rifles – aye, and he paints a little!" At his funeral, on 3 February 1896, his coffin was carried into St Paul's Cathedral, past a guard of honour formed by the Artists Rifles.  oil painting Cymon and Iphigenia by Sir Frederic Leighton 1884  he Garden of the Hesperides by Sir Frederic Leighton 1892, Lady Lever Art Gallery  Flaming June (June Flamboyante) by Frederic Leighton, 1895  birth place: London England birth date: 27 November 1853 zodiac sign: Sagittarius death place: London England death date: 17 October 1928 Sir Francis Bernard Dicksee (or Frank Bernard Dicksee) was an English Victorian painter and illustrator, best known for his pictures of dramatic literary, historical, and legendary scenes. He also was a noted painter of portraits of fashionable women, which helped to bring him success in his own time. Francis Bernard Dicksee was born at a time when the first wave of Pre-Raphaelitism was beginning to make its presence felt in Britain and he inherited the romantic spirit of the movement that had been founded only a stone's throw from his childhood home in the Bloomsbury area of London.. After early success with his painting of unrequited love, Harmony, he rose to be one of the most popular artists of the late 19th-century, painting in a sumptuous and dramatic style. Dicksee's family was a veritable dynasty of artists, his father, brother, and sister Margaret were all well-known painters, but it is Francis who is best known and loved today for his Pre-Raphaelite inspired subjects. Dicksee's father, Thomas Dicksee, was a painter who taught Frank as well as his sister Margaret from a young age. Dicksee enrolled in the Royal Academy in 1870. Amongst the visiting lecturers who trained him, were the famous senior academicians Leighton [1830-1896] and Millais [1829-1896]. Dicksee was a star student, earning many distinctions and medals. Like many other artists of the day his early career was largely spent in book illustration, as well as some stained glass window design. He started exhibiting at the RA in the mid 1870s, and also exhibited at the Grosvenor Gallery, though his real base was always the Academy. Dicksee made his reputation with Harmony, exhibited at the Academy in 1877, and bought by the Chantry Bequest. Many of his pictures were of dramatic historical and legendary scenes. He also was a noted painter of elegant, highly-finished portraits of fashionable women, which of course helped to bring him material success. He also painted landscapes. Dicksee lived in St John's Wood, and remained a bachelor. He was, of course, one of the nineteenth century artists who outlived his time, and was, to his credit, very unhappy with developments in the early twentieth century. Rather surprisingly, Dicksee was elected President of the Royal Academy in 1924, fulfilling the role with panache and tact. Physically he was a tall, good-looking, patrician figure, with a charming easy-going manner. Like his predecessor but one Edward Poynter [1836-1919], the traditional orientation of his art gradually isolated him from the artistic mainstream of the day. He was knighted in 1925, and named to the Royal Victorian Order by King George V in 1927. In 1921 Dicksee exhibited at the first exhibition of the Society of Graphic Art in London.  The Funeral of a Viking, 1893 Dicksee painted The Funeral of a Viking (1893; Manchester Art Gallery), which was donated in 1928 by Arthur Burton in memory of his mother to the Corporation of Manchester. Victorian critics gave it both positive and negative reviews, for its perfection as a showpiece and for its dramatic and somewhat staged setting, respectively. The painting was used by Swedish Viking/Black metal band Bathory for the cover of their 1990 album, Hammerheart. A book on Frank Dicksee's life and work with a full catalogue of his known paintings and drawings by Simon Toll was published by Antique Collector's Club in 2016.
 Romeo and Juliet, 1884 Further reading Articles and Websites Books  Title: Frank Dicksee:1853-1928: His art and life Author: Simon Toll  Portrait of Ida Rubinstein, 1913, by Antonio de la Gandára Ida Lvovna Rubinstein (5 October 1883 – 20 September 1960) was a Russian dancer, actress, art patron and Belle Époque figure. She performed with Diaghilev's Ballets Russes from 1909 to 1911 and then quit to form her own company. Boléro by Ravel (1928) was among her commissions.  Mme Ida Rubinstein dans La Dame aux camélias. Robe, Charles Frederick de Worth BiographyRubinstein was born into one of Russia's richest families, to Jewish parents in Kharkov, Russian Empire, and grew up in Saint Petersburg. For many years, it was a mystery whether she was born in Kharkov or Saint Petersburg, complicated by the rumour that "Ida" was short for "Adelaida". Rubinstein herself would not confirm where she was born, nor if Ida was a nickname, preferring the aura of mystery. Ida's grandfather, Ruvim (Roman) Rubinstein, had been a successful sugar trader in Kharkov. He moved to Saint Petersburg, where he founded the company Roman Rubinstein & Sons with his two sons, Lev (Leon) and Adolf (Anton). The family multiplied their investment many times over, becoming millionaires. By the time Ida was born, the family expanded to own several banks, including the First Bank of Kharkov, sugar mills and breweries. The family donated large sums of money to charities, particularly the arts. Lev and Adolf were both well educated; they regularly hosted prominent intellectuals and artists in their home. Adolf's son Iosif became a successful pianist who studied under Franz Liszt. Her mother died when Ida was very young, and in 1892, her father Lev died in Frankfurt, leaving her a vast fortune. In 1893, the 8-year-old Ida was sent to Saint Petersburg to live with her aunt, socialite "Madame" Gorvits (Horwitz). Rubinstein grew up in her aunt's mansion on the city's famed Promenade des Anglais, where she was given the best education. She became fluent in English, French, German and Italian. When she became interested in Ancient Greece, a Greek professor was invited to tutor her in Saint Petersburg.  Ida Rubinstein in 1909 In Paris, Ida Rubinstein began her career as an actress, appearing on stage in various stages of "indecent" garb. While it was perfectly respectable for the upper class to be seen at the theatre, being an actress was no different from being a prostitute in the eyes of her horrified relatives. Her brother-in-law, a Parisian doctor had her declared legally insane in order to commit her to a mental asylum to save the family's honor.  Ida Rubinstein (5 October 1883 – 20 September 1960)  Ida Rubinstein Her family in Kharkov and Saint Petersburg, unhappy with her being in an asylum, demanded she be released and sent home. Once in Saint Petersburg, she was chaperoned at all times by her governess, as was customary for an unmarried young woman of her social class. To earn her freedom and right to control her fortune, she married her first cousin Vladimir Gorvits, who was madly in love with her and allowed her to travel and perform. She had, by the standard of Russian ballet, little formal training. Tutored by Mikhail Fokine, she made her debut in 1908. This was a single private performance of Oscar Wilde's Salomé, in which she stripped nude in the course of the Dance of the Seven Veils. Sergei Diaghilev took her with the Ballets Russes and she danced the title role of Cléopâtre in the Paris season of 1909, and Zobéide in Scheherazade in 1910. Both exotic ballets were choreographed by Fokine, and designed by Léon Bakst. Her partner in Scheherazade was the great Vaslav Nijinsky. Scheherazade was admired at the time for its racy sensuality and sumptuous staging, but these days it is rarely performed; to modern tastes, it is considered too much of a pantomime and its then fashionable Orientalism appears dated.  Ida Rubinstein left the Ballets Russes in 1911.  Ida Rubinstein in Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade, 1910 After leaving the Ballets Russes, Rubinstein formed her own dance company, using her inherited wealth, and commissioned several lavish productions. In 1911, she performed in Le Martyre de Saint Sebastien. The creative team was Fokine (choreography); Bakst (design); Gabriele d'Annunzio (text) and score by Debussy. This was both a triumph for its stylized modernism and a scandal; the Archbishop of Paris prohibited Catholics from attending because St. Sebastian was being played by a woman and a Jew.  Ida Rubinstein as Saint Sebastian in the play The Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian, 1911  Ida Rubinstein 1912 After the First World War, Ida Rubinstein appeared in a number of plays, and in Staat's Istar at the Paris Opera in 1924. She also played the leading role in the 1921 silent film La Nave based on D'Annunzio's play of the same name and directed by his son.  Ida Rubinstein during the First World War, 1914-1918  Ida Rubinstein in 1922 Between 1928 and 1929, she directed her own company in Paris with Nijinska as choreographer. She commissioned and performed in Maurice Ravel's Boléro in 1928. The repertoire also included The Firebird (L'Oiseau de Feu) with music by Stravinsky, and choreography by Fokine; this had been one of the most sensational creations for the Ballets Russes. The company was revived in 1931 and 1934, with new works. In 1934, the French government awarded her the Légion d'honneur. Ida Rubinstein closed her company in 1935, and she was awarded honorary French citizenship that same year. In 1939 she gave her last performance in the play Jeanne d'Arc au bûcher in Paris and that same year, she was awarded the Grand Cross of the Légion, the highest honor awarded by French Government. Ida Rubinstein is not considered to be in the top tier of ballerinas; She did, however, have tremendous stage presence and was able to act. She was also a significant patron and she tended to commission works that suited her abilities, works that mixed dance with drama and stagecraft. In 1940, she left France during the German invasion, and made her way to England via Algeria and Morocco. There she helped wounded Free French soldiers until 1944. Walter Guinness (later Lord Moyne), her long-term lover and sponsor, remained supportive, providing a suite at the Ritz Hotel, until he was assassinated by the Stern Gang in late 1944.  Ida Rubinstein(5 October 1883 – 20 September 1960) Ida Rubinstein returned to France after the war, living finally at Les Olivades in Vence, France. She died there in 1960 and is buried nearby.  Portrait of Ida Rubinstein by Romaine Brooks, Le Trajet, circa 1911, Smithsonian American Art Museum. It was Ida Rubinstein's elusive quality that fascinated. She expressed an inner self that had no particular denomination. Her beauty belonged to those mental images that demand manifestation, and whatever period she represented she became its image. In reality she was the crystallization of a poet's image, a painter's vision, and as such she possessed further significance ... It was her gift for impersonating the beauty of every époque, that marked Ida Rubinstein as unique.  Portrait of Ida Rubinstein by Romaine Brooks, 1917, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum Further interestArticles
 Gustaf Lundberg, Portrait de François Boucher (1741), pastel, Paris, musée du Louvre. name: François Boucher birth place: Paris France birth date: 30 September 1703 zodiac sign: Libra death place: Paris France death date: 30 May 1770  Madame de Pompadour par François Boucher  Madame de Pompadour par François Boucher François Boucher, né le 29 septembre 1703 à Paris où il est mort le 30 mai 1770, est un peintre français, représentatif du style rococo. Maître particulièrement prolifique, Boucher a abordé tous les genres : peinture religieuse, sujets mythologiques, scènes rustiques, paysages, animaux, décorations de monuments et de maisons particulières, modèles de tapisserie. C’est peut-être le plus célèbre peintre et artiste décoratif du xviiie siècle, dont on a pu dire qu’il était l’un des génies les plus purs. Il estimait lui-même, un an avant sa mort, avoir produit plus de dix mille dessins, mais trouvait encore le temps de travailler dix heures par jour à des représentations idylliques et voluptueuses de thèmes classiques, mythologiques et érotiques, d’allégories décoratives et de scènes pastorales. Nombre de ces toiles, réalisées pour la décoration intérieure, constituent des paires ou des séries. Il était peintre de la cour de Louis XV et le favori de la marquise de Pompadour, dont il a peint plusieurs portraits.  Diane sortant du bain (1742), Paris, musée du Louvre. BiographieFils unique d’Élisabeth Lemesle et de Nicolas Boucher, maître peintre et dessinateur de l’Académie de Saint-Luc, il reçoit les premières leçons de son père, mais il montrait de telles dispositions que celui-ci décida de le faire travailler sous une direction plus qualifiée que la sienne. Vers 1720, il entre, âgé de 17 ans, dans l’atelier de Lemoyne, qui l’initia aux secrets de la peinture décorative et des grandes scènes mythologiques, dans lesquelles il était spécialisé. Il ne resta que fort peu de temps dans cet atelier de Lemoyne, quelques mois à peine. Pour se procurer les ressources nécessaires pour vivre, il dut accepter des travaux de dessin et de gravure du graveur et éditeur Jean-François Cars. Ses premiers essais décidèrent le collectionneur Jean de Jullienne à lui passer commandes de gravures d'après Watteau. Cette période de son apprentissage fut des plus profitables à Boucher qui trouva dans les œuvres de Watteau, qui venait de mourir, en 1722, tous les éléments de sa propre inspiration. Très épris de son art, il voulait entrer à I‘Académie et s’efforçait de perfectionner sa technique, travaillant à la fois le dessin, la gravure et la peinture. Il se forma également auprès de Sebastiano Ricci et Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini, actifs à Paris dans les années 17208. En 1723, il concourut au prix de l’Académie de peinture, en attendant qu’une pension pût lui être attribuée pour l’Académie de France à Rome, il continua à graver pour Jullienne. En 1725, il exposait pour la première fois, quelques tableaux à l’Exposition de la jeunesse de la place Dauphine. Deux ans plus tard, en 1727, ayant réuni quelque argent, il partit pour Rome, comme élève libre. À peine arrivé, Boucher se mit au travail. Après un séjour de près de quatre années en Italie, il rentra à Paris. Agréé dès son retour à l’Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture, le 24 novembre 1731, il devint immédiatement le peintre mondain, le portraitiste semi-officiel des femmes à la mode, épouses ou maîtresses des financiers, gagnant une fortune rapide et un renom considérable. Les commandes commencent à affluer, et c’est de 1732 que date la réalisation de Renaud et Armide, inspiré de la Jérusalem délivrée du Tasse, où le modèle de la blonde Armide est Marie-Jeanne Buseau, la jeune fille de 17 ans qu’il épousera le 21 avril 1733. Au dire de ses contemporains, Marie-Jeanne était remarquablement jolie, et Boucher semble s’en être souvent inspiré dans ses créations de jeunes beautés radieuses et triomphantes. Elle posa également pour d'autres peintres de leur entourage comme La Tour, Lundberg ou le peintre suédois Roslin. Marie-Jeanne Boucher travailla avec son mari, grava quelques-uns de ses dessins, et reproduisit en miniature plusieurs de ses tableaux.  Renaud et Armide (1732), Paris, musée du Louvre. Le 30 janvier 1734, il est reçu comme peintre d'histoire, à l’Académie royale sur présentation de son tableau de 1732, Renaud et Armide, aujourd’hui conservé au Louvre, et Oudry. Le 2 juillet 1735, il est nommé, avec Carle Van Loo et Natoire, adjoint à professeur de l'Académie. Même s'il a été marqué par le style du peintre Lemoyne, Boucher trouve vers 1736 son style propre en devenant, en peinture, le maître incontesté du style rocaille. Principal peintre du rococo français, il devient le peintre à la mode. Il obtient la faveur de Madame de Pompadour dont il fera à plusieurs reprises, le portrait et composera pour elle ses œuvres les plus raffinées dans les années 1650, ainsi que des décors pour son château de Bellevue et pour son boudoir de Crécy. Il travaille également pour de hauts personnages de la cour, comme le duc de Penthièvren ou pour des souverains étrangers (Le Triomphe de Vénus en 1740 pour le roi de Suède). Il est un grand ami du général Montmorency. En 1765, il succède à Carle Van Loo comme Premier peintre de Louis XV. Travaillant avec une extrême facilité, il se vante d'avoir gagné jusqu'à 50 000 francs par an. Il participe à la décoration des châteaux de Versailles et de Fontainebleau, à celle du cabinet des Médailles de la Bibliothèque nationale (1741-1746). Il invente des décors pour le théâtre et l'opéra et donne aussi de nombreux modèles à la manufacture de Vincennes de 1750 à 1755 puis à la manufacture royale de Sèvres, essentiellement entre 1757 et 1767. Ses figures d'enfants, dits Enfants Boucher sont traduites sous forme de motifs peints ou de biscuits et également de petites pièces de tapisseries destinées à l'ameublement.  Madame Bergeret (1766 ?), New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art. Associé avec le marchand d'art Edme-François Gersaint, François Boucher est l'introducteur du goût pour les chinoiseries, des objets et des artéfacts venant de Chine, du Japon ou du royaume de Siam. Certains de ses objets apparaissent en second plan dans ses tableaux " La toilette, 1742" ( Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid,) ou " Femme allongée au divan" (Frick Collection, New York).  La Toilette par François Boucher, 1742©Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid Son style passe de mode avec l'arrivée du néoclassicisme vers 1760. Jusqu'à sa mort, en 1770, Boucher garde son style et expose ses œuvres au Salon, excepté lors de l'édition 1767. Boucher est un de ces hommes qui signifient le goût d'un siècle, qui l'expriment, le personnifient et l'incarnent […]Il est simplement un peintre original et grandement doué, à qui il a manqué une qualité supérieure, le signe de race des grands peintres : la distinction. Il a une manière et n'a pas de style. […] La vulgarité élégante, voilà la signature de Boucher.  Leda and the Swan, 1741 ProfileFrançois Boucher (29 September 1703 – 30 May 1770) was a French painter, draughtsman and etcher, who worked in the Rococo style. Boucher is known for his idyllic and voluptuous paintings on classical themes, decorative allegories, and pastoral scenes. He was perhaps the most celebrated painter and decorative artist of the 18th century. BiographyA native of Paris, Boucher was the son of a lesser known painter Nicolas Boucher, who gave him his first artistic training. At the age of seventeen, a painting by Boucher was admired by the painter François Lemoyne who later appointed Boucher as his apprentice, but after only three months, he went to work for the engraver Jean-François Cars.  The secret message by François Boucher In 1720, he won the elite Grand Prix de Rome for painting, but did not take up the consequential opportunity to study in Italy until five years later, due to financial problems at the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture. On his return from studying in Italy for about 4 years, Boucher was admitted to the refounded Académie de peinture et de sculpture on 24 November 1731. Boucher married Marie-Jeanne Buzeau, whom he used as his model for his painting Rinaldo and Armida of 1734 Boucher became a faculty member in 1734 and his career accelerated from this point as he was promoted Professor then Rector of the Academy, becoming inspector at the Royal Gobelins Manufactory and finally Premier Peintre du Roi (First Painter of the King) in 1765. Boucher died on 30 May 1770 in his native Paris. His name, along with that of his patron Madame de Pompadour, had become synonymous with the French Rococo style, leading the Goncourt brothers to write: "Boucher is one of those men who represent the taste of a century, who express, personify and embody it." La nature est trop verte et mal éclairée"  La Toilette de Vénus par François Boucher  Profile of Deborah KerrDeborah Jane Trimmer CBE, known professionally as Deborah Kerr, was a Scottish film, theatre, and television actress. She was nominated six times for the Academy Award for Best Actress, and holds the record for an actress most nominated in the lead actress category without winning. During her international film career, Kerr won a Golden Globe Award for her performance as Anna Leonowens in the musical film The King and I (1956). She is also eternally remembered for her performances in films like From Here to Eternity (1953), Tea and Sympathy (1956), An Affair to Remember (1957) in which she played opposite Cary Grant, etc. In 1967 at age 46, Deborah Kerr starred in Casino Royale, achieving the distinction of being the oldest Bond Girl in any of the James Bond films. In 1994, having already received honorary awards from the Cannes Film Festival and BAFTA, Deborah Kerr received an Academy Honorary Award with a citation recognising her as "an artist of impeccable grace and beauty, a dedicated actress whose motion picture career has always stood for perfection, discipline and elegance". Biography of Deborah Kerr Deborah Jane Trimmer was born on 30 September 1921 in Hillhead, Glasgow. Her father Capt. Arthur Charles Kerr Trimmer was a World War I veteran and pilot who lost a leg at the Battle of the Somme and later became a naval architect and civil engineer. Kerr originally trained as a ballet dancer, She went to the Sadler's Wells ballet school and in 1938 made her début in the corps de ballet in Prometheus at Sadler's Wells when she was 17 years old. After becoming actress, she adopted the name Deborah Kerr, a family name and she made clear that her surname should be pronounced the same as "car". Kerr became known in Britain playing the lead role in the film of Love on the Dole (1941). In 1942, she starred with Robert Newton and James Mason in Hatter's Castle which was very successful, the same year she played a Norwegian resistance fighter in The Day Will Dawn which make her an immediate hit with the public: An American film trade paper reported in 1942 that she was the most popular British actress with Americans.  