Romance, Viviane

(1912-1991)

   Actress, producer, and screen-writer. One of the great femme fatales of French cinema, Viviane Romance was born Pauline Ortmans in Roubaix. She caught the attention of French cinema at the beginning of the sound era after being named Miss Paris. She made her screen debut in 1931 in Jean Renoir's La Chienne and went on, during the early part of the decade, to appear in such films as Louis Mercanton's II est charmant (1932), Claude Autant-Lara's Ciboulette (1933), Marc Allegret's Zouzou (1934), Fritz Lang's Liliom (1934), Julien Duvivier's La Bandera (1935), and Edmond T. Greville's Princesse Tam Tam (1935). Romance's breakthrough role came in 1936 when she appeared in Duvivier's La Belle équipe, and it was this performance that would define the roles she would play later in her career. Other films from the decade in which she appeared include Jean Grémillon's L'Étrange Monsieur Victor (1937), Pierre Chenal's La Maison du Maltais (1938), and Roger Richebé's Prisons de femmes (1938) and La Tradition de minuit (1939).

   During the 1940s, Romance starred in a number of films, including Abel Gance's Vénus aveugle (1941), Gréville's Une femme dans la nuit (1943), Christian-Jacque's Carmen (1945), Yves Allegret and Jean Choux's La Boîte aux rêves (1945), Léon Mathot's La Route du bagne (1945), Marcel L'Herbier's L'Affaire du collier de la reine (1946), and Duvivier's Panique (1947), among others. Romance continued to attract lead roles during the 1950s, but the caliber of the films in which she appeared declined somewhat. She had roles in Georges Lampin's Passion (1951), Pierre Cardinal's Au cœur de la Casbah (1952), Yves Allegret and Autant-Lara's Les Sept péchés capitaux (1952), Marcel Blistène's Guele d'ange (1955), and Henri Decoin's L'Affaire des poisons (1955).

   Romance appeared in only one major film during the 1960s, Henri Verneuil's Mélodie en sous-sol (1963). She retired from the screen in 1974 after appearing in Claude Chabrol's Nada (1974). In addition to acting, she contributed to the screenplay of La Boîte aux rêves (1945), and she produced both Passion (1951) and Jean Josipovici's Pitié pour les vamps (1956), in which she also starred.