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Jean Peters (October 15, 1926 – October 13, 2000)

15/10/2022

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Jean Peters (October 15, 1926 – October 13, 2000), Amercian actress, the wife of billionaire Howard Hughes
Elizabeth Jean Peters (October 15, 1926 – October 13, 2000) was an American film actress. She is known as a star of 20th Century Fox in the late 1940s and early 1950s, and as the second wife of Howard Hughes. Although possibly best remembered for her siren role in Pickup on South Street (1953), Peters was known for her resistance to being turned into a sex symbol. She preferred to play unglamorous, down-to-earth women.

Biography

Jean Peters (October 15, 1926 – October 13, 2000), Amercian actress, the wife of billionaire Howard Hughes
Elizabeth Jean Peters was born on October 15, 1926, in East Canton, Ohio, the daughter of Elizabeth (née Diesel) and Gerald Peters, a laundry manager. Raised on a small farm in East Canton, Peters attended East Canton High School. She was raised as a Methodist. She went to college at the University of Michigan and later Ohio State University, where she studied to become a teacher and majored in literature.

While studying for a teaching degree at Ohio State, she entered and won the Miss Ohio State Pageant in the fall of 1945, besting eleven other finalists. She was awarded the grand prize of a screen test with 20th Century-Fox.
Jean Peters (October 15, 1926 – October 13, 2000), Amercian actress, the wife of billionaire Howard Hughes
Jean Peters (October 15, 1926 – October 13, 2000), Amercian actress, the wife of billionaire Howard Hughes
Jean Peters (October 15, 1926 – October 13, 2000), Amercian actress, the wife of billionaire Howard Hughes
​As her agent, Somebody Robinson accompanied her to Hollywood, and helped her secure a seven-year contract with Fox. After landing a contract in Hollywood, Peters moved there, where she initially lived with her aunt, Melba Diesel. She dropped out of college to become an actress, a decision she later regretted. (In the late 1940s, Peters returned to college, in between filming, to complete her work and obtain a degree.)

​The decorated soldier and actor, Audie Murphy, met Peters when both were students at the Actors Lab. They had a very warm affair in 1946, before she met Howard Hughes. 

It was announced that in her first film I Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now (1947), she would play an "ugly duckling", supported by "artificial freckles and horn-rimmed glasses". She eventually withdrew from the film. Peters was tested in 1946 for a farm girl role in Scudda Hoo! Scudda Hay! (1948), but the producer and director decided she was not suitable.
Jean Peters (October 15, 1926 – October 13, 2000), Amercian actress, the wife of billionaire Howard Hughes
Jean ​Peters was selected to replace Linda Darnell as the female lead in Captain from Castile (1947) opposite Tyrone Power, when Darnell was reassigned to save the production of Forever Amber. Although she had not yet made her screen debut, Peters was highly publicized. She received star treatment during the filming. Captain from Castile was a hit. Leonard Maltin wrote that afterwards, Peters spent the new decade playing "sexy spitfires, often in period dramas and Westerns."

She was offered a similar role in the western Yellow Sky (1948), but she refused the part, explaining it was "too sexy". As a result, the studio, frustrated by her stubbornness, put her on her first suspension.

For her second film, Deep Waters (1948), which Peters filmed in late 1947, she was reunited with her director from Captain from Castile, Henry King. On this, she commented: "It's really a break for me, because he knows where he's going and what he wants, and I naturally have great confidence in him." The film was not nearly as successful as Captain from Castile, but Peters was again noticed. She was named among the best five 'finds' of the year, among Barbara Bel Geddes, Valli, Richard Widmark and Wanda Hendrix.

She was next assigned to co-star next to Clifton Webb in Mr. Belvedere Goes to College (1949), but Shirley Temple later replaced her.

In early 1949 Peters signed on to play Ray Milland's love interest in It Happens Every Spring (1949). For the role, she offered to bleach her hair, but the studio overruled this. Although the film became a success, most of the publicity was for Milland's performance.

Peters next starred alongside Paul Douglas in the period film Love That Brute (1950), for which she had to wear a dress so snug she was unable to sit. The film was originally titled Turned Up Toes, and Peters was cast in the film in June 1949, shortly after the release of It Happens Every Spring. To prepare for a singing and dancing scene, Peters took a few lessons with Betty Grable's dance instructor.

By 1950, Peters was almost forgotten by the public, although she had been playing lead roles since 1947. In late 1950, she was cast in a secondary role as a college girl in Take Care of My Little Girl (1951), a Jeanne Crain vehicle. A Long Beach newspaper reported that Peters gained her role by impressing Jean Negulesco with her sewing. She once became famous for playing a simple country girl, but as she grew up, the studio did not find her any more suitable roles.
Jean Peters (October 15, 1926 – October 13, 2000), Amercian actress, the wife of billionaire Howard Hughes
At her insistence Jean Peters was given the title role in Anne of the Indies (1951), which the press declared was the film that finally brought her stardom.

Before its release, she was cast in Viva Zapata! (1952) opposite Marlon Brando. Julie Harris had been considered for this role.

Also in 1951, Peters had her first collaboration with Marilyn Monroe, when they had secondary roles in As Young as You Feel.