Deborah Kerr with her first husband Anthony Bartley on their wedding day On 29 November 1945, Deborah Kerr married Squadron Leader Anthony Bartley in London, England. They had two daughters. The marriage was troubled, owing to Bartley's jealousy of his wife's fame and financial success, and because her career often took her away from home. They divorced in 1959. In 1947, Deborah Kerr’s role as a troubled nun in Black Narcissus brought her to the attention of Hollywood producers. The film was a hit in the US, as well as the UK, and Kerr won the New York Film Critics Award as Actress of the Year. British exhibitors voted her the eighth-most popular local star at the box-office in 1947. She relocated to Hollywood and was under contract to MGM. Kerr's first film in Hollywood was a mature satire of the burgeoning advertising industry, The Hucksters (1947) with Clark Gable and Ava Gardner. She received the first of her Oscar nominations for Edward, My Son (1949), a drama set and filmed in England co-starring Spencer Tracy. In Hollywood, Kerr's British accent and manner led to a succession of roles portraying refined, reserved, and "proper" English ladies. Kerr, nevertheless, used any opportunity to discard her cool exterior. Kerr departed from typecasting with a performance that brought out her sensuality, as "Karen Holmes", the embittered military wife in Fred Zinnemann's From Here to Eternity (1953), for which she received an Oscar nomination for Best Actress. The American Film Institute ranked it 20th in its list of the 100 most romantic films of all time. Having established herself as a film actress in the meantime, she made her Broadway debut in 1953, appearing in Robert Anderson's Tea and Sympathy, for which she received a Tony Award nomination. Thereafter, Kerr's career choices would make her known in Hollywood for her versatility as an actress. In 1956 she played Anna Leonowens in the film version of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The King and I with Yul Brynner which was a huge hit. Then the next year in 1957, she starred in An Affair to Remember opposite Cary Grant which became her most iconic and remembered role ever. On 23 July 1960, Kerr was married to author Peter Viertel Although she long resided in Klosters, Switzerland and Marbella, Spain, Kerr moved back to Britain to be closer to her own children as her health began to deteriorate. Her husband Viertel continued to live in Marbella. Although she worked in various films although the 60s, including the comedy Casino Royale in 1967 in which she achieved the distinction of being the oldest "Bond Girl" in any James Bond film at age 45, none of the roles could compare with the ones she was offered in the 50s at the peak of her stardom. And thus Deborah Kerr abandoned the small screen at the end of the 1960s in favour of television and theatre work. Kerr played in various TV dramas and was nominated for an Emmy Award for her role of older Emma Harte, a tycoon, in the TV adaptation of Barbara Taylor Bradford's A Woman of Substance. But despite her success on the big and small screens, theatre always remained Kerr's first love, even though going on stage filled her with trepidation. Kerr's first stage appearance was at Weston-super-Mare in 1937, as "Harlequin" in the mime play Harlequin and Columbine. Decades later, Kerr returned to the London stage in many productions including the title role in a production of George Bernard Shaw's Candida. In 1975, she also returned to Broadway, creating the role of Nancy in Edward Albee's Pulitzer Prize-winning play Seascape. I do it because it's exactly like dressing up for the grown ups. I don't mean to belittle acting but I'm like a child when I'm out there performing—shocking the grownups, enchanting them, making them laugh or cry. It's an unbelievable terror, a kind of masochistic madness. The older you get, the easier it should be but it isn't.”  Deborah Kerr in film From her to eternity, 1953  Deborah Kerr in film An affair to remember with Cary Grant, 1957 Kerr died aged 86 on 16 October 2007 at Botesdale, a village in the county of Suffolk, England, from the effects of Parkinson's disease. Less than three weeks later on 4 November, her husband Peter Viertel died of cancer.  Further interestArticlesWebsitesJean Patou (27 septembre 1887 à Paris - 8 mars 1936 à Paris) est un couturier et fabricant de parfums français, créateur de la maison de couture et de parfums qui porte son nom.  Jean Patou au travail Biographie Jean Alexandre Patou est né le 27 septembre 1887 à Paris (10e arrondissement) Jean Patou travaillera un temps aux côtés de son père avant de se tourner vers l'un de ses oncles exerçant la profession de fourreur auprès duquel il apprendra le métier. Cette expérience lui révèle alors son intérêt pour la mode. En octobre 1905, Jean Patou s'engage dans l'armée pour trois ans. En 1910, il s'installe à Paris et décide d'ouvrir une maison de haute couture, au sein de laquelle il intègre un atelier de fourrures. En proie à des difficultés financières, cette première initiative se solde par un échec, mais Jean Patou réitère l'expérience en ouvrant en 1912 la « Maison Parry », un petit salon de couture situé au 4 rond-point des Champs-Élysées. Les débuts sont marqués par quelques balbutiements puisque Jean Patou ne suit pas totalement la mode contemporaine mais initie de nouvelles tendances tant par méconnaissance de « ce qui se fait » que par une vision avant-gardiste, la réception des modèles est alors aléatoire. Il en sera ainsi de sa première collection proposant de nombreuses vestes dans une époque où le goût privilégie les manteaux. Il n'empêche, bien que cette maison n'ait pas la prétention de s'élever au même niveau que les grands couturiers, Jean Patou parvient à séduire quelques actrices et demi-mondaines en proposant des modèles plus simples et moins onéreux que ses concurrents. En 1913, un acheteur américain connu comme « l'aîné Liechtenstein », venu pour acquérir quelques modèles, repart finalement avec l'entièreté de la collection, prouvant l'intérêt grandissant que suscitent les créations de Jean Patou. Réciproquement, cet achat consolide la Maison Parry et le maison et de l'installer dans un nouveau lieu, ainsi en 1914, il la transfère au 7 rue Saint-Florentin à proximité de la place de la Concorde dans un élégant hôtel particulier du xviiie siècle (il s'étendra par la suite au 9 et au 115). C'est à cette date que la maison prend le nom de Jean Patou & Cie et abrite tant l'atelier, les bureaux que les salons. À l'heure de la présentation de sa première collection, Patou est appelé au front, celle-ci ne verra alors jamais le jour. Après avoir participé à la Première Guerre mondiale comme capitaine dans un régiment de zouaves de l'armée d'Orient, basé aux Dardanelles, Jean Patou rentre à Paris en 1919 et relance véritablement l'activité de sa maison restée officieusement ouverte durant les dernières années. Du fait de la guerre, Patou développe une nouvelle vision des relations humaines qu'il va alors appliquer dans la gestion de sa maison. Depuis ses débuts, il s'était entouré de sa sœur Madeleine et de l'époux de celle-ci Raymond Barbas, auxquels s'ajoutent maintenant Georges Bernard responsable de la couture mais aussi Elsa Maxwell, figure de la « café society » dont le rôle sera de promouvoir l'image de la maison. Maurice Le Bolzer, son ordonnance pendant la guerre, devient par ailleurs son chef du personnel. Patou cherche à s'entourer, à collaborer pour se consacrer pleinement à son poste de directeur artistique tout en se nourrissant du travail en équipe. Il s'inquiète également du bien-être de ses employés et instaure de nouvelles conditions de travail : ainsi, ils bénéficient d'une mutuelle et à partir de 1920 de congés payés, enfin un système de délégués voit le jour au sein de la maison. Il organise des défiles de mode grandioses, avec spectacle musical. De 21 h à minuit défilent ainsi entre 200 et 300 modèles, devant un parterre d'actrices, de personnalités politiques ou du monde des affaires, assis autour de petites tables où on leur apporte du champagne, du foie gras et des cigarettes. Pour les acheteurs étrangers, en particulier américain, sont mis en place une présentation à part des créations de Patou, ces derniers acquérant les patrons contre rémunération, et les produiront dans leur pays en ajoutant le nom du couturier. En 1924, il part pour les États-Unis chercher des silhouettes plus conformes aux attentes des clientes américaines, plus sveltes. Jean Patou ouvre aussi des boutiques dans les villes françaises mondaines de l'époque, Deauville, Biarritz, Cannes ou encore Monte-Carlo. La crise économique de 1929 met un terme à l'expansion de la maison de couture, endettée, et Jean Patou doit fermer ses succursales de province.  Jean Patou et ses clientes, Jean Patou with his clients Dans la continuité de ses premiers modèles, Jean Patou entretient dans les années 1920 une ligne fluide et tubulaire empreinte de simplicité pour le jour tandis que les tenues du soir tout en offrant des matières soyeuses s'enrichissent de broderies, de drapés et bouillonnés pour jouer avec la lumière des dancings. Il n'empêche, en accord avec le désir de liberté des femmes et plus précisément de liberté de mouvement, ces tenues se voient raccourcies dévoilant davantage les jambes. Pour ces créations, Jean Patou puise dans le répertoire stylistique contemporain usant de réminiscences historiques : par la coupe, fluide pouvant évoquer les tenues antiques ou leur réinterprétation du début du xixe siècle, par les matières, vaporeuses et légères avec l'emploi de la mousseline évoquant ces mêmes périodes ou plus travaillées formant nœuds et coques pour suggérer les modes plus romantiques du xixe siècle, elles-mêmes se nourrissant des modes médiévales. Cette dernière inspiration s'illustre également par l'emprunt au vestiaire religieux à l'instar de la robe portée par Nicoleta Arrivabene lors de son mariage avec le comte Edoardo Visconti di Modrone le 28 novembre 1929 à Venise.  L'influence exotique est également de mise notamment pour les tenues d'après-midi et du soir afin de leur donner davantage de fantaisie. Cette tendance se déploie de bien des manières puisque de nombreuses cultures s'incarnent comme sources d'inspiration. L'exotisme russe se traduit par l'emploi de broderies dont certaines sont d'ailleurs produites par la société Kitmir fondée par la duchesse Marie Pavlovna de Russie, par la coupe rappelant les blouses traditionnelles ou plus simplement par certains noms de modèles tels Carina en 1922 ou Tatiana en 1924. Des étoffes employées telles que les velours de soie ou les lamés tout comme les coupes s'inspirant des caftans et capes ne sont pas sans rappeler l'influence du Moyen-Orient. D'autres motifs comme les médaillons ou plus distinctement ceux des chinoiseries, notamment visibles sur le modèle Nuit de Chine de 1922 évoquent bien entendu le pays homonyme. Enfin, certaines créations rappelant la coupe des kimonos et/ou des saris puisent respectivement dans le vestiaire japonais et indien comme le prouvent une collection de « pyjamas » des années 1930.  Avec ces sources d'inspiration, Jean Patou répond pleinement au goût de l'époque et surtout s'accorde avec la création contemporaine, cependant son avant-gardisme des années 1910 l'anime toujours. Il va ainsi s'illustrer dans la mode comme un créateur novateur, précisément grâce à sa compréhension des envies et des besoins latents. Patou comprend d'une part qu'avec l'essor des loisirs, du sport et des activités de plein air, un vestiaire plus adapté doit naître. D'autre part, sa proximité avec Raymond Barbas, son collaborateur mais aussi ancien champion de tennis, lui permet d'aller à la rencontre du monde sportif au sein duquel il comprend que, là aussi, un équipement plus adapté s'impose. Conscient de ces enjeux, Patou y répond tout d'abord en 1921 en habillant Suzanne Lenglen lors d'une compétition à Wimbledon. Celle-ci apparaît vêtue d'une jupe plissée s'arrêtant aux genoux, d'un chandail sans manches et d'un bandeau dans les cheveux, rangeant au placard les nombreux jupons longs, le corsage et le chapeau.  Qu'elle soit appréciée ou décriée, cette tenue « révolutionnaire » parvient à séduire la gent féminine, si bien que l'année suivante, à l'automne, Patou intègre pour la première fois dans sa collection une gamme de vêtements de sports et de plein air. Patou comprend très vite la nécessité de diversifier ce vestiaire, en proposant tant des modèles pour le tennis, le ski et le bain que pour les clientes non-sportives désireuses d'accéder à cette simplicité vestimentaire. De cette attente, Jean Patou va concevoir des robes, des jupes et des vestes pour celles qui veulent « avoir l'allure de » mais surtout il va innover dans leur conception. Diffusant largement le jersey offrant une aisance corporelle tout comme la jupe plissée, concevant une tenue complète avec sweater et gilet coordonnés — on parle alors de twin-set — mais aussi combinables entre eux, proposant une accessoirisation de ces ensembles avec des foulards assortis et usant d'un répertoire géométrique moderne évoquant le cubisme, Patou instaure à la fois un style sportif, élégant à la diversité vestimentaire élargie et une nouvelle manière de vivre le vêtement. L'engouement pour cette mode est telle qu'en 1925, est inauguré Le Coin des Sports au sein de la maison. Il crée aussi Le Coin des riens , où il propose des accessoires, des bijoux de fantaisie et de la véritable joaillerie. Jean Patou est également le premier à apposer sur ses créations un monogramme composé de ses initiales « JP ».  Robe Jean Patou, dress by Jean Patou En 1923, avec son beau-frère Raymond Barbas Jean Patou crée la division parfums de sa société de couture. En 1925 ils sont rejoints par le parfumeur grassois Henri Alméras, en tant que maître parfumeur. Jean Patou souhaitait un parfum phare pour sa maison. En 1930, Henri Alméras proposa alors une fragrance composée d'essences de rose et de jasmin dans des proportions particulièrement importantes: il fallait plus de 10 000 fleurs de jasmin de Grasse et 28 douzaines de roses (roses de mai de Grasse « Rosa centifolia » et roses de Bulgarie) pour obtenir trois centilitres de parfum. Le prix de cette composition rendait sa commercialisation très risquée alors que sévissait la crise économique qui suivit le krach de 1929. Mais Jean Patou fut séduit et lança la commercialisation sous la marque Joy et en utilisant le slogan particulièrement audacieux que lui avait suggéré son amie et conseillère, la chroniqueuse américaine Elsa Maxwell : Joy, le parfum le plus cher au monde (Joy, the most expensive perfume in the world)  Joy, the most expensive perfume in the world Amant de nombreuses femmes, il possédait la villa Casablanca à Biarritz, construite en 1922 par Guillaume Tronchet et rachetée à Paul Poiret. Jean Patou meurt prématurément en 1936 d'une crise d'apoplexie alors qu'il n'a que 48 ans ; il est inhumé au cimetière de Passy, 10e division.  Après sa mort, la maison de couture accueille plusieurs designers21 qui y font leurs débuts, comme Marc Bohan, Karl Lagerfeld, Jean Paul Gaultier ou même Christian Lacroix. Après le départ de ce dernier (appelé par le groupe LVMH pour créer la maison portant son nom), la maison de haute couture cesse ses activités pendant plus de trente ans, à partir de 1987. Pendant ce temps, l'activité parfums continue à se développer, d'abord au sein de la division « Prestige Beauté » du groupe Procter & Gamble de 2001 à juillet 2011 puis du groupe anglais Designer Parfums. En 2018, Jean Patou est racheté par le groupe LVMH, qui nomme Guillaume Henry (précédemment chez Carven puis Nina Ricci) à sa direction créative. La maison, rebaptisée Patou, présente sa première collection en septembre 2019.  Robe de lainage bleu marine(1959), Jean Patou English Biography Jean Patou, circa 1910 Jean Patou (27 September 1887 – 8 March 1936) was a French fashion designer and founder of the Jean Patou brand. Patou was born in Paris, France in 1887. Patou's family's business was tanning and furs.Patou worked with his uncle in Normandy, then moved to Paris in 1910, intent on becoming a couturier. In 1912, he opened a small dressmaking salon called "Maison Parry". His entire 1914 collection was purchased by a single American buyer.Patou's work was interrupted by World War I and he served as a captain in the Zouaves. Reopening his couture house in 1919, Jean Patou eradicated the flapper look by lengthening the skirt and designing sportswear for women and is considered the inventor of the knitted swimwear and the tennis skirt. He, notably, designed the then-daring sleeveless and knee-length cut tennis wear for French tennis player Suzanne Lenglen. He also was the first designer to popularize the cardigan and moved fashion towards the natural and comfortable. Jean Patou is credited with inventing the "designer tie" in the 1920s when men's ties, made in the same fabric as the women's dress collection, were displayed in department stores next to Patou's perfume counter.  Jean Patou and Charlie Chaplin in Canot Club near Bayonne (Jean Patou et Charles Chaplin au Canot Club près de Bayonne) In 1925 Patou launched his perfume business with three fragrances created by Henri Alméras. When the stock market crashed, so did the market for luxury fashion. The House of Patou survived through its perfumes. The best known of Patou's perfumes is "Joy", a heavy floral scent, based on the most precious rose and jasmine. it was created by Henri Alméras for Patou at the height of the Great Depression (1935) for Patou's former clients who could no longer afford his haute couture clothing line. "Joy" remained the costliest perfume in the world, until the House of Patou introduced "1000" (a heavy, earthy floral perfume, based on a rare osmanthus) in 1972. Joy remains the world's second best-selling scent (the first is Chanel No. 5).  Patou died prematurely in 1936. His sister Madeleine and her husband Raymond Barbas continued the House of Patou.  black dress by Jean Patou 1956, Photo Mc Laughlin Designers for the House of Patou have included Marc Bohan (1954–1956), Karl Lagerfeld (1960–1963) and Jean Paul Gaultier (1971–1973). Christian Lacroix joined the label in 1981. The last fashion collection produced by the House of Patou label was in 1987 when the haute couture business closed following Lacroix's departure to open his own house. After the closure of the haute couture business the company has continued to produce fragrances under the Jean Patou brand. Patou also produced fragrances for Lacoste, when Patou acquired the license in the 1960s, and Yohji Yamamoto in the 1990s  Further interest Carole Bouquet (born 18 August 1957) is a French actress and fashion model, who has appeared in more than 60 films since 1977. In 1990, she was awarded the César Award for Best Actress for her role in Too Beautiful for You. She was the face of Chanel No. 5 fragrance from 1986 to 1997.    Bouquet was born in Neuilly-sur-Seine. She was recognized for her work in Luis Buñuel's surrealist classic That Obscure Object of Desire (1977), and in the internationally successful film Too Beautiful For You (1989), for which she won the César Award for Best Actress. Also she received a César Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress in Rive droite, rive gauche (1984).  Carole Bouquet in film Le Rouge et Le Noir 1997  Carole Bouquet in film Le Rouge et Le Noir 1997  Carole Bouquet in film Le Rouge et Le Noir 1997 with Kim Rossi Stuart  Carole Bouquet in film For your eyes only(Rien que pour vos yeux) 1980 with Roger Moore  Carole Bouquet in film For your eyes only(Rien que pour vos yeux) 1980 Bouquet was a model for Chanel in the 1980s and 1990s and the face of Chanel No. 5.  Carole Bouquet fashion week Paris 1989  Carole Bouquet fashion week Paris 1992 She was the companion of producer Jean-Pierre Rassam with whom she had a son, Dimitri Rassam, also a producer. In 1987, she gave birth to a son, Louis, with photographer Francis Giacobetti. She married immunologist Jacques Leibowitch in 1992; they divorced in 1996. In 1999, she was a member of the jury of the 4th Shanghai International Film Festival.  Carole Bouquet Festival de Cannes 2005  Carole Bouquet Festival de Cannes 2006  Carole Bouquet at Festival de Cannes 2006 with her son  Carole Bouquet at Festival de Cannes 2014 as jury She was a member of the main competition jury of the Cannes Film Festival in 2014. On May 21, 2014, Bouquet formalized her relationship with Philippe Sereys de Rothschild on the red carpet of the 37th Festival de Cannes, of which she was one of the members of the jury.  Philippe Sereys de Rothschild on the red carpet of the 37th Festival de Cannes  Perfile of Julian FellowsJulian Alexander Kitchener-Fellowes, Baron Fellowes of West Stafford DL is an English actor, novelist, film director and screenwriter, and a Conservative peer of the House of Lords. He is primarily known as the author of several Sunday Times best-seller novels; for the screenplay for the film Gosford Park, which won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay in 2002; and as the creator, writer and executive producer of the multiple award-winning ITV series Downton Abbey (2010–2015). As an actor, Julian Fellowes seemed doomed to be someone of background, an actor who was almost never noticed in his various roles in more than three decades; but as a screen writer, he is destined to be great. From Gosford Park to Downton Abbey, his pen, observant, insightful, at times delightful, has given us a world of yesterday, elegant, exquisite, fragile, sutble, long gone but still so real. Biography of Julian FellowsFellowes was born in Cairo, Egypt, the youngest son of Peregrine Edward Launcelot Fellowes (1912–1999), and his British wife, Olwen Mary. His father was a diplomat(and later worked for Shell Company) and Arabist who campaigned to have Haile Selassie, Emperor of Ethiopia, restored to his throne during World War II. Fellowes and his three older brothers: Nicholas Peregrine James, actor and writer David Andrew, and playwright Roderick Oliver lived in Wetherby Place, South Kensington as children and afterwards at Chiddingly, East Sussex, where Fellowes lived from August 1959 until November 1988, and where his parents are buried. Fellowes was educated at several private schools, and read English Literature at Magdalene College, Cambridge, then studied further at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art in London. Fellowes moved to Los Angeles in 1981 and played a number of small roles on television for the next two years, but unable to launch his career so he moved back to London a few years later. In 1987, Fellowes played a leading role in the TV series Knights of God as Brother Hugo, the "ambitious and ruthless second-in-command" of a futuristic military cult. In the following years, he appeared in various tv dramas and films, playing mostly aristocratic roles. On 28 April 1990, Fellowes married Lady Emma Joy Kitchener (born 1963), daughter of The Hon. Charles Kitchener (1920–1982) and a lady-in-waiting to Princess Michael of Kent. They have a son.  Julian Fellowes with his wife Lady Emma Joy Kitchener Aside from acting in tvs, films and sometimes plays, John Fellowes wrote novels, scripts for films, tv dramas as well as theatre plays. He also worked as director. In the 1970s Fellowes wrote under the pseudonym Rebecca Greville several romantic novels but became a real successful novel writer after 2000s, all written under his real name. In 2002, the movie script Fellowes wrote for Gosford Park won the Oscar for Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen, which also won a Writer's Guild of America award.  In 2004 he launched a new series on BBC One, Julian Fellowes Investigates: A Most Mysterious Murder, which he wrote and introduced onscreen.
