Feuillère, Edwige

(1907-1998)

   Actress. Born Edwige Cunati, Edwige Feuillère intended to pursue an acting career from an early age. She attended the Conservatoire d'art dramatique in Dijon, and then began her career in theater. She was in residence at the Comédie Française from 1931 until 1933. Feuillère made her film debut in 1931 (using the name Cora Lynn) in Karl Anton's Le Cordon bleu. The same year she appeared in Marc Allégret's Mam'zelle Nitouche (1931) and Jean Dermont's La Fine combine (1931). Between 1932 and 1935, Feuillère worked steadily in films such as René Guissart's La Perle (1932), Anton's Monsieur Albert (1932) and Une petite femme dans le train (1933), Pierre Colombier's Les Messieurs de la santé (1933), and Alexis Granowsky's Les Aventures du roi Pausole (1933). The roles steadily increased in prominence and Feuillère became a darling of the screen.

   In 1935, she was cast in the title role in Abel Gance's Lucrèce Borgia. The role added momentum to Feuillère's career, proving she was not merely a screen darling, but a serious actress as well. Her performance was widely acclaimed and the role earned her professional respect that would carry forward. Feuillère went on to star in Louis J. Gasnier's Topaze (1935), Julien Duvivier's Golgotha (1935), Allégret's La Dame de Malacca (1937), Max Ophuls's Sans lendemain (1939), Léo Joannen's L'Émigrante (1940) and Lucrèce (1943), Maurice Tourneur's Mam'zelle Bonaparte (1942), and Jacques de Baroncelli's La Duchesse de Langeais (1942). From the period of 1935 to the Occupation, in fact, Feuillère was one of the most popular leading ladies on the French screen.

   Feuillère's career was interrupted during the Occupation, but she resumed it without much difficulty after Liberation, regaining her status as one of the foremost actresses of the day. She appeared in such films as Jean Delannoy's La Part de l'ombre (1945); de Baroncelli's Tant que je vivrai (1946); Georges Lampin's L'Idiot (1946); Jean Cocteau's L'Aigle a deux têtes (1948), in which she starred opposite Jean Marais; Jacques Manuel's Julie de Carneilhan (1949), adapted from Colette; Christian-Jacque's Souvenirs perdus (1950) and Adorables créatures (1952); Jacqueline Audry's Olivia (1951); Claude Autant-Lara's Le Blé en herbe (1954) and En cas de malheur (1958); and Clément Duhour's La Vie à deux (1958).

   Feuillère continued acting until the 1990s, although in the 1980s and 1990s, her screen roles were primarily on the small screen. Her later performances include roles in Gérard Oury's Le Crime ne paie pas (1962), Patrice Chéreau's La Chair de l'orchidée (1975), and Nina Companéez's Les Dames de la côte (1979), which was her last film role.