Peters was set to play the title role in the drama film Wait Till the Sun Shines, Nellie (1952). It was the first time since the beginning of her career that Peters received this much publicity. While shooting the film in Hutchinson, Kansas, Peters was honored with the title 'Miss Wheatheart of America'.

In 1953 the director Samuel Fuller chose Peters over Marilyn Monroe for the part of Candy in Pickup on South Street. He said he thought Peters had the right blend of sex appeal and the tough-talking, streetwise quality he was seeking. Monroe, he said, was too innocent looking for the role. Shelley Winters and Betty Grable had previously been considered but both had turned it down. Because of the sexual attractiveness of her character, Peters was not thrilled with the role. She preferred playing more down-to-earth, unglamorous parts as she had done with Anne of the Indies (1951), Viva Zapata! (1952) and Lure of the Wilderness (1952).

For Pickup on South Street Peters was advised to bleach her hair but she refused to do so, wanting to avoid comparisons with Winters and Grable. She did agree to adopt a "sexy shuffle" for the role. She was helped by Marilyn Monroe to understand the role of a siren. Peters later said that she had enjoyed making the film, but announced in an interview that she was not willing to take on other siren roles. She said: "Pickup on South Street was fine for my career, but that doesn't mean I'm going to put on a tight sweater and skirt and slither around. I'm just not the type. On Marilyn Monroe it looks good. On me it would look silly." In another interview, Peters explained that playing down-to-earth and sometimes unwashed women have the most to offer in the way of drama.
Jean Peters (October 15, 1926 – October 13, 2000), Amercian actress, the wife of billionaire Howard Hughes
Jean Peters (October 15, 1926 – October 13, 2000), Amercian actress, the wife of billionaire Howard Hughes
A clothes horse seldom has lines or situations that pierce the outer layer and get into the core of life. After all, a woman in the latest Paris creation might feel and think like a plain, simple soul but the clothes she wears would prevent her from revealing exactly what she feels and thinks. One look in the mirror and she must live up to what she sees there. The same is true on screen.

- Jean Peters
Jean Peters (October 15, 1926 – October 13, 2000), Amercian actress, the wife of billionaire Howard Hughes
Jean Peters (October 15, 1926 – October 13, 2000), Amercian actress, the wife of billionaire Howard Hughes
Jean Peters (October 15, 1926 – October 13, 2000), Amercian actress, the wife of billionaire Howard Hughes
Jean Peters (October 15, 1926 – October 13, 2000), Amercian actress, the wife of billionaire Howard Hughes
Jean Peters (October 15, 1926 – October 13, 2000), Amercian actress, the wife of billionaire Howard Hughes
Jean Peters and Marilyn Monroe starred together in another 1953 film noir, Niagara, also starring Joseph Cotten. Shooting of Niagara took place in the summer of 1952. Peters's character was initially the leading role, but the film eventually became a vehicle for Monroe, who was by that time more successful.
Jean Peters (October 15, 1926 – October 13, 2000), Amercian actress, the wife of billionaire Howard Hughes, with Marilyn Monroe and Casey Adams
Peters's third film in 1953, A Blueprint for Murder, reunited her with Joseph Cotten. She was assigned to the film in December 1952 and told the press she liked playing in the film because it allowed her to sing, but there is no song by her in the picture, only the playing of a piano. Shortly after the film's premiere in July 1953, the studio renewed Peters's contract for another two years.

In 1953 she also starred in the film noir Vicki. The writer Leo Townsend bought the story of the film, a remake of I Wake Up Screaming, as a vehicle for Peters. Townsend said that he gave the role to Peters in December 1952, because she was "one of the greatest sirens he's ever seen."

Next, Peters was assigned in the film Three Coins in the Fountain (1954), which was shot on location in late 1953 in Italy. Peters was unsatisfied with her role and said in a September 1953 interview: "When I heard Dorothy McGuire, Clifton Webb and Maggie McNamara were going to be in the picture, I thought I would finally have the kind of role that suited me. They sounded like smart, sophisticated company. But when I got to Italy and read the script, I discovered I was going to be an earthy kind of girl again. The script had me nearly being killed in a runaway truck." However, the film became a great success and brought Peters again into the limelight.
Jean Peters (October 15, 1926 – October 13, 2000), Amercian actress, the wife of billionaire Howard Hughes, with Joseph Cotton
Other 1954 films co-starring Jean Peters were the westerns Apache and Broken Lance. Although Broken Lance did not attract much attention, she was critically acclaimed for her performance in Apache. One critic praised her for "giving an excellent account for herself", declaring she was "on her way to becoming one of the finest young actresses around Hollywood today."

In 1954, Peters married Texas oilman Stuart Cramer. At the time they married, they had known each other for only a few weeks, and they separated a few months later. 

Peters's next (and ultimately final) film was A Man Called Peter (1955), in which she played Catherine Marshall, the wife of Peter Marshall, a Presbyterian minister and Chaplain of the United States Senate. After the release of A Man Called Peter, Peters refused several roles, for which she was placed on suspension by the studio.

Deciding she had had enough, Peters left Fox to focus on her private life.

In 1957, after her divorce from Cramer, Peters married Howard Hughes. Following her marriage, she retired from acting. Soon after that, he retreated from public view and, reportedly, started becoming an eccentric recluse. The couple had met in the 1940s, before Peters became a film actress. During their highly publicized romance in 1947 there was talk of marriage, but Peters said that she could not combine it with her career. The columnist Jack Anderson claimed that Peters was "the only woman [Hughes] ever loved." He reportedly had his security officers follow her everywhere even when they were not in a relationship. The actor Max Showalter confirmed this, after becoming a close friend of Peters during shooting of Niagara (1953).