That same year, Fellowes' novel Snobs was published. It focuses on the social nuances of the upper class and concerns the marriage of an upper middle-class girl to a peer. Snobs was a Sunday Times best-seller. In late 2005, Fellowes made his directorial début with the film Separate Lies, for which he won the award for Best Directorial Début from the National Board of Review. In 2009 his novel Past Imperfect was published. Another Sunday Times best-seller, it deals with the débutante season of 1968, comparing the world then to the world of 2008. The same year Fellowes wrote the original screenplay The Young Victoria which was released in 2009 by Momentum Pictures and Sony Pictures; HE also wrote screenplays for Vanity Fair, The Tourist and From Time to Time, which he also directed, and which won various awards. His greatest commercial success was The Tourist which he co-wrote with Christopher McQuarrie and Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck). It grossed US$278 million worldwide. But it is in 2010, Fellowes achieved his greatest success as a screen writer after creating the period drama Downton Abbey for ITV1. He won a Primetime Emmy for outstanding writing and a Broadcasting Press Guild award.  On 13 January 2011, Fellowes was elevated to the peerage, being created Baron Fellowes of West Stafford, of West Stafford in the County of Dorset, and on the same day was introduced in the House of Lords, where he sits on the Conservative Benches. Apart from being involved in politics, Julian Fellowes is also involved in philanthropic works, supporting a number of charities and causes based in England. In March–April 2012, Fellowes wrote a new Titanic miniseries also for ITV1. In 2016, Fellowes wrote another period novel, Belgravia which began broadcast in 11 weekly episodes from April 2016 and is available in audio and text format.  In September 2019, The film Downton Abbey , was released. Fellowes was the screenwriter and one of the producers. Further interestArticlesBooksVideos Jean René Lacoste (dit Le Crocodile, ou L'Alligator), né le 2 juillet 1904 à Paris et décédé à Saint-Jean-de-Luz au Pays basque le 12 octobre 1996, est un champion de tennis, industriel, ingénieur et designer français, fondateur de la marque Lacoste. Membre des « Quatre Mousquetaires » avec Henri Cochet, Jean Borotra et Jacques Brugnon, il a remporté sept tournois majeurs en simple et a fait partie de l'équipe de Coupe Davis victorieuse en 1927 et 1928.  René Lacoste est né à Paris dans le 10e arrondissement, au 38 rue Albouy, fils de Jean-Jules qui devint dirigeant (administrateur délégué) de la firme automobile Hispano-Suiza, et fut décoré Chevalier (1917) puis officier (1925) et enfin commandeur (1932) de la Légion d'Honneur. Il fut aussi finaliste du premier championnat de France d'aviron à Mâcon, en 1890, et vainqueur du Championnat régional du Sud-Ouest. Il était le Président de la Société Nautique de la Basse Seine. Promis à de brillantes études et devant préparer Polytechnique, René Lacoste décide finalement en 1922 d'y renoncer afin de se consacrer entièrement au tennis.  Rene Lacoste en 1922. L'origine de son surnom, « le crocodile » varie selon les sources. L'explication la plus cohérente, tant du point de vue des personnes impliquées que du lieu et de l'année, est que ce surnom lui fut attribué par la presse américaine, à la suite d'un pari qu'il aurait fait en 1923 avec Allan Muhr, alors capitaine de l'équipe de Coupe Davis, à Boston. Une autre version, plus répandue, reprend l'histoire du pari, mais avec le capitaine Pierre Gilou. Sauf que ce même Pierre Gilou ne devint capitaine de l'équipe de France que quelques années plus tard, et surtout pas à Boston. L'histoire du pari est ainsi racontée : René Lacoste regardait dans une vitrine une valise en peau de crocodile; Pierre Gilou lui fit le pari de la lui acheter si Lacoste gagnait un match décisif. Le match fut perdu, mais l'image du crocodile perdura. D'autant plus que le tempérament de Lacoste correspondait bien à celui d'un crocodile: il ne lâchait jamais sa proie. Il a été l'un des « Quatre Mousquetaires » du tennis français avec Henri Cochet, Jean Borotra et Jacques Brugnon, et a remporté la Coupe Davis pour la France en 1927 et 1928. Sur le plan individuel, il a remporté à trois reprises les Internationaux de France de tennis (1925, 1927, 1929), deux fois le tournoi de Wimbledon (1925, 1928) et deux fois l'US Open (1926, 1927). Il fut désigné meilleur joueur du monde en 1926 et 1927. Associé à Jean Borotra, il compte également deux Internationaux de France en double en 1925 et 1929 et un Wimbledon en 1925. Il arrête le tennis en 1929 à seulement 25 ans en raison de problèmes de santé récurrents. En effet, depuis la Guerre, il est régulièrement victime d'insuffisance respiratoire.  René & Simone Lacoste in 1936 at Chantaco. From the Lacoste S.A. Archives. © All Rights Reserved. Il se marie le 30 juin 1930 à la golfeuse Simone Thion de La Chaume. Avant son mariage, René Lacoste résidait avec sa famille rue Armand-Silvestre à Courbevoie. Il fut par la suite propriétaire d'un logement dans les Immeubles Walter. En 1932, le capitaine Pierre Gillou le rappelle pour renforcer l'équipe de France de Coupe Davis contre les américains. Lacoste se remet à l'entraînement et atteint même les huitièmes de finale à Wimbledon. À quelques jours de la rencontre, il est cependant contraint de déclarer forfait en raison d'une angine. René Lacoste crée en 1933 la marque avec le logo issu de son surnom (crocodile) et vend l'année suivante des chemises de haute qualité au grand public. La production est arrêtée entre 1940 et 1946 à cause de la Seconde Guerre mondiale. Sont lancés en 1960 les polos rayés, puis l'eau de toilette en collaboration avec Jean Patou en 1968. René Lacoste débute ses activités d'industriel en fondant une marque de textile portant son nom dont le logo est un crocodile. Le produit est vendu en France dès l'année suivante, puis sera exporté en Europe et dans le monde entier à partir des années 1950. Lacoste était également un inventeur. Parmi ses inventions, on compte notamment une machine à lancer les balles en 1928, la pastille anti-vibration en 1960 (puis l'anti-vibrateur Damper en 1974) et la première raquette de tennis en acier en 1963 qui causa une révolution dans le domaine du tennis qui a mis en cause la suprématie de la raquette en bois et ouvert la voie aux modèles d'aujourd'hui.  Lacoste (à droite) et Otto Froitzheim. Il a été nommé officier de la Légion d'honneur en 1977, et président d'honneur de la FFT. Il est également membre du International Tennis Hall of Fame depuis 1976. René Lacoste meurt le 12 octobre 1996 à l'âge de 92 ans, un mois avant la victoire française de la coupe Davis 1996.  English Biography Jean René Lacoste ( 2 July 1904 – 12 October 1996) was a French tennis player and businessman. He was nicknamed "the Crocodile" because of how he dealt with his opponents; he is also known worldwide as the creator of the Lacoste tennis shirt, which he introduced in 1929. Lacoste started playing tennis at age 15 when he accompanied his father on a trip to England. His first participation in a Grand Slam tournament was the 1922 Wimbledon Championships in which he lost in the first round to Pat O'Hara Wood. Lacoste was one of The Four Musketeers with Jean Borotra, Jacques Brugnon, and Henri Cochet, French tennis stars who dominated the game in the late 1920s and early 1930s. His breakthrough came in 1925 when he won the singles title at the French Championships and at Wimbledon, in both cases after a victory in the final against compatriot Jean Borotra. And he was ranked No.1 for 1926 and 1927. He won seven Grand Slam singles titles at the French, American, and British championships and was an eminent baseline player and tactician of the pre-war period. In 1929 he won his seventh, and last, Grand Slam singles title in France and then withdrew from competitive tennis due to failing health, including respiratory disease.  Simone de la Chaume On 30 June 1930 Rene Lacoste married golfing champion Simone de la Chaume. Their daughter Catherine Lacoste was a champion golfer and president of the Golf Club Chantaco, founded by her mother, at a few kilometres from St. Jean-de-Luz.  In 1933, Lacoste founded La Société Chemise Lacoste with André Gillier. The company produced the tennis shirt, also known as a "polo shirt," which Lacoste often wore when he was playing; this had a crocodile (often thought to be an alligator) embroidered on the chest. In 1963, Lacoste's son Bernard took over the management of the company.  In 1961, Lacoste created an innovation in racket technology by unveiling and patenting the first tubular steel tennis racket. When Lacoste died, the French Advertising agency Publicis, which had been managing his company's account for decades, published a print ad with the Lacoste logo and the English words "See you later...," reinforcing the idea that the animal was perhaps an alligator.  Further interest Louise Dahl-Wolfe (November 19, 1895 – December 11, 1989) was an American photographer. She is known primarily for her work for Harper's Bazaar, in association with fashion editor Diana Vreeland.  BiographyAmong the celebrated fashion photographers of the 20th century, Louise Dahl-Wolfe was an innovator and influencer who significantly contributed to the fashion world. Louise Emma Augusta Dahl was born November 19, 1895 in San Francisco, California to Norwegian immigrant parents being youngest of three daughters. In 1914, she began her studies at the California School of Fine Arts (now the San Francisco Institute of Art), where she studied design, color and painting as well as taking courses in life drawing, anatomy, figure composition and other subjects over the next six years. After graduating, Dahl-Wolfe worked in designing electric signs and interiors. In 1921, Dahl-Wolfe met with photographer Anne Brigman, who inspired her to take up photography. She studied design, decoration and architecture at Columbia University, New York in 1923. Her first published photograph, titled Tennessee Mountain Woman, was published in Vanity Fair (U.S. magazine 1913–36). In 1928 she married the sculptor Meyer Wolfe, who constructed the backgrounds of many of her photos. From 1936 to 1958 Dahl-Wolfe was a staff fashion photographer at Harper’s Bazaar. She produced portrait and fashion photographs totaling 86 covers, 600 color pages and countless black-and-white shots. She worked with editor Carmel Snow, art director Alexey Brodovitch and fashion editor Diana Vreeland, traveling widely, and she would become a great influence on photographers Irving Penn and Richard Avedon.  Harper's Bazzar's cover, June 1953, photo by Louise Dahl-Wolfe She was also considered a pioneer of the 'female gaze' in the fashion industry, creating the new image of American women during the world war II: They were strong and independent. In 1943, Dahl-Wolfe photographed for the March 1943 cover of Harper's Bazaar one of her as well as the magazine's most iconic photographs: The cover shows a young lady in front of the reception of American Red Cross Blood Donation clinic. She is styling chicly in an elegant navy suit, white blouse, black gloves, a cloche hat with long waves in her hair and holding a red bag with matching lipstick. The young woman looks either waiting to go inside to donate or about to leave the Red Cross blood donor room. The expression on her face is nonchalant with a suggestion that she does not attend the blood donation clinic regularly. Her eyes are empty. She may be disappointed or sad or helpless just as any other American woman knowing the reality is no one can escape. The audience can sense the uncertainty in the air of the time from her expression. The model in the cover was 18-year-old Lauren Bacall, who was a successful actress in Hollywood.  Lauren Bacall on cover of Harper's Bazaar, March 1943, photo by Louise Dahl-Wolfe Dahl-Wolfe was known for taking photographs outdoors, with natural light in distant locations from South America to Africa in what became known as "environmental" fashion photography and later industry standard even now.  Red Parasol by Louise Dahl-Wolfe  photo by Louise Dahl-Wolfe for Harper's Bazzar, 1954 Her models pose candidly, almost as if Dahl-Wolfe had just walked in on them. Dahl-Wolf innovatively used color in photography and mainly concerned with the qualities of natural lighting, composition, and balance. Compared to other photographers at the time who were using red undertones, Dahl-Wolfe opted for cooler hues and also corrected her own proofs.   Natalie, Hammamet, photo by Louise Dahl-Wolfe In 1950, she was selected for "America's Outstanding Woman Photographers" in the September issue of Foto. From 1958 until her retirement in 1960, Dahl-Wolfe worked as a freelance photographer for Vogue, Sports Illustrated, and other periodicals.  Throughout her career, one of Louise Dahl-Wolfe's favourite subjects was the model Mary Jane Russell, who is estimated to have appeared in about thirty percent of Dahl-Wolfe's photographs.  Mary Jane Russell photo by Louise Dahl-Wolfe, 1951  Mary Jane Russell photo by Louise Dahl-Wolfe Although she worked all her life for fashion magazines, Dahl-Wolfe preferred portraiture to fashion photography. Notable portraits include: Cristobal Balenciaga, Cecil Beaton, Orson Welles, Edward Hopper, Colette and Josephine Baker.  Millicent Rogers portrait by Louise-Dahl-Wolfe, 1946  Cristobal Balenciaga portrait by Louise Dalhl-Wolfe, 1950 Louise Dalhl-Wolfe lived many of her later years in Nashville, Tennessee. She died in New Jersey of pneumonia in 1989.  The full archive of Dahl-Wolfe's work is located at the Center for Creative Photography (CCP) at the University of Arizona in Tucson, which also manages the copyright of her work.
