JEANNE MOREAU, A legend of French cinema and one of the French New Wave’s leading actresses with roles in Jules & Jim and Elevator to the Gallows, died this weekend at the age of 89.
French authorities confirmed that the actress died at her Paris home; no cause of death was revealed, the BBC reports.
French president Emmanuel Macron tweeted of Moreau, “A legend of cinema and theater … an actress engaged in the whirlwind of life with an absolute freedom.”
Pierre Lescure, president of the Cannes Film Festival, said in a statement, “She was strong and she didn’t like to see people pour their hearts out. Sorry, Jeanne, but this is beyond us. We are crying.”
Over a seven-decade career, Moreau worked with seminal filmmakers like Francois Truffaut (Jules & Jim), Luis Bunuel (Diary of a Chambermaid), Michelangelo Antonioni (La Notte), Orson Welles (The Trial), Elia Kazan (The Last Tycoon), Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Wim Wenders, Theo Angelopoulos and Louis Malle.
After Moreau spent nearly a decade playing bit parts, it was Malle who is credited with turning her into a star thanks to leading roles in a pair of his 1958 films: The Lovers, a controversial film – it spawned a landmark obscenity trial in the U.S. – where the actress portrayed an adulterous woman, and film noir Elevator to the Gallows, with Moreau in the femme fatale role.
After Moreau spent nearly a decade playing bit parts, it was Malle who is credited with turning her into a star thanks to leading roles in a pair of his 1958 films: The Lovers, a controversial film – it spawned a landmark obscenity trial in the U.S. – where the actress portrayed an adulterous woman, and film noir Elevator to the Gallows, with Moreau in the femme fatale role.