In 1957, the producer Jerry Wald tried to persuade her not to leave Hollywood but had no luck. She was supposedly discouraged from continuing as an actress by Hughes, and reported in late 1957 that she was planning on becoming a producer.

In March 1959, it was announced that Peters was to return to the screen for a supporting role in The Best of Everything. But, she did not appear in that film; and, despite her earlier announcement, never produced a film.

During her marriage, which lasted from 1957 to 1971, Jean Peters not only retired from acting, but social events in Hollywood as well. According to a 1969 article, she went through life unrecognized, despite being protected by Hughes's security officers all day. Living in anonymity was easy, according to Peters, because she "didn't act like an actress." It was later reported that during the marriage, Peters was frequently involved in activities such as charitable work, arts and crafts, and university studies including psychology and anthropology at UCLA.
In 1970, rumors arose of Jean Peters making a comeback to acting when the press reported that she was considering three film offers and a weekly TV series for the 1970–1971 season. She chose the television movie Winesburg, Ohio (1973). Afterwards, she said, "I am not pleased with the show or my performance in it. I found it rather dull." At the beginning, she had expressed enthusiasm for the project, saying: "I'm very fond of this script. It's the right age for me. I won't have to pretend I'm a glamour girl." Her co-star William Windom praised her, saying she was "warm, friendly and charming on the set."

​In 1971, Peters and Hughes divorced. She agreed to a lifetime alimony payment of $70,000 ($470,000 today) annually, adjusted for inflation, and she waived all claims to Hughes's estate, then worth several billion dollars. In the media, she refused to speak about the marriage, claiming she preferred to focus on the present and future. She said that she hoped to avoid being known as 'Mrs. Howard Hughes' for the rest of her life, although that would be difficult. "I'm a realist. I know what the score is, and I know who the superstar is."

Later in 1971, Peters married Stan Hough, an executive with 20th Century Fox. They were married until Hough's death in 1990.

In 1976, Peters had a supporting role in the TV miniseries The Moneychangers. When asked why she took the role, she said: "I'll be darned if I know. A moment of madness, I think. I ran into my old friend Ross Hunter, who was producing The Moneychangers for NBC-TV, and he asked me if I wanted to be in it. It seemed like fun. It's a nice part – not too big – and I greatly admire Christopher Plummer, whom I play opposite."

Peters appeared in the 1981 television film Peter and Paul, produced by her then-husband, Stan Hough. She guest-starred in Murder, She Wrote in 1988, which was her final acting performance.
From the beginning of her career, Peters openly admitted she did not like fame due to the crowds. Co-actors at Fox recalled that she was very serious about her career.
Peters was close friends with Marilyn Monroe, who also worked for Fox. Other actors she befriended during her career were Joseph Cotten, David Niven, Ray Milland, Marie McDonald, and especially Jeanne Crain. Jeanne Crain said Peters was "anything but a party girl". Despite her clashes with the studio, Peters was well-liked by other contract players.

One biographer recalled: "In all the research and planning that went into this book, no one ever had an unkind word to say of Miss Peters, and that is unusual." 
Jean Peters died of leukemia on October 13, 2000, in Carlsbad, California, two days before her 74th birthday. She was buried at the Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California.
Jean Peters (October 15, 1926 – October 13, 2000), Amercian actress, the wife of billionaire Howard Hughes
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Cléo de Mérode(27 September 1875-17 October 1966)

27/9/2022

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Postcard with photo of Cléo de Mérode (1901), by Reutlinger.
Postcard with photo of Cléo de Mérode (1901), by Reutlinger.
Cléopâtre-Diane de Merode, known as Cléo de Mérode, is a dancer, model and beauty icon of France. She was born on 27 September 1875 in Paris and died on 17 October 1966 in the same city.
Cléopâtre-Diane de Merode, dite Cléo de Mérode, est une danseuse, modèle et icône de beauté française née le 27 septembre 1875 dans le 5e arrondissement de Paris et morte le 17 octobre 1966 dans le 8e arrondissement de la même ville.
Cléo de Mérode(27 September 1875-17 October 1966), the most beautiful woman of la bella epoque, 1897

Biography

Cléo de Mérode(27 September 1875-17 October 1966), the most beautiful woman of La Belle Epoque
​Cléopâtre-Diane de Merode was born in Paris, France on 27 September 1875, as the  illegitimate daughter of Vincentia Marie Cécilia von Merode (1850-1899), a Belgian baroness and her lover, an upper class Austrian. Although Vincentia de Merode was abandoned by her lover, her family provided her and her daughter with financial support, and ​Cléopâtre-Diane de Merode studied in the convent of Saint-Vincent-de-Paul in Paris, then trained at the dance school of Opéra de Paris. 
Cléo de Mérode, by Paul Nadar, 1894
Cléo de Mérode, by Paul Nadar, 1894
Cléo de Merode, by Charles Ogerau, 1895
Cléo de Merode, by Charles Ogerau, 1895
In 1896, Cléopâtre-Diane, by then called Cléo de Mérode, created a ballet in the casino of Royan by French composer Louis Ganne Phryné, which later became an important piece in Opéra de Paris. She also danced in other ballets created by different composers, such as Coppélia, Sylvia ou la Nymphe de Diane by Léo Delibes, Les Deux Pigeons by André Messager, L'Étoile by André Wormser and Le Couronnement de la Muse by Gustave Charpentier.
In 1898 ​Cléo de Mérode left Opéra de Paris and since then embarked on her career as an independent dancer and sometimes choreographer, until the breakout of The First World War. 