 Dolores del Río Dolores Asúnsolo López Negrete (Victoria de Durango, 3 de agosto de 1904 - Newport Beach, California, 11 de abril de 1983), conocida profesionalmente como Dolores del Río, fue una actriz de cine, teatro y televisión mexicana. Dolores fue la primera estrella femenina latinoamericana en triunfar en Hollywood, con una destacada carrera en el cine estadounidense en los años 1920 y 1930. Es considerada también como una de las figuras femeninas más importantes de la Época de Oro del Cine Mexicano en los años 1940 y 1950. Fue reconocida como uno de los rostros más bellos que aparecieron en la industria fílmica de la época. Su larga y versátil carrera se prolongó por más de cincuenta años y abarcó cine mudo, cine sonoro, teatro, televisión y radio. Después de ser descubierta en México, Dolores comenzó su carrera cinematográfica en 1925 en Hollywood. Durante su etapa en el Cine mudo estadounidense, Dolores llegó a ser considerada la versión femenina de Rodolfo Valentino, una latín lover femenina. Tras la aparición del Cine sonoro, la actriz prosiguió su carrera en la industria fílmica estadounidense y participó en numerosas películas románticas, dramáticas y musicales. Cuando su carrera en Hollywood comenzó a declinar a principios de los años 1940, Dolores decidió regresar a México e incorporarse a la industria fílmica de su país natal, que en ese momento estaba en su apogeo. Cuando Dolores regresó a su país natal en 1943, se convirtió en una de las promotoras y principales figuras femeninas de la llamada Época de Oro del Cine Mexicano. Una serie de películas protagonizadas por Dolores en su país natal, bajo la batuta del cineasta Emilio Fernández, son consideradas obras maestras y ayudaron a impulsar la cinematografía mexicana alrededor del mundo. Durante el resto de la década de 1940 y a lo largo de la década de 1950, la actriz se mantuvo activa en el Cine Mexicano, aunque actuó también en Argentina y España. En 1960, Dolores regresó a Hollywood. Durante los próximos años, alternó su trabajo en el cine entre México y los Estados Unidos. Entre finales de los años 1950 y principios de los años 1970, la actriz desarrolló una exitosa carrera teatral en México y apareció en algunas series de televisión estadounidenses. Su último trabajo profesional como actriz lo realizó en 1978. Dolores del Río es una figura mítica del espectáculo en Latinoamérica y representación, por excelencia, del rostro femenino de México en el mundo entero.  "The two most beautiful things in the world are the Taj Mahal and Dolores del Río".  Dolores del Río en una foto publicitaria de 1961. La más bella, la más hermosa del oeste, del este, del norte y del sur. Estoy enamorado de ella al igual que cuarenta millones de mexicanos y ciento veinte millones de estadounidenses que no pueden estar equivocados.  Dolores del Río en peliula In Caliente, 1935 English: Profile Dolores del Río portrait, 1935. Dolores del Río (August 3, 1904 – April 11, 1983) was a Mexican actress, dancer and singer. With a career spanning more than 50 years, she is regarded as the first major female Latin American crossover star in Hollywood, with an outstanding career in American cinema in the 1920s and 1930s. She was also considered one of the most important female figures in the Golden Age of Mexican cinema. Del Río is also remembered as one of the most beautiful faces on screen of all time. After being discovered in Mexico, she began her film career in Hollywood in 1925. She had roles on a string of successful films, including Resurrection (1927), Ramona (1928) and Evangeline (1929). Del Río came to be considered a sort of feminine version of Rudolph Valentino, a "female Latin Lover", in her years during the American "silent" era. With the advent of sound, she acted in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to musical comedies and romantic dramas. Among her most successful films of that decade include Bird of Paradise (1932), Flying Down to Rio (1933) and Madame Du Barry (1934). In the early 1940s, when her Hollywood career began to decline, Del Río returned to Mexico and joined the Mexican film industry, which at that time was at its peak. When Del Río returned to her native country, she became one of the more important stars of the Golden Age of Mexican cinema. A series of Mexican films starring Del Rio, are considered classic masterpieces and helped boost Mexican cinema worldwide. Of them stands out the critically acclaimed María Candelaria (1943). Del Río remained active mainly in Mexican films throughout the 1950s. In 1960 she returned to Hollywood. During the next years she appeared in Mexican and American films. From the late 1950s until the early 1970s she also successfully ventured into theater in Mexico and appeared in some American TV series. Del Río is now considered a mythical figure of American and Mexican cinema, and a quintessential representation of the female face of Mexico in the world.  "I have seen many beautiful women in here, but none as complete as Dolores del Río!" Biography María de los Dolores Asúnsolo y López-Negrete was born in Victoria de Durango, Mexico on August 3, 1904, the daughter of Jesus Leonardo Asúnsolo Jacques, son of wealthy farmers and director of the Bank of Durango, and Antonia López-Negrete, belonging to one of the richest families in the country, whose lineage went back to Spain and the viceregal nobility. Her parents were members of the Mexican aristocracy that existed during the Porfiriato (period in the history of Mexico when the dictator Porfirio Díaz was the president). On her mother's side, she was a cousin of the filmmaker Julio Bracho and of actors Ramón Novarro (one of the "Latin Lovers" of the silent cinema) and Andrea Palma (another prominent actress of the Mexican cinema). On her father's side, she was a cousin of the Mexican sculptor Ignacio Asúnsolo and the social activist María Asúnsolo. Her family lost all its assets during the Mexican Revolution (1910–1920). Dolores's father decided to escape to the United States, while she and her mother fled to Mexico City in a train, disguised as peasants. In 1919, a then 15-year-old Dolores saw a performance of the Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova, whose interpretation influenced her to become a dancer. In 1921, aged 17, Dolores was invited by a group of Mexican women to dance in a party to benefit a local hospital. At this party, she met Jaime Martínez del Río y Viñent, son of a wealthy family. Jaime had been educated in England and had spent some time in Europe. After a two-month courtship, the couple wed on 11 April 1921. Their honeymoon in Europe lasted two years. Jaime maintained close ties with European aristocratic circles. In Spain queen Victoria Eugenie gave Dolores a photograph. In 1924, the couple returned to Mexico and decided to settle in Mexico City. But in early 1925, Dolores met the American filmmaker Edwin Carewe, an influential director at the First National studio, Carewe was fascinated by Dolores and invited the couple to work in Hollywood.  Dolores Del Río in film Ramona (1928) Del Río made her film debut in Joanna (1925), directed by Carewe and released that year. In the film del Río plays the role of Carlotta De Silva, a vamp of Spanish-Brazilian origin, but she appeared for only five minutes. In 1928, she was hired by United Artists for the third film version of the successful novel Ramona directed by Carewe. The film was a sucess and it helped her conversion to sound films. but her marriage with Jaime Martínez ended that same year. In 1930, del Río met Cedric Gibbons, an art director at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and one of the most influential men in Hollywood, at a party at Hearst Castle. The couple began a romance and finally married on August 6, 1930. The del Rio-Gibbons were one of the most famous couples of Hollywood in the early thirties.  In 1933 she was cast in a musical comedy directed by Thornton Freeland: Flying Down to Rio starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. In this film, Del Rio became the first major actress to wear a two-piece women's bathing suit onscreen.  Dolores Del Río dancing with Fred Astaire in film Flying Down to Rio (1933) Although Hollywood studio executives admired del Río's beauty, but her career did not interest them at a time when Latin stars had few opportunities to shine at the studio, and she was also put on a list entitled "box office poison", (along with stars like Joan Crawford, Greta Garbo, Katharine Hepburn, Marlene Dietrich, Mae West and others).  Dolores del Río with Everett Marshall in film I Live for Love, (1935)  Dolores Del Río in film International Settlement (1938)  Dolores Del Río portrait by Louise Dahl-Wolfe, 1938 Amid the decline of her career, in 1940 Dolores del Río's met actor and filmmaker Orson Welles at a party organized by Darryl Zanuck. The couple felt a mutual attraction and began a discreet affair, which caused the divorce of del Río and Gibbons. She was at the side of Orson Welles during the filming and controversy of Citizen Kane (1941). The love affair ended unhappily in 1943 and Dolores del Río went back to Mexico.  Dolores del Río with Orson Welles in 1940. In Mexico, she filmed María Candelaria, the first Mexican film to be screened at the Cannes International Film Festival where it won the Grand Prix (now known as the Palme d'Or) becoming the first Latin American film to do so. In 1945 Dolores del Río filmed La selva de fuego by mistake as the film had been specially created for María Félix, another Mexican movie star of the day. Félix meanwhile, received the script for Dizziness (1946), a film originally created for del Río. When the two stars realized the mistake they refused to return the scripts. From this time the press began speculating a strong rivalry between del Río and Felix. In 1959, Mexican filmmaker Ismael Rodríguez brought del Río and María Félix together in the film La Cucaracha. The meeting of the two actresses, considered the main female stars of Mexican cinema, was a success at the box office. This same year, she married for the third time in New York to American millionaire Lewis A. Riley, whom she met in 1949 in Acapulco, Mexico. She remained with him until her death in 1983.  Dolores del Río portrait by Annemarie Heinrich, c. 1948 After 18 years Dolores Del Río returned to Hollywood and her first Hollywood role was the mother of Elvis Presley's character in the film Flaming Star (1960), and for the next 18 years, she worked both in films and tv shows, and her last film appearance was in The Children of Sanchez (1978).  Dolores Del Río with Elvis Presley in film Flaming Star (1960) In 1978, she was diagnosed with osteomyelitis, and in 1981 she was diagnosed with hepatitis B following a contaminated injection of vitamins. She also suffered from arthritis. On 11 April 1983, Dolores del Río died from liver failure at the age of 78, in Newport Beach, California. "Take care of your inner beauty, your spiritual beauty, and that will reflect in your face. We have the face we created over the years. Every bad deed, every bad fault will show on your face. God can give us beauty and genes can give us our features, but whether that beauty remains or changes is determined by our thoughts and deeds."  Dolores del Río's grave at Panteón de Dolores in Mexico City Dolores del Río always projected a special elegance with her beauty both on- screen and off-scree. She was considered one of the prototypes of female beauty in the 1930s. Women imitated her style of dress and makeup. She is also considered the pioneer of the two piece swimsuit. In 1952, she was awarded the Neiman Marcus Fashion Award and was called the "best-dressed woman in America". French couturier Jean Patou designed a dress inspired by her called Dolores.  Dolores del Río in two piece bathing suit  Dolores del Río in bathing suit  Dolores del Río(3 August 3 1905-11 April 1983) "I draped her naked body in jersey. She wanted no underpinnings to spoil the line. When I finished draping her she became a Greek goddess as she walked close to the mirror and said, It is beautiful. Gazing into the mirror, she said in a half-whisper, Jesus, I am beautiful. Narcissistic? Probably yes, but she was right. She looked beautiful".  Dolores del Río(3 August 3 1905-11 April 1983)  Dolores del Río(3 August 3 1905-11 April 1983)  Dolores del Río's star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame  María de los Ángeles Félix(8 April 1914 – 8 April 2002) was a Mexican film actress and singer. Along with Pedro Armendáriz and Dolores del Río, she was one of the most successful figures of Latin American cinema in the 1940s and 1950s. Considered one of the most beautiful actresses of Mexican cinema, her taste for the finesse and strong personality garnered her the title of diva early in her career. She was known as La Doña, a name derived from her character in the film Doña Bárbara (1943), and María Bonita, thanks to the anthem composed exclusively for her, as a wedding gift by her second husband, the Mexican composer Agustín Lara. She completed a film career that included 47 films made in Mexico, Spain, France, Italy and Argentina  María de los Angeles Félix Güereña was born in Álamos, Sonora, Mexico on 8 April 1913. She was the daughter of a military officer and had fifteen siblings. She spent her childhood in Álamos but the Félix family moved later to Guadalajara. When María was 17, her beauty began to attract attention. She was crowned Beauty Queen at the University of Guadalajara. It was at this time that she met Enrique Álvarez Alatorre, a salesman for the cosmetics firm Max Factor. After a brief romance, the couple married in 1931. In 1935, Félix gave birth to her only child, Enrique, nicknamed Quique. Her marriage with Álvarez was unsuccessful and the couple divorced in 1937. After her divorce, Félix returned to Guadalajara with her family, where she was the subject of gossip and rumors due to her status as a divorcée. Because of this situation, Félix decided to move to Mexico City with her son.  When I want to, it will be through the big door."  In Mexico City, María Félix worked as a receptionist in a plastic surgeon's office, and one afternoon after work when walking down the street, director and filmmaker Fernando Palacios approached her and later persuaded her to break into the movies. Becoming her Pygmalion, Palacios began to train her and present her in film circles. She made her first appearance in the White and Black Ballroom of the Mexico City Country Club where some of the great Mexican movie stars of the era (Esther Fernández, Lupe Vélez, Andrea Palma) gathered. Eventually she was taken to Hollywood, to the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, where she met Cecil B. DeMille, who offered to launch her film career in Hollywood, but Félix was not interested. She preferred to begin her career in her own country. And throughout her filming career, Félix has declined some of the most famous female roles Holloywood offered her: the female role of Duel in the Sun, which went to Jennifer Jones; the female lead in film The Barefoot Contessa with Humphrey Bogart which later was played by Ava Gardner. Maria Félix was known as La Doña for her role in the movie Doña Bárbara (1943), based on the like-named novel by the Venezuelan writer Rómulo Gallegos. For the film, another actress (Isabela Corona) was already hired, but when Gallegos first saw Félix, he was charmed by her and said: "Here is my Doña Bárbara!".  Maria Félix in the film The Devil is a Woman(1950)/Maria Félix en la pelicula Doña Diabla (1950) In 1945 Maria Félix married famous Mexican composer Agustín Lara after a highly publicized relationship. Lara immortalized Félix in a number of songs, such as "Humo en los ojos" ("Smoke in the eyes"), "Cuando vuelvas" ("When you come back"), "Dos puñales" ("Two daggers"), "Madrid" and especially the famous theme "María Bonita", composed in Acapulco during their honeymoon. "María Bonita" would become one of Lara's most popular Lara songs. However, the relationship ended in 1947 due to Lara's jealousy. Félix said that Lara even tried to kill her in a fit of violent jealousy. In 1948 she was contracted by the Spanish film producer Cesáreo González and thus María Félix began her film adventure in Europe with the film Mare Nostrum (1948), directed by Rafael Gil.   Maria Félix in film La noche del sábado (1950)/Maria Félix en la película La noche del sábado (1950) In 1952, Félix returned to Mexico and concluded her working relationship with Cesáreo González with the film Camelia filmed in her native country. After her second divorce from Agustín Lara, Maria Félix had romances with some well-known men, including her "old enemy": the actor and singer Jorge Negrete. Unlike their difficult first meeting ten years ago on the set of El peñón de las ánimas, Félix found Negrete, in her own words: "surrendered to my feet". After a brief romance, the couple married in 1953. Unfortunately Negrete was already ill when the marriage took place. Negrete died eleven months later at a hospital in Los Angeles, California, while Félix was in Europe shooting La Belle Otero. Félix's appearance at his funeral, dressed in trousers, caused a huge scandal, which led Félix to take refuge in Europe. And the most important film of Félix in this period was French Cancan (1954) directed by Jean Renoir with the legendary French actor Jean Gabin.  Félix returned to Mexico in 1955. In 1956, Maria Félix married the Romanian-born French banker Alexander Berger This marriage lasted for 18 years, and she built her famous home, La Casa de las Tortugas (The House of Turtles), designed by Pepe Mendoza and resembling an Italian villa, in Cuernavaca.  In her prime times, Maria Félix was dressed by designers like Christian Dior, Givenchy, Yves Saint Laurent, Chanel, and Balenciaga. The House of Hermès (Couture Department) designed extravagant creations just for her. She also liked to collect fine antiques, favoring pieces like her famous collection of Second French Empire furniture.   In the 1960s Félix's presence in the cinema was limited to only a few films. In 1970 she filmed La Generala, which would be her last film. The Mexican historical telenovela La Constitución (1971) would be her last professional acting job. Berger died in 1974 of lung cancer months after the death of María's mother, which plunged her into a deep depression. To overcome this depression, she developed a new passion: horses. Some of her horses won major international equestrian awards. Félix attempted to return to the cinema twice. First, in 1982, with the film Toña Machetes, and again in 1986 with the film Insólito resplandor. Neither project crystallized, and Félix never reappeared in film.  With Dolores I had no rivalry. On the contrary, we were friends and always treated each other with great respect, each with our own personality. We were completely different. She was refined, interesting, gentle on the deal, and I'm energetic, arrogant and bossy."  Maria Félix's last romantic relationship was the Russian-French painter Antoine Tzapoff. About him, Félix said: "I don't know if he's the man who has most loved me, but he's who has loved me better." María Félix died in her sleep on 8 April 2002, her 88th birthday in Mexico City. She was buried in her family's tomb alongside her son Enrique and her parents at Panteón Francés in Mexico City. In 2018, Google celebrated Felix's 104th birthday with a Google Doodle  Maria Félix and CartierMaria Félix was a jewelry connoisseur and had an extensive jewelry collection, including the 41.37 carat (8.274 g), D-flawless Ashoka diamond, and she had a very close relationship with Cartier. In 1968, she commissioned a serpent diamond necklace from Cartier Paris. The result was a completely articulated serpent made out of platinum and white goldand encrusted with 178.21 carats (35.642 g) of diamonds.  Maria Félix's Cartier necklace in the shape of two crocodiles, 1975 In 1975, Maria Félix again asked Cartier to create a necklace for her, this time in the shape of two crocodiles. The two crocodile bodies were made of 524.9 grams of gold, one covered with 1,023 yellow diamonds, while the other was adorned with 1,060 circular cut emeralds. Later she sold most of her jewelry back to Cartier's. She also left a Rolls Royce in Paris. Since Félix's death, these jewelry pieces have been displayed as part of The Art of Cartier Collection in several museums around the world. To pay tribute to the actress, in 2006 Cartier debuted its La Doña de Cartier collection. The La Doña de Cartier watch with reptilian links was created to impress by its wild look. The case of the La Doña de Cartier features a trapezoid shape with an asymmetrical profile reminiscent of a crocodile's head. The wristband of the watch resembles the contours of a crocodile in large, bold and gold scales. The La Doña de Cartier Collection also includes jewelry, accessories, and handbags.  Further interestArticles 1932 Fiona Campbell-Walter (born Fiona Frances Elaine Campbell-Walter) was born on 25 June 1932 in Auckland, New Zealand.  