RIP Micheline Presle

 

Legendary French actress Micheline Presle died on February 21 in Val-de-Marne, Paris, Île-de-France, France. She was 101. Born Micheline Nicole Julia Emilienne Chassagne in Paris on August 22, 1922. Taking acting classes as a teen, she was discovered by Georg Wilhelm Pabst and cast in Jeunes filles en détresse (1939) (portraying Jacqueline Presle, whose last name she chose as her own marquee name). Very early into her film career, she was awarded the Prix Suzanne Bianchetti as the" most promising young actress" in French cinema. She was among the most successful French screen actress of the '40s along with her friends Danielle Darrieux and Michèle Morgan. After a brief post-war marriage to Michel Lefort, Micheline's second marriage to American actor-turned-producer William Marshall in 1949 led her to attempt Hollywood pictures. Divorced in 1954, Micheline never truly adjusted to the Hollywood way of life and returned quite willingly to Paris with her daughter, the future actress/director Tonie Marshall. She would, however, return briefly to America in the early 1960's to appear in the Dee/Darin comedy fluff “If a Man Answers” (1962) and the spy drama “The Prize” (1963). Presle appeared in only one Spaghetti western as Aun Amelie in 1971’s “The Legend of Frenchie King” starring Brigitte Bardot and Claudia Cardinale.