In 1900, she produced and danced in the ballet danses cambodgiennes, at the Universal Exposition in Paris; In 1902, she created Tanagra inspired by the poem of same name by Paul Franck, as well as  another ballet 
Phoébé.

​In 1901, the director of Folies Bergère, Édouard Marchand, hired her to dance in a three act ballet pantomime Lorenza, his last creation in Paris.

​Cléo de Mérode retired from her dancing career 1924, and since then, had only danced occasionally.
Cléo de Mérode in ballet costume
Cléo de Mérode in ballet costume
Although a successful dance of her epoque, Cléo de Mérode was known by her extraordinary beauty. She was courted by countless men, many of them famous, including King Léopold II of the Belgians. 

Various artists of her time were also inspired by her beauty, and she had posed for the sculptor Alexandre Falguière, the painters Edgar Degas, Jean-Louis Forain, Giovanni Boldini, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, etc. ​
Cléo de Mérode by Giovanni Boldini, 1901
Cléo de Mérode by Giovanni Boldini, 1901
Some of the artists, like Paul Klee, as well as the writers of the time, such as Jean de Tinan, Georges Rodenbach, also left written testimonial expressing their fascination of the beauty and grace of Cléo de Mérode. French writer Jean Cocteau wrote that she was « la Belle des belles »(The Beauty of the beauties).

And thanks to the photographers of her époque, in particular Léopold-Émile Reutlinger (1863-1937), who was mesmerized by her delicate beauty, Cléo de Mérode's image was diffused internationally, making her one of the first women well known around the world.
Cléo de Merode, by Charles Ogerau, 1902
Cléo de Merode, by Charles Ogerau, 1902
Cleo de Merode, 1903
Cleo de Merode, 1903
Cléo de Merode by Reutlinger
Cléo de Merode by Reutlinger
Cleo de Merode, 1905
Cleo de Merode, 1905
Cléo de Mérode, 1905
Cléo de Mérode, 1905
In 1896, Cléo de Mérode was elected “Beauty Queen” by the readers of The Paris magazine L'Illustration based on the photos. The Magazine had presented to their reader 131 celebrities, including Sarah Bernhardt for them to choose from.

And that same year, Cléo de Mérode became more notorious when French sculptor Alexandre Falguière presented his nude sculpture of the dancer titled La Danseuse at the Salon des artistes français.

Cléo de Mérode defended her honor acclaiming that she had never posed for the sculptor naked and accused Alexandre Falguière using her head together with the body of another model.
Cléo de Mérode by Mariano Benlliure, 1910
Cléo de Mérode by Mariano Benlliure, 1910
Cléo de Mérode, 1910
Cléo de Mérode, 1910
Cléo de Mérode(27 September 1875-17 October 1966), the most beautiful woman of la bella epoque
But hard as she tried defending herself, Cléo de Mérode's fame was tinted, worsened by the rumor that she was the lover of King Léopold II of the Belgians. And she would have to fight for her reputation for the rest of her life.

In 1949, the French philosopher 
Simone de Beauvoir mentioned Cléo de Mérode as a "Cocotte"(a woman of certain reputation) in her book Le Deuxième Sexe (The Second Sex). Cléo de Mérode filed a lawsuit against the philosopher reclaiming millions of francs. She won the lawsuit the second year with a symbolic one franc.

But her reputation was not completed saved. Even as late as 2015, long after her death, Cléo de Mérode was included in an exposition of the prostitution of Belle Époque at musée d'Orsay.

In 1955, she published her autobiography, titled Le Ballet de ma vie(The Ballet of My Life), in which she revealed her real relations with King Léopold II of the Belgians.

Cléo de Mérode died on 17 October 1966 at her home in Paris, at the age of 91.
Portrait of Cléo de Mérode by Spanish painter Manuel Benedito(1873-1963)
Portrait of Cléo de Mérode by Spanish painter Manuel Benedito(1873-1963)

Biographie

​Issue d'une naissance illégitime, elle est la fille naturelle de Vincentia Marie Cécilia von Merode (1850-1899), baronne belge issue de la branche autrichienne de la famille de Merode, abandonnée par son amant, membre de la haute bourgeoisie autrichienne. Vincentia de Merode conserve toutefois le soutien financier de sa famille. Sa fille étudie chez les sœurs de Saint-Vincent-de-Paul, rue de Monceau à Paris.
Cléo de Merode, par Charles Ogerau, 1895
Cléo de Merode, par Charles Ogerau, 1895
Formée à l'école de danse de l'Opéra de Paris, Cléopâtre-Diane, dite Cléo de Mérode, crée en 1896 au casino de Royan Phryné, un ballet de Louis Ganne, puis est nommée grand sujet à l'Opéra de Paris et danse dans Coppélia, Sylvia ou la Nymphe de Diane de Léo Delibes, Les Deux Pigeons d'André Messager, L'Étoile d'André Wormser et Le Couronnement de la Muse de Gustave Charpentier. Elle quitte l'institution en 1898 puis entreprend une carrière indépendante internationale et danse jusqu'à la Première Guerre mondiale.