1950s In the 1950s, Fiona was one of the most famous and photographed models, as the favorite muse of Cecil Beaton, she was also the protagonist under the camera of other famed photographers like Henry Clarke, John French, David Bailey, Norman Parkingson etc.  Fiona Cambell-Walter with Anne Gunning, photo by John French, 1953 As one of the top models of her day, she did not just appear in the major women's magazines like Vogue, but also the salons of the top Couturiers like Christian Dior, and Jacques Fath and Elsa Schiaparelli.  1956: Baroness von Thyssen On 17 September 1956, in a small Italian village of Castagnola, Fiona was married to Baron Hans Henrik Agost Gabor Tasso Friherr Thyssen-Bornemisza de Kaszon et Imperfalva, mostly known as Heini von Thyssen, who was heir to a fortune made from steel and arms, and a major art collector whose collection was said to be second only to Queen Elizabeth II. After her marriage, she lived with her husband in Villa Favorita beside Lake of Lugano, a life of elegance, culture and power. She had two children with Heini von Thyssen, one daughter named Francesca in 1958, and a son Lorne in 1963, and not long afterwards, she divorced her husband and moved to London with her two children. Since 1969, Fiona was involved romantically with Alexandre Onassis, the son of Aristote Onassis. who tried to stop the love affair because Fiona was 16b years older than his son Alexandre, but after the death of Alexandre in January 1973, he realized the two never really parted.  Fiona von Thyssen with Alexandre Onassis Named the most beautiful model of Vogue, Fiona Campbell-Walter had a relative short career, mostly in the 1950s before her marriage, and occassionlly in the 1960s after her divorce, but she remained one of the greatest British models in that epoque, together with Barbara Goalen and Anne Gunning.  Fiona von Thyssen in 1966 And during her short career, Fiona von Thyssen, she has worked with most of the greatest photographers of her time:Henry Clarke, John Deakin, Frances McLaughlin-Gilln, John French, Norman Parkinson, Milton Greene, Georges Dambier, Cecil Beaton and David Bailey.  portrait of Fiona von Thyssen by Henry Clarke  David Mackenzie Ogilvy CBE (23 June 1911 – 21 July 1999) was a British advertising tycoon, founder of Ogilvy & Mather, and known as the "Father of Advertising". Trained at the Gallup research organisation, he attributed the success of his campaigns to meticulous research into consumer habits. Biography David Mackenzie Ogilvy was born on 23 June 1911 at West Horsley, Surrey in England. His mother was daughter of a civil servant from Ireland. His father was a stockbroker. He was a first cousin once removed of the writer Rebecca West and of Douglas Holden Blew Jones, who was the brother-in-law of Freda Dudley Ward and the father-in-law of Antony Lambton, 6th Earl of Durham. Ogilvy attended St Cyprian's School, Eastbourne, on reduced fees because of his father's straitened circumstances and won a scholarship at age thirteen to Fettes College, in Edinburgh. In 1929, he again won a scholarship, this time in History to Christ Church, Oxford. His studies were not successful, however, and he left Oxford for Paris in 1931 where he became an apprentice chef in the Hotel Majestic.  After a year, he returned to Scotland and started selling AGA cooking stoves, door-to-door. His success at this marked him out to his employer, who asked him to write an instruction manual, The Theory and Practice of Selling the AGA Cooker, for the other salesmen. Thirty years later, Fortune magazine editors called it the finest sales instruction manual ever written. After seeing the manual, Ogilvy's older brother Francis Ogilvy—the father of actor Ian Ogilvy—showed the manual to management at the London advertising agency Mather & Crowther where he was working. They offered the younger Ogilvy a position as an account executive.  David Ogilvy doing polls for Gallup In 1938, Ogilvy persuaded his agency to send him to the United States for a year, where he went to work for George Gallup's Audience Research Institute in New Jersey. Ogilvy cites Gallup as one of the major influences on his thinking, emphasizing meticulous research methods and adherence to reality. During World War II, Ogilvy worked for the British Intelligence Service at the British embassy in Washington, DC. There he analyzed and made recommendations on matters of diplomacy and security. Eisenhower’s Psychological Warfare Board picked up the report and successfully put Ogilvy’s suggestions to work in Europe during the last year of the war. Also during World War II David Ogilvy was a notable alumnus of the secret Camp X, located near the towns of Whitby and Oshawa in Ontario, Canada. After the war, Ogilvy bought a farm in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania and lived among the Amish. The atmosphere of "serenity, abundance, and contentment" kept Ogilvy and his wife in Pennsylvania for several years, but eventually he admitted his limitations as a farmer and moved to Manhattan.  Having worked as a chef, researcher, and farmer, Ogilvy now started his own advertising agency with the backing of Mather and Crowther, the London agency being run by his elder brother, Francis, which later acquired another London agency, S.H. Benson. The new agency in New York was called Ogilvy, Benson, and Mather. David Ogilvy had just $6,000 ($59,726.72 in 2016 dollars) in his account when he started the agency. He writes in Confessions of an Advertising Man that, initially, he struggled to get clients.  Ogilvy & Mather was built on David Ogilvy's principles; in particular, that the function of advertising is to sell and that successful advertising for any product is based on information about its consumer. He disliked advertisements that had loud patronizing voices, and believed a customer should be treated as intelligent. In 1955, he coined the phrase, "The customer is not a moron, she's your wife" based on these values.  His entry into the company of giants started with several iconic advertising campaigns: former First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt, did a commercial for Good Luck Margarine in 1959. In his autobiography, Ogilvy On Advertising, he said it had been a mistake to persuade her to do the ad – not because it was undignified, but because he had grown to realize that putting celebs in ads is a mistake.  "The man in the Hathaway shirt" with his aristocratic eye patch which used George Wrangel as model   "At 60 miles an hour the loudest noise in this new Rolls-Royce comes from the electric clock", ad created by David Ogilvy  "The man from Schweppes is here" introduced Commander Edward Whitehead, the elegant bearded Brit, bringing Schweppes (and "Schweppervescence") to the U.S. "Pablo Casals is coming home – to Puerto Rico", a campaign which Ogilvy said helped change the image of a country, and was his proudest achievement.  "The man from Schweppes is here" introduced Commander Edward Whitehead, the elegant bearded Brit, bringing Schweppes (and "Schweppervescence") to the U.S.  "The man from Schweppes is here" introduced Commander Edward Whitehead, the elegant bearded Brit, bringing Schweppes (and "Schweppervescence") to the U.S.  "Pablo Casals is coming home – to Puerto Rico" ad created by David Ogilvy One of his greatest successes was "Only Dove is one-quarter moisturizing cream". This campaign helped Dove become the top selling soap in the U.S  Dove moisturing cream ad created by David Ogilvy Ogilvy believed that the best way to get new clients was to do notable work for his existing clients. Success in his early campaigns helped Ogilvy get big clients such as Rolls-Royce and Shell. New clients followed and Ogilvy's company grew quickly. He was widely hailed as "The Father of Advertising" In 1962, Time called him "the most sought-after wizard in today's advertising industry".  David Olgilvy in Argentina, 1971 Ogilvy & Mather linked with H.H.D Europe in 1972. In 1973, Ogilvy retired as Chairman of Ogilvy & Mather and moved to Touffou, his estate in France. The Château de Touffou is a castle, converted into a mansion, in the commune of Bonnes 18 km east of Poitiers, 3 km north of Chauvigny in the Vienne département and on a long tall bank of the River Vienne, France. The château was constructed over several centuries. The Medieval Wing includes Romanesque and gothic elements (the keep). The east half dates back to the 12th century while the west half was constructed in the early 15th century. The Renaissance Wing was added during the 16th century by the Chasteigner family. The main difference between these two epochs in castle construction is that in the Middle Ages, a castle was built for defense. In the Renaissance however, a castle was a home for nobles. Rather than defense and protection, the castle-dwellers in the Renaissance strived for classy, fashionable residences. Today, the Medieval Wing is used to accommodate large business meetings and seminars, and the Renaissance Wing is the private residence of the castle proprietor. The castle has been privately owned throughout its existence. It passed from the Oger family (1127-1280) to the Montléon family (1280-1519) and eventually to the Chasteigner family (1519-1821). Jean Chasteigner III, a Chamberlain to Francis I, oversaw most of the castle’s renovation in the early Renaissance. Once the Chasteigners sold the castle, Touffou changed hands several times, finally being purchased in 1966 by David Ogilvy from the "de Vergie family". The castle is still owned by the Ogilvy family, even after David's death in 1999.  David Ogilvy's Chatteau Touffou, Bonnes, France In 1923 the castle was recognized as a monument historique, and in 2004 its gardens were classified as among the Notable Gardens of France by the French Ministry of Culture.  David Ogilvy's Château de Touffou, Bonnes, France While no longer involved in the agency's day-to-day operations, he stayed in touch with the company. His correspondence so dramatically increased the volume of mail handled in the nearby town of Bonnes that the post office was reclassified at a higher status and the postmaster's salary raised.  David Ogilvy in 1979, New York “IT TAKES A BIG IDEA TO ATTRACT THE ATTENTION OF CONSUMERS AND GET THEM TO BUY YOUR PRODUCT. UNLESS YOUR ADVERTISING CONTAINS A BIG IDEA, IT WILL PASS LIKE A SHIP IN THE NIGHT. I DOUBT IF MORE THAN ONE CAMPAIGN IN A HUNDRED CONTAINS A BIG IDEA.”  Ogilvy came out of retirement in the 1980s to serve as chairman of Ogilvy, Benson, & Mather in India. He also spent a year acting as temporary chairman of the agency’s German office, commuting weekly between Touffou and Frankfurt. He visited branches of the company around the world, and continued to represent Ogilvy & Mather at gatherings of clients and business audiences.  David Ogilvy and his wife Herta Ogilvy in Touffou, France, 1986 In 1989, The Ogilvy Group was bought by WPP Group, a British parent company, for US$864 million in a hostile takeover made possible by the fact that the company group had made an IPO as the first company in marketing to do so. During the takeover procedures, Sir Martin Sorrell, the founder of WPP, was described by Ogilvy as an "odious little shit", and he promised to never work again. Eventually he became a fan of Sorrell, and he was quoted as saying, 'When he tried to take over our company, I would liked to have killed him. But it was not legal. I wish I had known him 40 years ago. I like him enormously now.' Ogilvy was made a Commander of the Order of British Empire (CBE) in 1967. He was elected to the U.S. Advertising Hall of Fame in 1977 and to France's Order of Arts and Letters in 1990. He chaired the Public Participation Committee for Lincoln Center in Manhattan and served as a member of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s 100th Anniversary Committee. He was appointed Chairman of the United Negro College Fund in 1968, and trustee on the Executive Council of the World Wildlife Fund in 1975. Mr. Ogilvy was inducted into the Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame in 1979.  David Ogilvy died on 21 July 1999 at his home, the Château de Touffou, in Bonnes, France.    David Ogilvy signature Further interest Websites: Articles: THE 10 BEST DAVID OGILVY QUOTES ACCORDING TO BRIO David Ogilvy was a pretty smart dude. Often called the father of advertising, he’s responsible for some of the most successful advertising campaigns of all time – success he attributes to his meticulous research into consumer habits. His philosophies on creativity and brand identity are legend, and many believe he is the inspiration for Don Draper, Jon Hamm’s character in Mad Men. In addition to building a wildly successful advertising empire, he also wrote numerous books, each containing their fair share of pearls of wisdom. read full article 10 Rules for Writing from David Ogilvy For over a half century, David Ogilvy was the dapper executive behind New York’s powerhouse marketing firm Ogilvy & Mather. He was also the original “Mad Man,” a martini-slugging, pipe-puffing male now personified by Don Draper and idealized by a generation of guys who, like myself, have gone on one too many outings to Pottery Barn. full article  Guido Reni self portrait Guido Reni (Bologna, 4 novembre 1575 – Bologna, 18 agosto 1642) è stato un pittore e incisore italiano, uno dei massimi esponenti del classicismo seicentesco. BiografiaReni è nato a Bologna, nell'attuale Palazzo Ariosti in via San Felice, da Daniele, musicista e insegnante della Cappella di San Petronio. Nel 1584, secondo lo storico Carlo Cesare Malvasia, che conobbe il pittore, abbandonò i suoi studi di musica, avviati da suo padre, per entrare nell'officina bolognese stabilita del pittore fiammingo Denijs Calvaert, come apprendistato destinati a un grande successo come Francesco Albani e Domenichino e sappiamo che ha studiato in particolare le incisioni di Dürer e Raffaello. Suo padre morì il 7 gennaio 1594, Guido lasciò il laboratorio di Calvaert per unirsi all'Accademia degli Incamminati. Nel 1598, già pittore indipendente, dipinse l'Incoronazione della Vergine e quattro santi, oggi nella Pinacoteca di Bologna, per la chiesa di San Bernardo, e vinse il concorso, in concorso con Ludovico Carracci, per la decorazione della facciata del Palazzo del Regimento, l'attuale edificio comunale di Bologna. La figura di Guido Reni è stata ripresa anche dallo scrittore tedesco Joseph von Eichendorff nel suo romanzo Aus dem Leben eines Taugenichts, la vita di uno stalker.  Portrait d’une dame à l’image de la Sibylle, Guido Reni Forse già nel 1600 ma certamente nel 1601 era a Roma, dove fu pagato dal cardinale Sfondrato per il suo Martirio di santa Cecilia della Basilica di Santa Cecilia in Trastevere. Nel marzo del 1602 tornò nella città natale per assistere ai funerali del grande Agostino Carracci e fu incaricato di incidere a stampa le decorazioni allestite per il funerale. Viaggiò da Bologna a Roma e di qui a Loreto, per trattare delle eventuali decorazioni della Santa Casa che furono però affidate al Pomarancio. È la sua ricerca del bello ideale, ricavato dal classicismo raffaellesco nella mediazione dei Carracci che sfiora soltanto la visione naturalistica di Caravaggio ma se ne allontana per la necessità di ammantarla di decoro; di questa esperienza, nel primo decennio del secolo, sono parte il Davide con la testa di Golia del Louvre, il Martirio di santa Caterina per la chiesa di Sant'Alessandro a Conscente, ora al Museo diocesano di Albenga in Liguria, La preghiera nell'orto di Sens e L'incoronazione della Vergine di Londra. Il 25 settembre 1609 ricevette il primo acconto per gli affreschi della cappella Paolina in Santa Maria Maggiore che interruppe alla fine del 1610, sembra per contrasti con l'amministrazione papale. Tornò a Bologna dopo il 1614, anno in cui terminò l'Aurora per il casino Rospigliosi (a Roma). La Strage degli innocenti e il Sansone vittorioso furono probabilmente iniziati a Roma e terminati a Bologna (venti scudi gli erano infatti anticipati a Roma per la commissione della Strage). Se il Sansone è un gigante effeminato che si ristora dopo il massacro, e i morti sembrano dormire placidamente nella serenità albeggiante di una vasta pianura, nell'altra Strage, rappresentata con sei donne, due piccoli morti e due assassini, la tragedia è congelata nella misura e nella simmetria della composizione raffaellesca. Di questo dipinto, suo capolavoro assoluto, si ricordarono Poussin, i pittori neoclassici francesi e persino Picasso, che richiamò la tela di Reni in alcune parti del suo Guernica. Tornò a Roma nel 1612, per terminare in aprile gli affreschi di Santa Maria Maggiore; il cardinale Scipione Borghese gli commissionò, per un Casino nel parco del suo palazzo, ora Palazzo Pallavicini Rospigliosi, l'affresco dell'Aurora, terminato nell'agosto 1614. Dopo un breve soggiorno a Napoli, ancora a Roma ai primi del 1614, tornò definitivamente a Bologna nell'ottobre 1614. Al primo viaggio di ritorno da Roma, e ai dubbi sulla sua pittura, è dedicato il romanzo biografico Il viaggio di Guido Reni, scritto da Manlio Cancogni e vincitore del Premio Grinzane Cavour del 1987 (Lit, Roma, 2013).  Saint Sebastian by Guido Reni, 1615 Nel 1615 terminò di affrescare la Gloria di San Domenico nel catino absidale della nuova cappella barocca contenente l'arca del santo fondatore dell'ordine domenicano, che aveva iniziato due anni prima e subito interrotto a causa dei viaggi a Roma. I lavori che aveva in corso, in contemporanea e su grandi formati, sia a Roma che a Bologna, necessitarono da subito la collaborazione di colleghi, assistenti e giovani praticanti. Tanti furono i giovani pittori che ambirono ad essere considerati suoi allievi, partecipando attivamente alla vita delle sue diverse “stanze” oppure passandovi sporadicamente per cogliere qualche spunto dai suoi lavori in corso d’opera; per questo motivo Reni riservava ai suoi lavori più importanti ambienti appartati, per evitare plagi da parte di giovani di passaggio e per smorzare invidie tra gli assistenti più stretti. Nel maggio 1622 fu a Napoli, per affrescare la cappella del Tesoro di San Gennaro nel Duomo ma non raggiunse l'accordo economico e ripartì per Roma, dopo aver dipinto tre tele per la chiesa di San Filippo Neri.  Saint Sebastian by Guido Reni, 1625, Museo del Prado Nel 1625 firmò e datò a Roma il Ritratto del cardinale Roberto Ubaldini, ora in una collezione privata inglese, e la grande pala barocca della Trinità per la chiesa dei Pellegrini, terminata a settembre e dipinta, secondo il Malvasia, in ventisette giorni. A questo periodo (1627) appartiene anche la celeberrima tela della Immacolata Concezione, oggi nella Chiesa di San Biagio a Forlì. Ritornò ancora a Roma nel 1627 per eseguire gli affreschi, commissionatigli dal cardinale Barberini, delle Storie di Attila in San Pietro; impose che nessuno – «né anco i cardinali» - salisse sulle impalcature durante i lavori e tuttavia non iniziò nemmeno e ripartì bruscamente per Bologna, per l'ostilità di alcuni cardinali e della gelosia del Gessi, suo ex allievo. Durante questa permanenza a Roma dall'ambasciatore spagnolo ricevette la commissione del Ratto d'Elena, ma non si accordò sul compenso e fu allora venduto in Francia a Monsieur de la Vrillière: è una fredda e decorativa scena da melodramma cortigiano, diversamente dal Ritratto del cardinale Bernardino Spada, conservato nell'omonima Galleria romana, donato dal pittore all'amico cardinale, legato pontificio a Bologna. Lo Spada è rappresentato con evidente simpatia e una resa vibrante di colori che ne esalta l'aspetto aristocratico e intelligente in un contesto di compostezza e decoro. Superata la tremenda peste del 1630, il Senato bolognese gli commissionò la pala votiva della Madonna col Bambino e santi, criticata dai contemporanei per la sua seconda maniera: schiarisce le tonalità, intridendole di argento, come si nota anche nella delicata Annunciazione di Ascoli Piceno. Prima del 1635 eseguì su seta, per il cardinale Sant'Onofrio, fratello del papa Urbano VIII, il San Michele arcangelo. Celebrato come esempio di bellezza ideale, il Reni, in una lettera, scrisse di aver voluto avere «pennello angelico o forme di Paradiso per formare l'Arcangelo o vederlo in Cielo; ma io non ho potuto salir tant'alto ed invano l'ho cercato in terra. Sicché ho riguardato in quella forma che nell'idea mi sono stabilita.» Fanno parte della produzione ultima le Adorazioni dei pastori di Napoli e di Londra, i San Sebastiano di Londra e di Bologna, la Flagellazione di Cristo di Bologna, Il suicidio di Cleopatra e La fanciulla con corona, entrambe nella Pinacoteca Capitolina e per ultimo il San Pietro piangente in collezione privata, che Alex Cavallucci e Andrea Emiliani collocano in questi ultimi anni di vita del maestro. Sono opere che il Malvasia definì incompiute: eseguite a pennellate veloci e sommarie, secondo un'intenzione stilistica che la critica, dal Novecento, riconobbe invece come consapevole scelta estetica. Per il suo biografo, a causa dei debiti, il pittore fu costretto negli ultimi anni «a lavorare mezze figure e teste alla prima, e senza il letto sotto; a finire inconsideratamente le storie e le tavole più riguardevoli; a prender denaro a cambio da tutti; a non ricusare ogni imprestito da gli amici; a vendere, vil mercenario, l'opra sua e le giornate a un tanto l'ora.» Sembra certo che soffrisse di depressione: «comincio a non piacere più nemmeno a me stesso», scrisse, e confessò di pensare alla morte «conoscendo essere vissuto assai, anzi troppo, dando fastidio a tanti altri, forzati a star bassi finch'io vivo.»  