Arletty

Arletty was the stage name of French actress, singer, and model Léonie Marie Julie Bathiat (May 15, 1898), who rose to fame in the late 1930s on a series of classic films directed by Marcel Carné. Born into a working-class family in the commune of Courbevoie, she left home following her father's death and quickly adopted the alias Arletty, which was inspired by a character in one of Guy de Maupassant's stories. Even though she began working as a model, it wasn't until meeting art dealer Paul Guillaume that she took an interest in acting. After cutting her teeth as a stage performer in the music hall and cabaret scenes, Arletty made her silver screen debut playing a stenographer on René Hervil's The Sweetness of Loving in 1930. However, it was through her association with poetic realist Marcel Carné that she finally achieved widespread recognition, landing major roles in the films Hotel du Nord (1938), Le jour se lève (1939), and Les Enfants du Paradis (1945), for which she earned one of the highest paychecks in French cinema. In addition to her stellar performances, she also recorded a few songs for the films she starred in, with "Comme de bien entendu" (from 1939's Circonstances atténuantes) being one of her biggest hits. During this time, Arletty was also accused of treason for her involvement with German Luftwaffe officer, Hans-Jürgen Soehring during the occupation of France, and was sentenced to eighteen months of imprisonment that were mostly served in a private chateau. In the following years, she enjoyed great popularity as a stage actress, appearing in the French version of A Streetcar Named Desire, but was forced to quit acting due to the progressive loss of her eyesight in the early 1960s. Arletty passed away on July 23, 1992, at the age of 1994. Several compilations with her most famous musical recordings were released since her death, including Les Années Frou-Frou (1995), Paris Music-Hall (2007), and Mon Homme (2017).

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