Son charme lui vaut alors une foule d'admirateurs intéressés.
Elle se produit à l'Exposition universelle de Paris en 1900 dans les « danses cambodgiennes », crée en 1902 à Moscou et Madrid Tanagra sur un poème de Paul Franck puis Phoébé à l'Opéra-Comique à Paris.

En 1901, le directeur des Folies Bergère, Édouard Marchand, la recrute pour un ballet pantomime en trois actes dénommé Lorenza. C’est le dernier grand spectacle qu'il organise dans cette salle parisienne.
Cléo de Mérode dans le ballet Lorenza en 1901 aux Folies Bergère, cliché Reutlinger.
Cléo de Mérode dans le ballet Lorenza en 1901 aux Folies Bergère, cliché Reutlinger.
Malgré une rentrée réussie en 1924, elle décide de se retirer du monde de la danse à Paris. Sur la demande d'Henri Varna et Émile Audiffred, elle reparaît ponctuellement sur scène en juin 1934 dans La revue 1900 aux côtés du danseur George Skibine. « Je portais une robe de satin rose, baleinée à la taille, très longue, avec un ruché dans le bas. Nous dansions cinq valses à la file ; nous finissions par un grand tourbillon, et Skibine m'emportait dans ses bras au fond de la scène ».

Sa beauté délicate, hors des canons de beauté 1900, est restée légendaire, ainsi que les hommages qu'elle reçoit de quelques célèbres soupirants, plus particulièrement le roi Léopold II de Belgique, aventures qu'elle relate dans ses mémoires, Le Ballet de ma vie, publiées en 1955 par les Éditions Horay, à Paris. La rumeur infondée de leur liaison et, par conséquent de son influence sur la politique belge et congolaise, a cependant nui à sa réputation.
Léopold II (roi des Belges), né le 9 avril 1835 au palais royal de Bruxelles et mort le 17 décembre 1909 au château de Laeken
Léopold II (roi des Belges), né le 9 avril 1835 au palais royal de Bruxelles et mort le 17 décembre 1909 au château de Laeken
​Elle pose pour le sculpteur Alexandre Falguière, pour les peintres Edgar Degas, Jean-Louis Forain, Giovanni Boldini, elle est représentée par Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, par le verrier capitaine d’industries et artiste Georges Despret, et a son effigie en cire au musée Grévin dès 1895, façonnée par le chef d'atelier du musée, le sculpteur Léopold Bernstamm.

Elle est une des premières femmes dont l’image photographique, due notamment aux photographes Paul Nadar (1856-1939), fils et successeur de Félix Nadar, et surtout Léopold-Émile Reutlinger (1863-1937), est diffusée à l'échelle mondiale. Elle pose également pour l'atelier photographique Benque (photographies prises à l'Opéra de Paris, à partir de 1890), le photographe Charles-Pierre Ogerau (1868-1908), auteur d'une série de portraits en 1895, et plus tard, Henri Manuel (1874-1947).

Élue « reine de Beauté » sur photographies par les lecteurs de L'Illustration en 1896, parmi 131 célébrités, dont Sarah Bernhardt ; elle accroît sa notoriété la même année avec un parfum de scandale, du fait de l'exposition de la sculpture La Danseuse d’Alexandre Falguière au Salon des artistes français. 
Alexandre Falguière, La Danseuse (Salon de 1896), marbre, sculpture pour laquelle Cléo de Mérode a posé.
Alexandre Falguière, La Danseuse (Salon de 1896), marbre, sculpture pour laquelle Cléo de Mérode a posé.
Ce nu en marbre blanc grandeur nature aurait été taillé d'après un moulage en plâtre de son corps, œuvre conservée à Paris au musée d'Orsay. Si le grain de la peau visible sur le plâtre prouve bien un moulage sur le vif, Cléo de Mérode s'est pourtant toujours défendue d'avoir posé nue. Elle accuse Falguière d’avoir fabriqué une œuvre à scandale en moulant le corps de la statue sur un autre modèle féminin, alors qu’elle n’aurait posé que pour la tête.
Des personnalités contemporaines aussi diverses que les hommes de lettres Jean de Tinan, Georges Rodenbach, ou le peintre Paul Klee, laissent des témoignages écrits exprimant le pouvoir de fascination qu'exerçait son image, en mouvement sur scène, ou fixée par la photographie.