Saint Sebastian by Guido Reni, 1640 Il 6 agosto 1642 fu "colto da febbri" che lo portarono a morte il 18 agosto, a 67 anni. Il corpo fu esposto vestito da cappuccino e sepolto nella cappella del Rosario della basilica di San Domenico, per volontà del senatore bolognese Saulo Guidotti, legato al pittore da profonda amicizia. Accanto a lui giaceranno presto anche le spoglie di Elisabetta Sirani, figlia di Giovanni Andrea Sirani, suo allievo prediletto. È la sostanziale ambiguità della sua poetica ad aver fatto oscillare l'apprezzamento della sua opera nel tempo: fu esaltato dai contemporanei per l'armonia raggiunta nel coniugare il classicismo raffaellesco alle esigenze di verità poste da Caravaggio - esigenze naturalistiche del resto già sentite dal Reni fin dal tempo della sua frequentazione dei Carracci - e depurate dagli eccessi in nome del decoro e della ricerca del bello ideale. «Di tutti gli allievi dei Carracci è stato il più felice e ancor oggi si trova un'infinità di persone che prediligono le sue opere al punto da preferire la delicatezza e la grazia che manifestano alla grandezza e alle forti espressioni di altre» (Des Avaux, 1666) e Pierre-Jean Mariette, nel 1741, scrive che «la nobiltà e la grazia che Guido ha soffuso sui volti, i suoi bei drappeggi, uniti alla ricchezza delle composizioni, ne hanno fatto un pittore dei più gradevoli. Ma non si deve credere che sia giunto a questo senza essersi sottoposto a un intenso lavoro. Lo si vede soprattutto nei disegni preparatori di grandi dimensioni: ogni particolare è reso con assoluta precisione. Attraverso di essi si rivela un uomo che consulta continuamente la natura e che non fa alcun assegnamento sul suo dono felice di abbellirla.» Apprezzate nel Settecento anche le opere dell'ultima maniera dalle forme che si dissolvono nella luce, nell'Ottocento, a parte la stroncatura di John Ruskin, nel 1844, ("la religione deve essere ed è sempre stata il fondamento e lo spirito informatore di ogni vera arte. Mi assale una collera disperata quando sento che Eastlake compera dei Guido per la National Gallery"), intorno al Reni si fa silenzio quando non vi è il disprezzo per certe espressioni della sua pittura devozionale. Nel 1923 esce l'importante articolo di Hermann Voss sugli anni romani dell'attività del Reni, in cui lo studioso tedesco individua l'attenzione del bolognese alla pittura moderna di Annibale Carracci e dello stesso Caravaggio ma con un approccio da conservatore che "paralizza" la monumentalità dell'uno e il naturalismo dell'altro, tanto da suscitare l'entusiasmo di un Cavalier d'Arpino. «L'irresistibile incanto del Reni era ed è riposto nel sensuale fascino della sua cantilena in una sua tipica e inimitabile dolcezza musicale [...] il modo con cui lascia cadere una veste frusciante, con cui, grazie ad una semplicissima curva compositiva, fa risuonare e vibrare l'intera figurazione, ha qualcosa di sonnambulesco.» Non vi sono nel Reni nuovi pensieri e originalità compositive ma un semplice confrontarsi con la tradizione: la forza del pittore sta «nell'alto senso della bellezza e in quella musicalità del sentire che nobilitano ogni linea, ogni movenza.» Per il Longhi, nel Reni è acutissimo il desiderio «di una bellezza antica ma che racchiuda un'anima cristiana [...] spesso, da vero pittore e poeta, escogita gamme paradisiache [...] angeli soffiati in rosa e biondo [...] un anelito a estasiarsi, dove il corpo non è che un ricordo mormorato, un'impronta; un movente quasi buddistico, che bene s'accorda con l'esperienza tentata da Guido di dipinger sulla seta, a somiglianza, appunto, degli orientali.» Il suicidio di Cleopatra (circa 1625-1626), Bildergalerie (Sanssouci), Potsdam Una grande mostra a Bologna nel 1954 accentuò l'interesse critico per l'artista: per il Ragghianti, «il vero Reni ci si presenta come un artista rimasto, oltre ogni dottrina e bravura di prove, trepidamente adolescente, in un crepuscolo di esperienze che, come nella pubertà, avvolge il senso nella fantasia e gli dà quell'accensione fascinosa che dilata la realtà.» Per Cesare Gnudi, la poetica classicista fu dominante nel Reni, ed egli, pur identificando il suo ideale di bellezza con le immagini della mitologia classica, dovette mediare tale ideale con la realtà storica, politica e religiosa, cui aderiva, della Controriforma, e «fra il suo ideale di bellezza e il suo sentimento religioso già assestato in una quieta e accomodante pietà, egli non sentì forse mai un vero contrasto.» Non è vero che il vero Reni si troverebbe nell'evocazione di soggetti mitologici e un falso Reni si esprimerebbe nella convenzionalità dei suoi soggetti religiosi; se mondo classico e mondo religioso non contrastano fra di loro, tuttavia nemmeno si identificano e il Reni non sentì mai di dover scegliere: «La scelta non avvenne perché egli sentiva nell'uno e nell'altro mondo qualche parte vitale di sé. Non avvenne mai la rinuncia all'uno in nome dell'altro. Il dualismo restò così fino all'ultimo, continuamente composto e continuamente affiorante.» Negli ultimi anni «alla levitazione della forma materica farà seguito progressivo un disfacimento delle ultime vestigia naturali; la pittura andrà sempre più a decomporsi come una crisalide, lasciando emergere la struttura scarna e tuttavia persuasiva del progetto grafico sottostante. L'accelerazione è così evidente da far risuonare sotto le volte dello studio posto quasi in piazza Maggiore quel non finito che il Manierismo aveva portato al livello della metafora (l'impossibile a dire, a esprimere) che al contrario Guido intendeva come la sublime sprezzatura poetica dell'esprimibile toccato e colto nella pienezza dell'idea, del suo mondano travestimento.» (Emiliani). English Guido Reni Autorretrato self portrait Guido Reni ( 4 November 1575 - 18 August 1642) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, although his works showed a classical manner, similar to Simon Vouet, Nicholas Poussin, and Philippe de Champaigne. He painted primarily religious works, but also mythological and allegorical subjects. Active in Rome, Naples, and his native Bologna, he became the dominant figure in the Bolognese School that emerged under the influence of the Carracci. BiographyBorn in Bologna into a family of musicians, Guido Reni was the only child of Daniele Reni and Ginevra Pozzi. At the age of nine, he was apprenticed to the Bolognese studio of Denis Calvaert. When Reni was about twenty years old, the three Calvaert pupils migrated to the rising rival studio, named Accademia degli Incamminati (Academy of the "newly embarked", or progressives), led by Ludovico Carracci. They went on to form the nucleus of a prolific and successful school of Bolognese painters who followed Lodovico's cousin Annibale Carracci to Rome. By late 1601, Reni had moved to Rome to work with the teams led by Annibale Carracci in fresco decoration of the Farnese Palace. During 1601–1604, his main patron was Cardinal Paolo Emilio Sfondrati. By 1604–1605, he received an independent commission for an altarpiece of the Crucifixion of St. Peter. After returning briefly to Bologna, he went back to Rome to become one of the premier painters during the papacy of Paul V (Borghese); between 1607–1614, he was one of the painters most patronized by the Borghese family.
Reni's frescoed ceiling of the large central hall of the Casino dell'Aurora, located in the grounds of the Palazzo Pallavicini-Rospigliosi, is often considered his fresco masterpiece. The massive fresco is framed in quadri riportati and depicts Apollo in his Chariot preceded by Dawn (Aurora) bringing light to the world. The work is restrained in classicism, copying poses from Roman sarcophagi, and showing far more simplicity and restraint than Carracci's riotous Triumph of Bacchus and Ariadne in the Farnese. In 1630, the Barberini family of Pope Urban VIII commissioned from Reni a painting of the Archangel Michael for the church of Santa Maria della Concezione dei Cappuccini.The painting, completed in 1636, gave rise to an old legend that Reni had represented Satan—crushed under St Michael's foot—with the facial features of Cardinal Giovanni Battista Pamphilj in revenge for a slight. Work in Naples and return to Bologna Returning to Bologna more or less permanently after 1614, Reni established a successful and prolific studio there. And in 1611 he had already painted for San Domenico a superb Massacre of the Innocents, now in the Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna, which became an important reference for the French Neoclassic style, as well as a model for details in Picasso's Guernica. After leaving Rome, Reni alternately painted in different styles, but displayed less eclectic tastes than many of Carracci's trainees. For example, his altarpiece for Samson Victorious formulates stylized poses, like those characteristic of Mannerism. In contrast, his Crucifixion and his Atlanta and Hipomenes depict dramatic diagonal movement coupled with the effects of light and shade that portray the more Baroque influence of Caravaggio. His turbulent yet realistic Massacre of the Innocents (Pinacoteca, Bologna) is painted in a manner reminiscent of a late Raphael. In 1625, Prince Władysław Sigismund Vasa of Poland visited the artist's workshop in Bologna during his visit to Western Europe.The close rapport between the painter and the Polish prince resulted in the acquisition of drawings and paintings. By the 1630s, Reni's painting style became looser, less impastoed, and dominated by lighter colors. A compulsive gambler, Reni was often in financial distress despite the steady demand for his paintings. According to his biographer Carlo Cesare Malvasia, Reni's need to recoup gambling losses resulted in rushed execution and multiple copies of his works produced by his workshop. Among the paintings of his last years are many unfinished works. Reni's themes are mostly biblical and mythological. He painted few portraits; those of Sixtus V, and Cardinal Bernardino Spada are among the most noteworthy, along with one of his mother (in the Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna) and a few self-portraits from both his youth and his old age. Reni died in Bologna in 1642. He was buried there in the Rosary Chapel of the Basilica of San Domenico. Reni was the most famous Italian artist of his generation.Through his many pupils, he had wide-ranging influence on later Baroque. In the center of Bologna he established two studios, teeming with nearly 200 pupils. His most distinguished pupil was Simone Cantarini, named Il Pesarese, who painted the portrait of his master now in the Bolognese Gallery. Beyond Italy, Reni's influence was important in the style of many Spanish Baroque artists, such as Jusepe de Ribera and Murillo. But his work was particularly appreciated in France—Stendhal believed Reni must have had "a French soul"—and influenced generations of French artists such as Le Sueur, Le Brun, Vien, and Greuze; as well as on later French Neoclassic painters. In the 19th century, Reni's reputation declined as a result of changing taste—epitomized by John Ruskin's censorious judgment that the artist's work was sentimental and false. A revival of interest in Reni has occurred since 1954, when an important retrospective exhibition of his work was mounted in Bologna.  Name: Svetlana Zakharova Full name: Svetlana Yuryevna Zakharova birth place: Lutsk, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union birth date: 3 June 1979 horoscope: Gemini  Svetlana Zakharova was born in Lutsk, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union, on June 10, 1979. At the age of six, she was taken by her mother to learn folk dancing at a local studio, and by the age of 10, she had auditioned and was accepted into the Kyiv Choreography School. In 1995, after six years at the Kyiv School, Zakharova entered the Young Dancers' Competition in St. Petersburg. The youngest contestant, she took second prize and was invited to continue her training in the graduating course of St Petersburg's Vaganova Academy. It was the first time in the school's history to allow a student to skip two grades. After attending the pre-eminent Russian ballet school for one year, Zakharova joined the Mariinsky ballet in 1996.  Zakharova debuted with the Mariinsky Ballet in 1996, appearing as Maria with Ruben Bobovnikov, in Rostislav Zakharov's The Fountain of Bakhchisarai. In 1997, after her first year with the Mariinsky, at 18, Zakharova was promoted to principal dancer.  By 2003, Zakharova moved to the Bolshoi Ballet. From 1999 on Zakharova regularly performed as a guest soloist at the Paris Opera where she worked with French choreographer Pierre Lacotte who is a leading authority on classical ballet contributing to the career of Evgenia Obraztsova and Hannah O'Neill. Svetlana Zakharova was the first Russian principal dancer performing in Paris and became a world star as of 2000.  Svetlana Zakharova in Giselle, 2015 "In the flesh, it's hard not to be a little dazzled by Svetlana Zakharova's improbably fine features and impossibly big blue eyes – but these are merely the finishing touches of a long, strong, beautifully proportioned body that's one of the great balletic instruments of our times."  Svetlana Zakharova in Don Quixote 1997 : Vaganova-Prix Young Dancers Competition, Sankt-Peterburg (2nd prize) 1999 : Golden Mask for Serenade 2000 : Golden Mask for The Sleeping Beauty 2010 : Officier des Arts et des Lettres (France) 2005 : Prix Benois de la Danse for Hippolita (Titania) in A Midsummer Night's Dream 2006 : State Prize of the Russian Federation 2015 : Prix Benois de la Danse for Marguerite Gautier in "The Lady of the Camellias" by John Neumeier and Mekhmene-Banu in "Légende d'amour" by Yury Grigorovich.  akharova is married to Russian violinist Vadim Repin, and they have one child, daughter Anna (b. 2011). She had withdrawn from the Bolshoi Ballet tour to London in the summer of 2010 citing a hip injury; she was pregnant at the time. Zakharova returned to dancing, and performed in London on May 15, 2011, in a gala performance celebrating Soviet ballerina Galina Ulanova.  Svetlana Zakharova with fellow Bolshoi dancer Denis Rodkin in Amore Further reading Sheikha Moza bin Nasser at El Pardo Palace on April 25, 2011 in Madrid, Spain Sheikha Moza bint Nasser (Arabic: موزا بنت ناصر المسند, born in Al Khor, Qatar on 15 January 1959)is the consort of Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, former Emir of the State of Qatar. Since 1995, Sheikha Moza has led education and social reforms in Qatar and has founded national and international development projects. BiographyMoza is the daughter of Nasser bin Abdullah Al-Misned, a well-known opposition activist and the former head of the Al Muhannada confederation of Bani Hajer. Nasser returned to Qatar with his immediate family in 1977, the year in which his daughter Moza married Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, when he was heir apparent of Qatar.She received a BA in Sociology from Qatar University in 1986, and was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2003.  Unlike many other monarchical wives in the Middle East, Sheikha Moza has been a high-profile figure in her nation's politics and society, actively involved in Qatar's government. She was a driving force behind Education City and Al Jazeera Children's Channel. She is the owner of Le Tanneur, a French leather-goods manufacturer. Additionally, she has been named as one of Forbes' 100 Most Powerful Women at #75.   As the public consort of the emir, she has represented Qatar alongside her husband and on her own at many international events, including state visits and royal weddings. Sheikha Moza has become known for her personal style, customising haute couture designs to fit Qatari modesty rules. Fashion Trust Arabia (FTA), launched in September 2018 under the patronage of Sheikha Moza bint Nasser as Honorary Chair and co-Chaired by Sheikha Al-Mayassa bint Hamad Al-Thani and Tania Fares (Founder of Fashion Trust), is an initiative offering financial and business support to womenswear designers.  Sheikha Moza Bint Nasser al-Misnad and Carla Bruni-Sarkozy(Right) attend the ceremony of the Bastille Day, on July 14, 2008 in Paris.  Chairperson of the Education Above All Foundation, H H Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, meeting with President of France, Emmanuel Macron, at the Élysée Palace, in Paris, France, 2018  Danielle Darrieux, née le 1er mai 1917 à Bordeaux (Gironde) et morte le 17 octobre 2017 à Bois-le-Roi dans l’Eure, est une actrice et chanteuse française. Au cours d'une des plus longues carrières cinématographiques(110 films sur huit décennies), elle a traversé l’histoire du cinéma parlant de 1931 à 2010. Au début de sa carrière, Danielle Darrieux passe des rôles de jeunes filles ingénues dans des comédies musicales, à ceux de jeunes filles romantiques de drames historiques (Marie Vetsera dans Mayerling en 1936, Catherine Yourevska dans Katia en 1938). On la voit ensuite notamment dans les mélodrames et les comédies d’Henri Decoin, dont Abus de confiance (1938), Retour à l'aube (1938), Battement de cœur (1939), Premier Rendez-vous (1941), La Vérité sur Bébé Donge (1952) et surtout les films de Max Ophüls, qui, après la bourgeoise de La Ronde, lui fera jouer une prostituée dans Le Plaisir et une aristocrate dans Madame de.... La comédienne mène également une carrière internationale, qui la conduira en Italie, au Royaume-Uni, et aux États-Unis où elle tourne pour Universal Studios, la MGM et United Artists. Vingt ans avant Brigitte Bardot, cette comédienne imposait ses initiales : DD.  Biographie Née au sein d’une famille de mélomanes, Danielle Yvonne Marie Darrieux voit le jour à Bordeaux mais passe son enfance à Paris. Son père est ophtalmologue; sa mère Marie-Louise Darrieux-Witkowski est une célèbre cantatrice. Elle a un frère cadet, Olivier (1921-1994), qui deviendra lui aussi acteur. La mort prématurée de son père d'une crise cardiaque, alors qu'elle n'a que sept ans, contraint sa mère à donner des leçons de chant pour subsister. Danielle Darrieux en retire très tôt un goût prononcé pour la musique. Elle est dotée d’une voix menue, mais juste et claire. Elle prend également des cours de violoncelle et de piano, puis, à quatorze ans, entre en classe de violoncelle au Conservatoire national supérieur de musique de Paris.  Quand elle apprend que deux producteurs, Delac et Vandal, cherchent une héroïne de treize ou quatorze ans pour leur prochain film, elle se présente aux studios d’Épinay et fait des essais qui se révèlent concluants. Elle débute à 14 ans dans Le Bal (1931) de Wilhelm Thiele et, séduisant les producteurs par son allant et sa spontanéité, elle obtient immédiatement un contrat de cinq ans. Ne pensant pas alors exercer le métier d'actrice, elle n'a jamais pris de cours d'art dramatique, préférant entrer à l'École commerciale, puis prendre des cours de dessin à l'académie Julian, tout en continuant à jouer du violoncelle, son « violon d'Ingres ». Sa carrière commence avec des rôles de gamine facétieuse et fantasque aux côtés d'acteurs populaires du cinéma français d'avant-guerre, surtout Albert Préjean avec qui elle forme, en six films, le couple de charme des comédies musicales françaises des années 1930 (La crise est finie, Dédé, etc.). Dès son premier film, elle chante et crée, dans bon nombre de ses films, des chansons populaires qui deviendront des succès : La crise est finie, Un mauvais garçon, Une charade et Premier rendez-vous.  Danielle Darrieux dans Premier rendez-vous, 1941  Danielle Darrieux dans Premier rendez-vous, 1941  Danielle Darrieux dans Premier rendez-vous avec Louis Jourdan, 1941 Elle devient, en 1935, l'épouse du réalisateur Henri Decoin, rencontré un an plus tôt lors du tournage de L'Or dans la rue.  Danielle Darrieux avec Henri Decoin, son premier mari Toujours en 1935, Anatole Litvak lui offre un rôle plus dramatique. Dans Mayerling, elle interprète une fragile et touchante comtesse Marie Vetsera aux côtés de Charles Boyer, déjà star en Amérique du Nord. Le film connaît un succès mondial qui lui ouvre les portes d’Hollywood: elle signe un contrat de 7 ans avec les studios Universal. Accompagnée de son mari, elle s’embarque pour Hollywood à bord du Normandie et tourne son premier film américain en 1938, La Coqueluche de Paris avec Douglas Fairbanks Jr. Mais très vite elle s’ennuie à Hollywood et préfère casser son contrat pour rentrer en France.  