Little Known Spaghetti Western Actors ~ France Dougnac

[These daily posts will cover little known actors or people that have appeared in more recent films and TV series. Various degrees of information that I was able to find will be given and anything that you can add would be appreciated.]

France Dougnac was born in Toulouse on June 10, 1951 in Toulouse, Occitanie, France. Her parents were dancers, then mimes, before becoming puppeteers and founding the Mathilde and Paul Dougnac Puppeteer Company, which led her to travel with them to Europe. Her brother Michel, a composer, joined the family troupe in 1971. In 1979, the company became an association under the name of Atelier de Création de Marionnettes Dougnac, and moved to La Celle-Saint-Cloud.

France attended secondary school at the Cours Hattemer in the 8th arrondissement of Paris and then, wanting to become an actress, took classes with Tania Balachova. At the age of 16, she took to the stage at the Marvejols Festival where she played the role of an elf in two plays by Federico García Lorca. She was then hired, at the age of eighteen, to play an episode of the series ‘The Hundred Books’, by Nat Lilienstein.

In 1971, she gained some notoriety on television with eight television adaptations in which she played the lead role, which aired that year including Nausicaa by Agnès Varda. During 1973, she starred in three soap operas: ‘Pour une handful d'herbe sauvages’, ‘Le Neveu d'Amérique’ and ‘La mer est grande’.

After a career of fifteen years in television, and twenty years in cinema, including “Les Pétroleuses” in which she played Brigitte Bardot's younger sister, she disappeared from the small screen in 1985 and the big screen in 1988. She then devoted herself to the National Popular Theatre (TNP) before retiring in 2010.

France Dougnac died of cancer on July 4, 2018 in Mamers in Sarthe, France. Her death was made public during the tribute at the 44th César ceremony in 2019.

France Dougnac appeared in one Euro-western “Les pétroleuses” (The Legend of Frenchie King) as Elisabeth in 1971.

DOUGNAC, France [6/10/1951, Toulouse, Occitanie, France – 7/4/2018, Mamers, Sarthe, France (cancer)] – theater, film, TV actor, sister of composer Michael Dougnac, married director Antoine Minkowski [1950-    ] (1974-1978). married Louis-Pascal Couvelaire [1954-    ] (1980-2018),

The Legend of Frenchie King – 1971 (Elisabeth)