Jean Cocteau écrit qu'elle est « la Belle des belles », « cette vierge qui ne l'est pas, cette dame préraphaélite qui marche les yeux baissés à travers les groupes. […] Un autre fantôme l'escorte, un fantôme royal avec un bel éventail de barbe blanche. Le profil de Cléo est tellement gracieux, tellement divin que les caricaturistes s'y brisent ». Le poète fait ici référence à sa liaison supposée mais toujours démentie par elle avec le roi des Belges Léopold II.
​En 1950, Cléo de Mérode gagne un procès contre Simone de Beauvoir, qui en 1949 dans Le Deuxième Sexe l'assimilait à une « cocotte », ignorant par ailleurs qu'elle était encore en vie. Le juge considère que l'ancienne danseuse aurait dû publiquement démentir cette rumeur à l'époque mais indique que les propos de la philosophe sont inconvenants et la condamne à faire retirer cette mention de son livre et à un franc symbolique d'amende, alors que Cléo de Mérode réclamait millions. Dans Les femmes, actrices de l'Histoire, l'historienne Yannick Ripa écrit : « Réputée pour sa grande beauté, plus encore que pour ses talents de danseuse, Cléo de Mérode luttera toute sa vie contre sa réputation de demi-mondaine ». La même réputation lui est donnée lors d'une exposition sur la prostitution de la Belle Époque en 2015 au musée d'Orsay.

Pendant l’Occupation, elle se retire à Saint-Gaultier, dans l’Indre. Elle retourne ensuite vivre à Paris. Elle séjourne plusieurs étés de sa vie à Biarritz ou au château de Rastignac à La Bachellerie en Dordogne, chez la famille Lauwick.

En 1955, elle publie son autobiographie, intitulée Le Ballet de ma vie.

Elle meurt à l'âge de 91 ans le 17 octobre 1966, à son domicile parisien situé au 15, rue de Téhéran (8e arrondissement de Paris).
Picture
Cléo de Mérode est inhumée aux côtés de sa mère Vicentia (Cense de Merode) au cimetière du Père-Lachaise (90e division). Une statue la représentant, sculptée en 1909 par le diplomate et sculpteur espagnol Luis de Périnat, qui fut son amant de 1906 à 1919 — mais qu'elle avait quitté à la suite de son infidélité —, orne leur tombe.
Tombe de Cléo de Mérode ornée d'une statue par Luis de Périnat, Paris, cimetière du Père-Lachaise.
Tombe de Cléo de Mérode ornée d'une statue par Luis de Périnat, Paris, cimetière du Père-Lachaise.

Further interest

Audio
  • Pourquoi Cléo de Mérode fut-elle célèbre ? sur Radiofrance.com
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Fabiola de Mora y Aragón, Queen of the Belgians(11 June 1928 – 5 December 2014)

11/6/2022

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Fabiola de Mora y Aragón, Queen of the Belgians(11 June 1928 – 5 December 2014), elegancepedia
​Doña Fabiola Fernanda María-de-las-Victoria Antonia Adelaida de Mora y Aragón (11 June 1928 – 5 December 2014) was Queen of the Belgians from her marriage to King Baudouin in 1960 until his death in 1993. The couple had no children, so the Crown passed to her husband's younger brother, King Albert II.
​Fabiola de Mora (Madrid; 11 de junio de 1928 - Bruselas; 5 de diciembre de 2014) fue una aristócrata española, hija de los Marqueses de Casa Riera que se convirtió en reina consorte de los belgas tras su matrimonio con el rey Balduino de Bélgica entre 1960 y 1993.
Fabiola de Mora y Aragón, Queen of the Belgians(11 June 1928 – 5 December 2014), elegancepedia

Biography

Doña Fabiola de Mora y Aragón was born in Madrid, Spain, at the Palacio de Zurbano, the main residence of the Marqués de Casa Riera. She was the daughter of Don Gonzalo de Mora y Fernández y Riera y del Olmo, 4th Marqués de Casa Riera, 2nd Count of Mora (1887–1957), and his wife, Doña Blanca de Aragón y Carrillo de Albornoz y Barroeta-Aldamar y Elío (1892–1981), daughter of the 6th Marchioness of Casa Torres and Viscountess of Baiguer. Her godmother was Queen Victoria Eugenia of Spain. 

Fabiola worked as a nurse in a hospital in Madrid. Before her marriage, she published an album of 12 fairy tales (Los doce cuentos maravillosos), one of which ("The Indian Water Lilies") would get its own pavilion in the Efteling theme park in 1966.
Fabiola de Mora y Aragón, Queen of the Belgians(11 June 1928 – 5 December 2014), elegancepedia
On 15 December 1960, Fabiola married Baudouin, who had been King of the Belgians since the abdication of his father, Leopold III, in 1951. At the marriage ceremony in the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula, she wore a 1926 Art Deco tiara that had been a gift of the Belgian state to her husband's mother, Astrid of Sweden, upon her marriage to Leopold III. Her dress of satin and ermine was designed by the couturier Cristóbal Balenciaga.
HM King Baudouin I of the Belgians and Doña Fabiola de Mora y Aragón wedding ceremony, December 15, 1960
HM King Baudouin I of the Belgians and Doña Fabiola de Mora y Aragón wedding ceremony, December 15, 1960
Doña Fabiola de Mora y Aragón on her wedding ceremony, December 15, 1960
Doña Fabiola de Mora y Aragón on her wedding ceremony, December 15, 1960
The wedding dress of Fabiola, Queen of the Belgians, designed by Cristobal Balenciaga
The wedding dress of Fabiola, Queen of the Belgians, designed by Cristobal Balenciaga
On the occasion of her marriage, Spanish bakers set out to honour Fabiola and created a type of bread, "la fabiola", which is still made in Palencia.

According to official sources, Queen Fabiola was fluent in French, Dutch, English, German and Italian, in addition to her native Spanish.