Danielle Drrieux La Coqueluche de Paris (1938). Danielle Darrieux tourne avec son mari Henri Decoin trois films plus: Abus de confiance, Retour à l'aube et Battement de cœur. Ils sont des succès et Darrieux est l’une des vedettes les plus populaires du moment. Divorcée d’Henri Decoin, en 1941, Danielle Darrieux épouse Porfirio Rubirosa, ambassadeur de la République dominicaine en septembre 1942 à la mairie de Vichy, rencontré à l'hôtel de Lamballe. Cette noce célébrée dans la discrétion dans la capitale du régime de Pétain continue de porter son lot d’ambiguïtés que l’actrice a toute sa vie durant réfuté. Le couple s'installe en résidence surveillée à Megève, en Haute-Savoie, jusqu'à la fin de la guerre et divorce en 1947.  Danielle Darrieux avec Porfirio Rubirosa  Porfirio Rubirosa en 1954 Après quelques années un peu grises, elle se remarie une troisième et dernière fois le 1er juin 1948 avec Georges Mitsinkidès avec qui elle adopte son unique fils Mathieu, et commence une seconde carrière.  Dans les années 1950, elle retrouve Hollywood pour quelques films. Elle chante et danse dans une comédie musicale aux côtés de Jane Powell dans Riche, jeune et jolie.  Danielle Darrieux dans riche jeune et jolie, 1951 Un grand directeur d’actrices va exploiter son talent de tragédienne32 et, revenu de son exil américain, Max Ophüls fait de Darrieux, au début des années 1950, son égérie. Elle tourne dans trois films majeurs: La Ronde (1951) où elle incarne une épouse infidèle que ni son mari ni son amant ne parviennent à satisfaire; Le Plaisir (1952) et surtout Madame de... Film qui commence comme une comédie légère et sombre dans le drame.  Danielle Darrieux dans La Ronde (1950)par Max Ophüls  Danielle Darrieux avec Charles Boyer dans Madame de...  Danielle Darrieux avec Gérard Philipe dans Le Rouge et le Noir (1954) À partir des années 1970, Danielle Darrieux partage équitablement sa carrière entre théâtre, télévision et cinéma. Une de ses fiertés théâtrales est d’avoir joué et chanté en anglais à Broadway en 1970, dans la comédie musicale Coco interprétant le rôle de Coco Chanel qui avait été joué auparavant par son idole Katharine Hepburn.  Danielle Darrieux dans comédie musicale Coco, 1970 Danielle Darrieux redouble d’activité dans les années 2000. Après le succès au théâtre d'Oscar et la Dame rose, François Ozon lui fait tourner son 106e film, qui marque ses soixante-dix ans de carrière, dans Huit Femmes et en fait l'une des suspectes. Enfin, en 2009, à 92 ans, elle apparaît dans Une pièce montée de Denys Granier-Deferre, la dernière fois sur scène.  Danielle Darrieux a possédé une demeure à Cœur-Volant à Louveciennes ainsi qu'une maison de campagne à Fourcherolles à Dampierre, toutes deux en Île-de-France. En 1954, Danielle Darrieux achète aussi l'île déserte de huit hectares de Stibiden, dans le golfe du Morbihan, dont elle fait sa résidence secondaire. À la fin de sa vie, elle ne vient plus sur l'île et elle la laisse à sa famille, louant à la place une villa à Larmor-Baden, où elle vient jusqu'en 2015. Vers 1994, elle rencontre Jacques Jenvrin, de vingt ans son cadet. Elle se retire avec lui dans une maison de Bois-le-Roi (Eure), où elle meurt en 2017.  Danielle Danieux maison de Bois-le-Roi  Danielle Danieux maison de Bois-le-Roi Danielle Darrieux entre dans le cercle des actrices centenaires le 1er mai 2017, rejoignant Suzy Delair (1917-2020), Renée Simonot (née en 1911), Gisèle Casadesus (1914-2017), Olivia de Havilland (1916-2020) ou encore Marsha Hunt (née en 1917).  Aveugle, un peu diminuée mais en bonne santé, l’actrice meurt dans son sommeil le 17 octobre 2017, à 13 heures, des suites d'une chute à son domicile de Bois-le-Roi, à l’âge de 100 ans. Elle est inhumée dans le cimetière de Marnes-la-Coquette (Hauts-de-Seine).  Danielle Darrieux dans un mauvais garcon, 1936 Biography Danielle Yvonne Marie Antoinette Darrieux (1 May 1917 – 17 October 2017) was a French actress of stage, television and film, as well as a singer and dancer. Beginning in 1931, she appeared in more than 110 films. She was one of France's great movie stars and her eight-decade career was among the longest in film history.  Darrieux was born in Bordeaux, France, during World War I, her father died when she was seven years old. Raised in Paris, she studied the cello at the Conservatoire de Musique. At 14, she won a part in the musical film Le Bal (1931). Her beauty combined with her singing and dancing ability led to numerous other offers; the film Mayerling (1936) brought her to prominence.  Danielle Darrieux in film Mayerling with Charles Boyer, 1936 In 1935, Darrieux married director/screenwriter Henri Decoin, who encouraged her to try Hollywood. She signed a seven-year contract with Universal Studios to star in The Rage of Paris (1938) opposite Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. Afterwards, she elected to return to Paris.  Danielle Darrieux with her first husband Henri Decoin She divorced Henri Decoin in 1941 and marrid Porfirio Rubirosa, a Dominican Republic diplomat and notorious womanizer in 1942. The couple lived in Switzerland until the end of the war, and divorced in 1947. She married scriptwriter Georges Mitsikidès in 1948, and they lived together until his death in 1991.  Danielle Darrieux in film The Red and the Black (1954) with Gérard Philippe. Joseph L. Mankiewicz lured her back to Hollywood to star in 5 Fingers (1952) with James Mason. Upon returning to France, she appeared in Max Ophüls' The Earrings of Madame de... (1953) with Charles Boyer, and The Red and the Black (1954) with Gérard Philippe. She starred in Lady Chatterley's Lover (1955), whose theme of uninhibited sexuality led to its being proscribed by Catholic censors in the United States. She played a supporting role in her last American film, United Artists' epic Alexander the Great (1956) starring Richard Burton and Claire Bloom.  Danielle Darrieux in Lady Chatterley's Lover (1955) In 1970, Darrieux replaced Katharine Hepburn in the Broadway musical Coco, based on the life of Coco Chanel, but the play, essentially a showcase for Hepburn, soon folded without her. She worked again with Demy for his film Une chambre en ville (1982), an opera-like musical melodrama reminiscent of the director's earlier work The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (Les Parapluies de Cherbourg, 1964).  Danielle Darrieux in Broadway musical Coco, 1970 Danielle Darrieux's last screen appearance was in the movie Une pièce montée by Denys Granier-Deferre in 2009, when she was 92.  Danielle Darrieux in movie Une pièce montée, 2010 Danielle Darrieux died on 17 October 2017 at the age of 100, due to complications from a fall, five months after turning 100 that May.  
Maria Montez
Perfil
María África Gracia Vidal conocida como María Montez (Barahona, República Dominicana, 1912 - Suresnes, Francia, 1951), La Reina Del Technicolor fue una cantautora dominicana que ganó fama y popularidad en la década de 1940 como una belleza exótica protagonizando una serie de películas de aventuras filmadas en Technicolor. Su imagen en la pantalla fue de la típica seductora que usaba vestidos con trajes de fantasía y joyas brillantes. Montez era conocida como "La Reina del Technicolor".
A lo largo de su carrera Maria Montez participó en alrededor de 26 películas, 21 de las cuales fueron rodadas en Estados Unidos y cinco en Europa. El apellido Montez lo tomó en homenaje a la bailarina Lola Montez. 
Maria Montez
Biografía
María África Gracia Vidal nació en la provincia de Barahona, República Dominicana, siendo la segunda de diez hijos del español Isidoro Gracia y la dominicana Teresa Vidal. Su padre se dedicaba a la exportación de madera y a la venta de tejidos.
A temprana edad, Montez aprendió a hablar inglés y fue educada en un convento católico de Santa Cruz de Tenerife. A mediados de la década de 1930, su padre fue nombrado cónsul español en Belfast, Irlanda del Norte, adonde la familia se mudó. Fue allí donde Montez conoció a su primer marido, William G. McFeeters, con quien se casó a los 17 años. En el libro Maria Montez, Su Vida de Margarita Vicens de Morales, edición de 2003, en la página 26, se puede ver una copia del certificado de nacimiento de María Montez, probando que su nombre original era María África Gracia Vidal. 
El 28 de noviembre de 1932 se casó con el banquero irlandés William McFeeters, quien era el representante del First National City Bank of New York en la provincia de Barahona y con quien estuvo casada casi siete años, hasta su partida a Nueva York.
Su primer trabajo fue posar para la portada de una revista por la suma de US$50 en Nueva York. Decidida a convertirse en una actriz de teatro, contrató a un agente y creó una hoja de vida que la hacía varios años más joven, poniendo en la fecha de nacimiento "1917" en algunos casos y "1918" en otros. Finalmente, aceptó una oferta de Universal Pictures, haciendo su debut cinematográfico en la película B Boss of Bullion City dirigida por Ray Taylor y protagonizada por Johnny Mack Brown. 
María Montez posando para una revista argentina en abril de 1944
Su belleza pronto la convirtió en la pieza central de las películas de aventuras en Technicolor de la Universal, en particular las seis películas en las que actuó junto a Jon Hall, como son Arabian Nights, White Savage, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, Cobra Woman, Gypsy Wildcat y Sudan. Montez además apareció en la película Western Pirates of Monterey junto a Rod Cameron y en The Exile, esta última dirigida por Max Ophüls y protagonizada por Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.
La identificación con esta imagen cinematográfica fue tal que María Montez era conocida como "The Queen of Technicolor" (La Reina del Technicolor). Mientras trabajaba en Hollywood, conoció al actor francés Jean-Pierre Aumont, con quien se casó el 13 de julio de 1943, pero éste tuvo que marcharse unos días después de su boda para servir en las Fuerzas Francesas Libres y luchar contra la Alemania nazi en el teatro europeo en la Segunda Guerra Mundial. Al final de la Segunda Guerra Mundial, la pareja tuvo una hija, María Cristina (conocida como Tina Aumont). Luego se mudaron a una casa en Suresnes, en el suburbio oeste de París, durante la Cuarta República Francesa. En enero de 1951, Montez apareció en la obra l'Ile Heureuse ( La isla feliz) escrita por su marido. También escribió tres libros: Forever Is A Long Time, Hollywood Wolves I Have Tamed y Reunion In Lilith. De estos libros, sólo fueron publicados los dos primeros. Asimismo se dedicó a escribir una serie de poesías, entre ellas Crepúsculo, la cual ganó el 'Asociación The Manuscriters. Montez murió a los 39 años de edad, el 7 de septiembre de 1951, aparentemente debido a un ataque al corazón y fue encontrada ahogada en el baño de su residencia en Suresnes. Fue enterrada en el Cementerio de Montparnasse. En su tumba se muestra 1918 como su fecha de nacimiento, siendo 1912 la real. 
Profile
María África Gracia Vidal (6 June 1912 – 7 September 1951), known as The Queen of Technicolor, was a Dominican motion picture actress who gained fame and popularity in the 1940s as an exotic beauty starring in a series of filmed-in-Technicolor costume adventure films. Her screen image was that of a hot-blooded Latin seductress, dressed in fanciful costumes and sparkling jewels. She became so identified with these adventure epics that she became known as "The Queen of Technicolor". Over her career, Montez appeared in 26 films, 21 of which were made in North America and the last five were made in Europe.
Biography
María Montez was born María Antonia García Vidal de Santo Silas (some sources cite María África Gracia Vidal or María África Antonia García Vidal de Santo Silas as her birth name) in Barahona, Dominican Republic.She was one of ten children born to Isidoro García, a Spaniard, and Teresa Vidal, a Dominican of Criollo descent. Montez was educated at the Sacred Heart Convent in Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
In the mid-1930s, her father was appointed to the Spanish consulship in Belfast, Northern Ireland where the family moved. It was there that Montez met her first husband, William G. In 1932, María Montez married William G. McFeeters, a wealthy Irish banker. 
Montez was spotted by a talent scout while visiting New York. Her first film was Boss of Bullion City, a Johnny Mack Brown western produced by Universal Pictures. This was the first movie where she played a leading role and the only role where she speaks some Spanish
Her next film was The Invisible Woman (1940). It was made for Universal Pictures, who signed her to a long term contract starting at $150 a week. Universal did not have a "glamour girl" like other studios - an equivalent to Hedy Lamarr (MGM), Dorothy Lamour (Paramount), Betty Grable (20th Century Fox), Rita Hayworth (Columbia) or Ann Sheridan (Warner Bros). They decided to groom Maria Montez to take this role and she received a lot of publicity. Montez was also a keen self-promoter. In the words of The Los Angeles Times "she borrowed an old but sure-fire technique to get ahead in the movies. She acted like a movie star. She leaned on the vampish tradition set up by Nazimova and Theda Bara... She went in heavily for astrology. Her name became synonymous with exotic enchantresses in sheer harem pantaloons." She took on a "star" pose in her private life. One newspaper called her "the best commissary actress in town... In the studio cafe, Maria puts on a real show. Always Maria makes an entrance." 
In June 1941 Montez's contract with Universal was renewed. She graduated to leading parts with South of Tahiti, co-starring Brian Donlevy. She also replaced Peggy Moran in the title role of The Mystery of Marie Roget (1942). Public response to South of Tahiti was enthusiastic enough for the studio to cast Montez in her first starring part, Arabian Nights. She claimed in 1942 she was making $250 a week.
Arabian Nights was a prestigious production for Universal, its first shot in three-strip Technicolor, produced by Walter Wanger and starring Montez, Jon Hall and Sabu. The resulting movie was a big hit and established Montez as a star. 
Maria Montez in film Arabian Nights 1942
While working in Hollywood, Montez met French actor Jean-Pierre Aumont. Aumont later wrote "to say that between us it was love at first sight would be an understatement".They married on 14 July 1943 at Montez's home in Beverly Hills. Charles Boyer was Aumont's best man and Jannine Crispin was Montez's matron of honour.
Maria Montez and her husband Jean-Pierre Aumont on their wedding ceremony
Publicity photography of Maria Montez for an Argentine magazine (1944)
Maria Montez publicity photo in 1944
According to Aumont "it was a strange house. You didn't answer the phone or read the mail; the doors were always open. Diamonds were left around like ashtrays. Lives of the Saints lay between two issues of movie magazines. An astrologer, a physical culture expert, a priest, a Chinese cook, and two Hungarian masseurs were part of the furnishings. During her massage sessions, Montez granted audiences."
Aumont had to leave a few days after wedding Montez to serve in the Free French Forces which were fighting against Nazi Germany in the European Theatre of World War II. At the end of World War II, the couple had a daughter, Maria Christina (also known as Tina Aumont), born in Hollywood on 14 February 1946. 
Maria Montez with her husband Jean-Pierre Aumont and their daughter Tina Aumont.
Montez said she was "tired of being a fairy tale princess all the time" and wanted to learn to act. She fought with Universal for different parts. She was suspended for refusing the lead in Frontier Gal.
In 1946 Montez visited France with Aumont and both became excited about the prospect of making movies there. Aumont says they were determined to get out of their respective contracts in Hollywood and move. In August 1947 Universal refused to pick up their option on Montez' services and she went freelance. 
Montez and Aumont formed their own production company, Christina Productions.They moved to a home in Suresnes, Île-de-France in the western suburb of Paris under the French Fourth Republic. According to Aumont, they were going to star in Orpheus (1950) which Aumont says Jean Cocteau wrote for him and Montez. However the filmmaker decided to use other actors.
Instead, in July 1948 Montez and Aumont made Wicked City (1949) for Christina Productions with Villiers directing and Aumont contributing to the script. It was one of the first US-French co productions after the war. 
In 1949 Aumont announced that they would get divorced but they remained together until Montez's death.
Aumont had begun writing plays and Montez appeared in a one-woman production, L'lle Heureuse ("The Happy Island"). Reviews were poor. After that, Montez made several films, none of them successful. then she made a movie with her husband, Revenge of the Pirates (1951). It would be the last film she ever made. Montez also wrote three books, two of which were published, as well as penning a number of poems. 
The 39-year-old Montez died in Suresnes, France on 7 September 1951 after apparently suffering a heart attack and drowning while taking a hot bath.
She was buried in the Cimetière du Montparnasse in Paris where her tombstone gives her amended year of birth (1918), not the actual year of birth (1912). 
In the book, Maria Montez, Su Vida by Margarita Vicens de Morales, there is a copy of Montez's birth certificate proving that her original name was Maria Africa Gracia Vidal.
There is also a copy of a fake biography made by Universal Pictures, where it says that Montez was educated in Tenerife and that she lived in Ireland, which was never true. Instead, it claims that Montez lived the first 27 years of her life in the Dominican Republic. She left the bulk of her $200,000 estate ($2 million today) to her husband and their five-year-old daughter. 
Maria Montez's tombstone in Cimetière du Montparnasse in Paris
Further reading
Books
 
Websites
Maria Montez fan site 
Profile of Lee Miller
Elizabeth "Lee" Miller, Lady Penrose (April 23, 1907 – July 21, 1977), was an American model, photographer and photojournalist. She was a fashion model in New York City in the 1920s before going to Paris, where she became a fashion and fine art photographer. During the Second World War, she was a war correspondent for Vogue, covering events such as the London Blitz, the liberation of Paris.
A woman's Solarised portrait (Meret Oppenheim?) photo by Lee Miller, Paris, 1930
Biography of Lee Miller
Childhood, New York
Lee Miller was born on April 23, 1907, in New York. Her father was of German descent, and her mother of Scottish and Irish descent. Theodore always favored Lee. In her childhood, Miller experienced issues in her formal education, being expelled from almost every school she attended. In 1925, at the age of eighteen, Miller moved to Paris where she studied lighting, costume and design at the Ladislas Medgyes' School of Stagecraft. She returned to New York in 1926 and joined an experimental drama programme at Vassar College then enrolled in the Art Students League of New York in Manhattan to study life drawing and painting..
Become model
At 19 Lee Miller nearly stepped in front of a car on a Manhattan street but was saved by Condé Nast, the publisher of Vogue. This incident helped launch her modeling career.
she appeared on the cover of Vogue on March 15, 1927. Miller's look was exactly what Vogue's then editor-in-chief Edna Woolman Chase was looking for to represent the emerging idea of the "modern girl." For the next two years, Miller was one of the most sought-after models in New York, photographed by leading fashion photographers including Edward Steichen, Arnold Genthe, Nickolas Muray and George Hoyningen-Huene. A photograph of Miller by Steichen was used to advertise Kotex menstrual pads, without her consent, effectively ending her career as a fashion model. She was hired by a fashion designer in 1929 to make drawings of fashion details in Renaissance paintings but she found photography more efficient. 
Lee Miller in Chanel by Edward Steichen, 1928
Lee Miller by Man Ray, 1929
1929, Photographer, Man Ray, Paris
In 1929, Lee Miller traveled to Paris with the intention of apprenticing herself to the surrealist artist and photographer Man Ray but soon Miller soon became his model and collaborator, as well as his lover and muse. While she was in Paris, she began her own photographic studio, often taking over Ray's fashion assignments to enable him to concentrate on his painting. So closely did they collaborate that photographs taken by Miller during this period are credited to Ray.
Together with Ray, she rediscovered the photographic technique of solarisation, through an accident variously described, with one of Miller's accounts involving a mouse running over her foot, causing her to switch on the light in mid-development.
Amongst Miller's circle of friends were Pablo Picasso and fellow Surrealists Paul Éluard and Jean Cocteau, the latter of whom was so mesmerized by Miller's beauty that he coated her in butter and transformed her into a plaster cast of a classical statue for his film, The Blood of a Poet (1930).
Photography is perfectly suited to women as a profession...it seems to me that women have a bigger chance at success in photography than men...women are quicker and more adaptable than men. And I think they have an intuition that helps them understand personalities more quickly than men."