The royal couple had no children, as the Queen's five pregnancies ended in miscarriage in 1961, 1962, 1963, 1966 and 1968. Fabiola openly spoke about her miscarriages in 2008: 'You know, I myself lost five children. You learn something from that experience. I had problems with all my pregnancies, but you know, in the end I think life is beautiful'. She and Baudouin I called the miscarriages a chance to be able to love all children. She was deeply involved with the upbringing of Prince Philippe and Princess Astrid.
HM King Baudouin I of the Belgians and his wife Doña Fabiola de Mora y Aragón, Queen of the Belgians
HM King Baudouin I of the Belgians and his wife Doña Fabiola de Mora y Aragón, Queen of the Belgians
HM King Baudouin I of the Belgians and his wife Doña Fabiola de Mora y Aragón, Queen of the Belgians
HM King Baudouin I of the Belgians and his wife Doña Fabiola de Mora y Aragón, Queen of the Belgians
HM King Baudouin I of the Belgians and his wife Doña Fabiola de Mora y Aragón, Queen of the Belgians
HM King Baudouin I of the Belgians and his wife Doña Fabiola de Mora y Aragón, Queen of the Belgians
HM King Baudouin I of the Belgians and his wife Doña Fabiola de Mora y Aragón, Queen of the Belgians
HM King Baudouin I of the Belgians and his wife Doña Fabiola de Mora y Aragón, Queen of the Belgians
Baudouin died in late July 1993 and was succeeded by his younger brother, Albert II. Fabiola moved out of the Royal Castle of Laeken to the more modest Stuyvenberg Castle and reduced her public appearances so as not to overshadow her sister-in-law, Queen Paola.
In September 1993, she became the president of the King Baudouin Foundation, established in 1976 to mark the twenty fifth anniversary of King Baudouin's reign. The foundation's purpose is to improving the living conditions of the population.

​During the 1990s, the Hospital Saint-Pierre in Brussels was important in matters around AIDS. Queen Fabiola visited them in 1993 and embraced a patient. She was one of the first public figures to do this.

Queen Fabiola also founded the Social Secretariat of the Queen with the purpose to answering many requests for help. She has supported study programmes aimed at prevention and treatment of dyslexia among children.

She established Queen Fabiola Fund for Mental Health. The foundation's purpose is to help people with mental problems. During her entire life, she devoted herself to causes such as young women prostitution, human slavery and people with disabilities. Queen Fabiola received several humanitarian awards in her lifetime and was awarded the Ceres Medal in 2001 by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.
Admired for her devout Roman Catholicism and involvement in social causes particularly those related to mental health, children's issues and women's issues, Queen Fabiola received the 2001 Ceres Medal, in recognition of her work to promote rural women in developing countries. The medal was given by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). 
Queen Fabiola was hospitalised for 15 days with pneumonia beginning 16 January 2009, with her condition described as "serious". She subsequently recovered and began attending public functions the following May. Queen Fabiola had been in poor health for years, having osteoporosis, as well as having never fully recovered from a lung inflammation she had in 2009.

On the evening of 5 December 2014, the Royal Palace announced that Queen Fabiola had died at Stuyvenberg Castle.

The federal government declared a period of national mourning from Saturday 6 December to Friday 12 December, the day when the funeral of Queen Fabiola took place at the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula in Brussels.

The Royal Family, members of the government and the Lord Speaker received the coffin at the Royal Palace on 10 December where it was placed in the grand antechamber, where it was decorated with flowers and attended by an honour guard of generals, members of the King's Royal Military household. 

Members of several royal families around the world including the Grand Duke of Luxembourg, Empress of Japan, Queen of Denmark, King and Queen of Sweden, King of Norway accompanied by his sister Princess Astrid, former King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia of Spain, former Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, Sovereign Prince of Liechtenstein, former Empress Farah of Iran and Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of Thailand, attended the funeral. No members of the British Royal Family or the Monegasque Princely Family attended the funeral, leading to criticism by both Belgian and international press.
The explorer Guido Derom named the Queen Fabiola Mountains – a newly discovered range of Antarctic mountains – in her honour in 1961.
Fabiola de Mora y Aragón, Queen of the Belgians(11 June 1928 – 5 December 2014), elegancepedia

Biografía

Fabiola nació el 11 de junio de 1928 en el Palacio de Zurbano (Madrid), la entonces residencia de los Marqueses de Casa Riera, actual sede del Ministerio de Fomento.

Fabiola fue la cuarta de los siete hijos de Gonzalo de Mora y Fernández Riera y del Olmo, IV marqués de Casa Riera y II conde de Mora (1887-1957) y de Blanca de Aragón y Carrillo de Albornoz, Barroeta-Aldamar y Elío, VIII marquesa de Casa Torres, XVIII vizcondesa de Baiguer, condesa de la Rosa de Abarca (entre otros títulos) (1892-1981).

Sus padrinos de bautismo fueron su tío Fernando de Aragón, VIII marqués de Casa Torres, y la reina de España, Victoria Eugenia.

En 1931 con la proclamación de la II República, la familia se exilió por razones políticas a decisión de su padre, amigo personal de Alfonso XIII. Residieron en Francia, Italia y Suiza hasta el fin de la Guerra Civil. A su regreso a España, los Mora recuperaron y restauraron su palacio de Madrid que durante la guerra había funcionado como cuartel de Dolores Ibarruri, conocida como La Pasionaria.