1932, Photographer, New York
In 1932, Lee Miller returned to New York City and established a portrait and commercial photography studio with her brother Erik as her darkroom assistant.
Clients of the Lee Miller Studio included BBDO, Henry Sell, Elizabeth Arden, Helena Rubinstein, Saks Fifth Avenue, I. Magnin and Co., and Jay Thorpe. During 1932 Miller was included in the Modern European Photography exhibition at the Julien Levy Gallery in New York and in the Brooklyn Museum's exhibition International Photographers with László Moholy-Nagy, Cecil Beaton, Margaret Bourke-White, Tina Modotti, Charles Sheeler, Ray, and Edward Weston. In response to the exhibition, Katherine Grant Sterne wrote a review in Parnassus in March 1932, noting that Miller "has retained more of her American character in the Paris milieu. The very beautiful Bird Cages at Brooklyn; the study of a pink-nailed hand embedded in curly blond hair which is included in both the Brooklyn and the Julien Levy show; and the brilliant print of a white statue against a black drop, illumine the fact rather than distort it." In 1933, Julien Levy gave Miller the only solo exhibition of her life. Among her portrait clients were the surrealist artist Joseph Cornell, actresses Lilian Harvey and Gertrude Lawrence. 
1934, marriage, Cairo, Egypt
In 1934, Miller abandoned her studio to marry the Egyptian businessman and engineer Aziz Eloui Bey, who had come to New York City to buy equipment for the Egyptian National Railways. Although she did not work as a professional photographer during this period, the photographs she took while living in Egypt with Eloui, including Portrait of Space, are regarded as some of her most striking surrealist images.
In Cairo, Miller took a photograph of the desert near Siwa that Magritte saw and used as inspiration for his 1938 painting "Le Baiser." Miller also contributed an object to the Surrealist Objects and Poems exhibition at the London Gallery in 1934.
1940s, Photojournalist, USA, France
In 1937, Miller returned to Paris, where she met the British surrealist painter and curator Roland Penrose.
Four of her photographs ("Egypt" (1939), "Roumania" (1938), "Libya" (1939), and "Sinai" (1939)) were displayed at the 1940 exhibition Surrealism To-Day at the Zwemmer Gallery in London, and she herself moved to London to live with Roland Penrose. When the Second World War broke out, Lee Miller returned to the US and embarked on a new career in photojournalism as the official war photographer for Vogue, documenting the Blitz. 
She teamed up with the American photographer David E. Scherman, a Life correspondent on many assignments. Scherman's photograph of Miller lying in the bathtub of Adolf Hitler's apartment in Munich, with its shower hose looped in the center behind her head, resembling a noose, is one of the most iconic images from the Miller–Scherman partnership.
Lee Miller in Hitler's bathtub, Munich, 1945
Della Oake, by Lee Miller, 1950
Della Oake, by Lee Miller, 1950
1947, Motherhood, second marriage, Farley Farm House
In 1946, Lee Miller found herself pregnant by Penrose, she divorced her husband Bey and on May 3, 1947 married Penrose. Their son, Antony Penrose, was born in September 1947.
In 1949, the couple bought Farley Farm House in Chiddingly, East Sussex. During the 1950s and 1960s, Farley Farm became a sort of artistic Mecca for visiting artists such as Picasso, Ray, Henry Moore, Eileen Agar, Jean Dubuffet, Dorothea Tanning, and Max Ernst. While Miller continued to do the occasional photo shoot for Vogue, she soon discarded the darkroom for the kitchen, becoming a gourmet cook. According to her housekeeper Patsy, she specialized in "historical food" like roast suckling pig as well as treats such as marshmallows in a cola sauce (especially made to annoy English critic Cyril Connolly who told her Americans didn't know how to cook). She also provided photographs for her husband's biographies on Picasso and Antoni Tàpies. However, images from the war, especially the concentration camps, continued to haunt her and she started on what her son later described as a "downward spiral".
1977, death
Miller died of cancer at Farley Farm House in 1977, aged 70. She was cremated, and her ashes were spread through her herb garden at Farley.
Miller's work has served as inspiration for Gucci's Frida Giannini, Ann Demeulemeester and Alexander McQueen. Further reading
Articles and websites
Books
 Gabriele D'anunnzio(22 March 1863 - 1 March 1938) General Gabriele D'Annunzio, Prince of Montenevoso OMS CMG MVM (12 March 1863 – 1 March 1938), sometimes spelled d'Annunzio, was an Italian poet, playwright, and journalist and soldier during World War I. He occupied a prominent place in Italian literature from 1889 to 1910 and later political life from 1914 to 1924. He was often referred to under the epithets Il Vate ("the Poet") or Il Profeta ("the Prophet"). D'Annunzio was associated with the Decadent movement in his literary works, which interplayed closely with French Symbolism and British Aestheticism. Such works represented a turn against the naturalism of the preceding romantics and was both sensuous and mystical. He came under the influence of Friedrich Nietzsche which would find outlets in his literary and later political contributions. His affairs with several women, including Eleonora Duse and Luisa Casati, received public attention. During the First World War, perception of D'Annunzio in Italy transformed from literary figure into a national war hero. He was associated with the elite Arditi storm troops of the Italian Army and took part in actions such as the Flight over Vienna. As part of an Italian nationalist reaction against the Paris Peace Conference, he set up the short-lived Italian Regency of Carnaro in Fiume with himself as Duce. The constitution made "music" the fundamental principle of the state and was corporatist in nature. Though D'Annunzio never declared himself a fascist, he has been described as the forerunner of Italian fascism as his ideas and aesthetics influenced it and the style of Benito Mussolini.  Portrait of Gabriele d’Annunzio, photo by Mario Nunes Vais, 1892 Biography Birthplace of Gabriele D'Annunzio Museum in Pescara Gabriele D'Annunzio was born in the township of Pescara, in the region of Abruzzo, the son of a wealthy landowner and mayor of the town, Francesco Paolo Rapagnetta D'Annunzio (1831–1893). His father had been adopted at age 13 by a childless rich uncle, Antonio D'Annunzio.Legend has it that he was initially baptized Gaetano and given the name of Gabriele later in childhood, because of his angelic looks, a story that has largely been disproven. His precocious talent was recognised early in life, and he was sent to school at the Liceo Cicognini in Prato, Tuscany. He published his first poetry while still at school at the age of sixteen — a small volume of verses called Primo Vere (1879). His verse was distinguished by such agile grace that literary critic Giuseppe Chiarini on reading them brought the unknown youth before the public in an enthusiastic article.  Gabriele D'anunnzio(22 March 1863 - 1 March 1938) childhood In 1881 D'Annunzio entered the University of Rome La Sapienza, where he became a member of various literary groups, including Cronaca Bizantina, and wrote articles and criticism for local newspapers. In those university years he started to promote Italian irredentism.  Gabriele D'anunnzio(22 March 1863 - 1 March 1938) He published Canto novo (1882), Terra vergine (1882), L'intermezzo di rime (1883), Il libro delle vergini (1884) and the greater part of the short stories that were afterwards collected under the general title of San Pantaleone (1886). Canto novo contains poems full of pulsating youth and the promise of power, some descriptive of the sea and some of the Abruzzese landscape, commented on and completed in prose by Terra vergine, the latter a collection of short stories dealing in radiant language with the peasant life of the author's native province. Intermezzo di rime is the beginning of D'Annunzio's second and characteristic manner. His conception of style was new, and he chose to express all the most subtle vibrations of voluptuous life.  Gabriele D'anunnzio(22 March 1863 - 1 March 1938) reading Gabriele D'Annunzio joined the staff of the Tribuna, under the pseudonym of "Duca Minimo". Here he wrote Il libro d'Isotta (1886), a love poem, in which for the first time he drew inspiration adapted to modern sentiments and passions from the rich colours of the Renaissance. Il libro d'Isotta is interesting also, because in it one can find most of the germs of his future work, just as in Intermezzo melico and in certain ballads and sonnets one can find descriptions and emotions which later went to form the aesthetic contents of Il piacere, Il trionfo della morte and Elegie romane (1892). D'Annunzio's first novel Il Piacere (1889, translated into English as The Child of Pleasure) was followed in 1891 by Giovanni Episcopo, and in 1892 by L'innocente (The Intruder). These three novels made a profound impression. L'innocente, admirably translated into French by Georges Herelle, brought its author the notice and applause of foreign critics. His next work, Il trionfo della morte (The Triumph of Death) (1894), was followed soon by Le vergini delle rocce (The Maidens of the Rocks) (1896) and Il fuoco (The Flame of Life) (1900); the latter is in its descriptions of Venice perhaps the most ardent glorification of a city existing in any language. D'Annunzio's poetic work of this period, in most respects his finest, is represented by Il Poema Paradisiaco (1893), the Odi navali (1893), a superb attempt at civic poetry, and Laudi (1900). A later phase of D'Annunzio's work is his dramatic production, represented by Il sogno di un mattino di primavera (1897), a lyrical fantasia in one act, and his Città Morta (The Dead City) (1898), written for Sarah Bernhardt. In 1883, Gabriele D'Annunzio married Maria Hardouin di Gallese, and had three sons, but the marriage ended in 1891. In 1894, he began a love affair with the actress Eleonora Duse(1858-1924) which became a cause célèbre. He provided leading roles for her in his plays of the time such as La città morta (1898) and Francesca da Rimini (1901), but the tempestuous relationship finally ended in 1910.  Gabriele D'Annunzio with Eleonora Duse After meeting the Marchesa Luisa Casati in 1903, he began a lifelong turbulent on again-off again affair with Luisa, that lasted until a few years before his death.  By 1910, his daredevil lifestyle had forced him into debt, and he fled to France to escape his creditors. There he collaborated with composer Claude Debussy on a musical play, Le Martyre de saint Sébastien (The Martyrdom of St Sebastian), 1911, written for Ida Rubinstein.  Gabriele d'Annunzio with dancer Ida Rubinstein. The Vatican reacted by placing all of his works in the Index of Forbidden Books. The work was not successful as a play, but it has been recorded in adapted versions several times, notably by Pierre Monteux (in French), Leonard Bernstein (sung in French, acted in English), and Michael Tilson Thomas (in French). In 1912 and 1913, D'Annunzio worked with opera composer Pietro Mascagni on his opera Parisina, staying sometimes in a house rented by the composer in Bellevue, near Paris. In 1901, D'Annunzio and Ettore Ferrari, the Grand Master of the Grand Orient of Italy, founded the Università Popolare di Milano (Popular University of Milan), located in via Ugo Foscolo. D'Annunzio held the inaugural speech and subsequently became an associated professor and a lecturer in the same institution.  Gabriele d'Annunzio After the start of World War I, D'Annunzio returned to Italy and made public speeches in favor of Italy's entry on the side of the Triple Entente. With the war beginning he volunteered and achieved further celebrity as a fighter pilot, losing the sight of an eye in a flying accident. In February 1918, he took part in a daring, if militarily irrelevant, raid on the harbour of Bakar (known in Italy as La beffa di Buccari, lit. the Bakar Mockery), helping to raise the spirits of the Italian public, still battered by the Caporetto disaster. On 9 August 1918, as commander of the 87th fighter squadron "La Serenissima", he organized one of the great feats of the war, leading nine planes in a 700-mile round trip to drop propaganda leaflets on Vienna. This is called in Italian "il Volo su Vienna", "the Flight over Vienna". On 12 September 1919, he led the seizure by 2,000 Italian nationalist irregulars of the city, forcing the withdrawal of the inter-Allied (American, British and French) occupying forces. The plotters sought to have Italy annex Fiume, but were denied. D'Annunzio then declared Fiume an independent state, the Italian Regency of Carnaro with himself as "Duce" (leader), but finally surrendering the city in December 1920 after a bombardment by the Italian navy.  Gabriele D'Annunzio (left) with a fellow officer After the Fiume episode, D'Annunzio retired to his home on Lake Garda and spent his latter years writing and campaigning. Although D'Annunzio had a strong influence on the ideology of Benito Mussolini, he never became directly involved in fascist government politics in Italy. In 1924 he was ennobled by King Victor Emmanuel III and given the hereditary title of Prince of Montenevoso (Italian: Principe di Montenevoso). In 1937 he was made president of the Royal Academy of Italy.  D'Annunzio (1863 - 1938) with Benito Mussolini (1883 - 1945) . Photo by Henry Guttmann/Getty Images. D'Annunzio died in 1938 of a stroke, at his home in Gardone Riviera. He was given a state funeral by Mussolini and was interred in a magnificent tomb constructed of white marble at Il Vittoriale degli Italiani.  Gabriele D'anunnzio(22 March 1863 - 1 March 1938) At the height of his success, D'Annunzio was celebrated for the originality, power and decadence of his writing. Although his work had immense impact across Europe, and influenced generations of Italian writers, his fin de siècle works are now little known, and his literary reputation has always been clouded by his fascist associations. A prolific writer, his novels in Italian include Il piacere (The Child of Pleasure, 1889), Il trionfo della morte (The Triumph of Death, 1894), and Le vergini delle rocce (The Maidens of the Rocks, 1896). D'Annunzio's literary creations were strongly influenced by the French Symbolist school, and contain episodes of striking violence and depictions of abnormal mental states interspersed with gorgeously imagined scenes. One of D'Annunzio's most significant novels, scandalous in its day, is Il fuoco (The Flame of Life) of 1900, in which he portrays himself as the Nietzschean Superman Stelio Effrena, in a fictionalized account of his love affair with Eleonora Duse. His short stories showed the influence of Guy de Maupassant. He was also associated with the Italian noblewoman Luisa Casati, an influence on his novels and one of his mistresses. In Italy some of his poetic works remain popular, most notably his poem "La pioggia nel pineto" (The Rain in the Pinewood), which exemplifies his linguistic virtuosity as well as the sensuousness of his poetry. His work was part of the literature event in the art competition at the 1912 Summer Olympics.  Gabriele D'Annunzio reading (photo by Mario Nunes Vais) Gabriele D'Annunzio's life and work are commemorated in a museum, Il Vittoriale degli Italiani (The Shrine of Italian Victories). He planned and developed it himself, adjacent to his villa at Gardone Riviera on the southwest bank of Lake Garda, between 1923 and his death. Now a national monument, it is a complex of military museum, library, literary and historical archive, theatre, war memorial and mausoleum. His birthplace is also open to the public as a museum, Birthplace of Gabriele D'Annunzio Museum in Pescara.  Villa of Vittoriale degli italiani, Gabriele D'Annunzio museum. Further interestArticles Books  Le comte Robert de Montesquiou, né à Paris le 19 mars 1855 et mort à Menton (Alpes-Maritimes) le 11 décembre 1921, est un poète, homme de lettres, dandy et critique d'art et de littérature. « Poète et dandy insolent », il aurait servi de modèle à des Esseintes dans À Rebours (1884) de Huysmans et à Monsieur de Phocas de Jean Lorrain. Il fournit aussi à Marcel Proust l'un des modèles du baron de Charlus dans À la recherche du temps perdu, ce qui le rendit furieux malgré les dénégations de Proust. La postérité l'a malmené sans tenir compte de la diversité de ses activités et de la qualité de ses écrits.  Portrait of Count Robert de Montesquiou by Giovanni Boldini (1842-1931), 1897 Oil on canvas En 1897, Boldini est chargé, par l'intermédiaire d'une amie commune, Madame Veil-Picard, de faire le portrait du comte Robert de Montesquiou. Le peintre ne peut qu'être attiré par la personnalité de cet homme de lettres, emblème de l'esthète contemporain et nouvelle incarnation du dandy baudelairien.  Comte Robert de Montesquiou-Fézensac (1855-1921) par Lucien Doucet, 1879 Marie Joseph Robert Anatole, Comte de Montesquiou-Fézensac (7 March 1855, Paris – 11 December 1921, Menton), was a French aesthete, Symbolist poet, art collector and dandy. He is reputed to have been the inspiration both for Jean des Esseintes in Joris-Karl Huysmans' À rebours (1884) and, most famously, for the Baron de Charlus in Marcel Proust's À la recherche du temps perdu (1913–1927). He also won a bronze medal in the hacks and hunter combined event at the 1900 Summer Olympics. Biography Robert Montesquiou with his Persian cat Robert de Montesquiou was a scion of the French Montesquiou-Fézensac family. His paternal grandfather was Count Anatole de Montesquiou-Fézensac (1788–1878), aide-de-camp to Napoleon and grand officer of the Légion d'honneur; his father Thierry bought a Charnizay manor with his wife's dowry, built a mansion in Paris, and was elected Vice-President of the Jockey Club. He was a successful stockbroker who left a substantial fortune. Robert was the last of his parents' children. His cousin, Élisabeth, Countess Greffulhe (1860–1952), was one of Marcel Proust's models for the Duchess of Guermantes in À la recherche du temps perdu. Montesquiou had a strong influence on Émile Gallé (1846–1904), a glass artist he collaborated with and commissioned major works from, and from whom he received hundreds of adulatory letters. He also wrote the verses found in the optional choral parts of Gabriel Fauré's Pavane.  Arrangement in Black and Gold: Comte Robert de Montesquiou-Fezensac by Whistler, 1891–92 The portrait Arrangement in Black and Gold: Comte Robert de Montesquiou-Fezensac was painted in 1891–92 by Montesquiou's close friend, and model for many of his eccentric mannerisms, James Whistler. The French artist Antonio de La Gandara (1861–1917) produced several portraits of Montesquiou.  Comte Robert de Montesquiou (1855-1921), photo par Nadar, 1895 Tall, black-haired, Kaiser-moustached, he cackled and screamed in weird attitudes, giggling in high soprano, hiding his black teeth behind an exquisitely gloved hand—the poseur absolute. Montesquiou's homosexual tendencies were patently obvious, but he may in fact have lived a chaste life. He had no affairs with women, although in 1876 he reportedly once slept with the great actress Sarah Bernhardt, after which he vomited for twenty-four hours. (She remained a great friend.)"  Sarah Bernhardt(1844-1923) in Frou-Frou, 1882 Montesquiou had social relationships and collaborations with many celebrities of the fin de siècle period, including Alphonse Daudet (1840–1897), Edmond de Goncourt (1822–1896), Eleonora Duse (1858–1924), Sarah Bernhardt (1844–1923), Gabriele d'Annunzio (1863–1938), Anna de Noailles (1876–1933), Marthe Bibesco (1886–1973), Luisa Casati (1881–1957), Maurice Barrès (1862–1923), and Franca Florio. While Montesquiou had many aristocratic women friends, he much preferred the company of bright and attractive young men. In 1885, he began a close long-term relationship with Gabriel Yturri (March 12, 1860 – July 6, 1905), a handsome South American immigrant from Tucuman, Argentina, who became his secretary, companion, and lover.  Robert de Montesquiou(7 March 1855 – 11 December 1921) After Yturri died of diabetes, Henri Pinard replaced him as secretary in 1908 and eventually inherited Montesquiou's much reduced fortune. Montesquiou and Yturri are buried alongside each other at Cimetière des Gonards in Versailles, Île-de-France, France.  Robert de Montesquiou et Gabriel Yturri par Sem, graveur (1863-1934) |