Fue educada en los colegios de las Religiosas de la Asunción en Roma, París y Lausana, y, en Madrid, en el Liceo Alemán. Cursó, luego, la carrera de enfermería técnica de la Sanidad Militar en la escuela de Carabanchel en Madrid entre 1957 y 1958, y realizó prácticas en San Sebastián y en el Hospital Militar Gómez Ulla.

Además del español, Fabiola hablaba con fluidez francés, neerlandés, inglés, alemán e italiano.

En 1955, había publicado anónimamente un álbum de doce cuentos de hadas (Doce cuentos maravillosos) que alcanzaría la popularidad con su traducción al neerlandés en 1961 al punto de que uno de ellos («Los nenúfares indios») conseguiría su propia atracción en el parque temático Efteling (Países Bajos) en 1966.
Contrajo matrimonio con el rey Balduino de Bélgica el 15 de diciembre de 1960 en la catedral de San Miguel y Santa Gúdula de Bruselas y ese mismo día iniciaron su luna de miel en España, concretamente en Hornachuelos (Córdoba).

La nueva reina consorte llevó un vestido creado por el diseñador español Cristóbal Balenciaga.
La Reina Fabiola con El Rey Balduino de Bélgica en su boda, 1960
La Reina Fabiola con El Rey Balduino de Bélgica en su boda, 1960
La Reina Fabiola con El Rey Balduino de Bélgica en su boda, 1960
La Reina Fabiola con El Rey Balduino de Bélgica en su boda, 1960
La Reina Fabiola con El Rey Balduino de Bélgica en su boda, 1960
La Reina Fabiola con El Rey Balduino de Bélgica en su boda, 1960
Desde el momento de su boda, Fabiola se convirtió en reina de los Belgas. Fue la reina consorte de los belgas durante el reinado de su marido, Balduino.

Durante el reinado de su esposo Balduino, Fabiola de Bélgica recibió el tratamiento de Su Majestad Fabiola, reina de los Belgas. Tras la muerte de su esposo, su título cambió a Su Majestad la Reina Fabiola de Bélgica.
La reina Fabiola de Bélgica con su Marido el rey Balduino
La reina Fabiola de Bélgica con su Marido el rey Balduino
La reina Fabiola de Bélgica con su Marido el rey Balduino
La reina Fabiola de Bélgica con su Marido el rey Balduino
La reina Fabiola de Bélgica con su Marido el rey Balduino en Santiago, España
La reina Fabiola de Bélgica con su Marido el rey Balduino en Santiago, España
La reina Fabiola estuvo muy vinculada a su país natal, España, ya que desde siempre lo visitaba muy a menudo, teniendo un vínculo especial con Madrid, Guipúzcoa y Navarra. En esta última comunidad tenía un palacete en la localidad de Elío (Navarra), una de sus residencias de verano en España junto con la de Zarauz, en Guipúzcoa, cercana al municipio de Guetaria, de donde era originaria la familia de su tatarabuelo materno, Joaquín Francisco de Barroeta-Aldamar y Hurtado de Mendoza.

Fabiola también poseía una residencia de verano llamada Villa Astrida en la localidad granadina de Playa Granada, Motril, donde falleció su esposo Balduino  el 31 de julio de 1993.
La pareja real no tuvo descendencia. La reina llegó a sufrir hasta cinco abortos involuntarios.

Fabiola habló abiertamente sobre estos abortos en el año 2008: "Usted sabe, yo misma perdí cinco hijos. Se aprende algo de esa experiencia. He tenido problemas con todos mis embarazos, pero ya sabes, al final creo que la vida es bella".
Fabiola de Mora y Aragón, Queen of the Belgians(11 June 1928 – 5 December 2014), elegancepedia
Balduino fue sucedido por su hermano menor Alberto II y Fabiola se trasladó del Palacio Real de Bruselas al castillo de Stuyvenberg y redujo sus apariciones públicas para no eclipsar a su cuñada, la reina Paola.

​El 3 de octubre de 2009, fue recibida como dama divisera hijadalgo del Ilustre Solar de Tejada, la corporación nobiliaria más antigua de España, dado que Fabiola descendía, por línea materna, de varias generaciones de señores de Tejada, naturales de Aldeanueva de Cameros, en el siglo XVII.
La Reina Fabiola Falleció por causas naturales en su residencia, el Castillo de Stuyvenberg en Laeken. Los reyes Felipe y Matilde y los reyes eméritos Paola y Alberto visitaron la capilla ardiente instalada en el Palacio Real de Bruselas.

A su despedida final asistieron los reyes eméritos Juan Carlos I y Sofía de España, la princesa Beatriz de los Países Bajos, los reyes Harald V de Noruega (con su hermana Astrid), Margarita II de Dinamarca y Carlos XVI Gustavo de Suecia (con su esposa Silvia), así como el príncipe soberano Juan Adán II de Liechtenstein y el gran duque Enrique de Luxemburgo (con su esposa María Teresa), entre otros soberanos del resto del mundo, en un sencillo pero alegre funeral. De Europa no estuvieron representadas ni la Familia Real Británica ni la Familia Principesca de Mónaco.
Fabiola de Mora y Aragón, Queen of the Belgians(11 June 1928 – 5 December 2014), elegancepedia
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