Elina Labourdette Explained

Élina Labourdette
Birth Date:21 May 1919
Birth Place:Paris, France
Death Place:Le Mesnil-le-Roi,
Yvelines, France
Othername:Élina Janine Alice Henri-Labourdette
Occupation:Actress
Years Active:1938–1983
Known For:Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne (1945)
Edward and Caroline (1951)
Children:1

Élina Labourdette (born Élina Janine Alice Henri-Labourdette, 21 May 1919 – 30 September 2014) was a French actress.[1] Her career consisted mostly of flirtatious French: coquette roles on stage and screen.[2] She is best known for her performances in Robert Bresson's Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne (1945) and in Jacques Demy's Edward and Caroline (1951).

Biography

Élina Labourdette was born on 21 May 1919 in the 16th arrondissement of Paris.[3] The daughter of the renowned coachbuilder and automobile designer, Élina at first wanted to be a dancer,[4] before having to give up her dream of becoming a prima ballerina for health reasons. She learned rhythmic dance with Irène Popard and classical dance with . During her school years, she took her first acting lessons with the actress Ève Francis. In 1938 at the age of nineteen, she made her first film The Shanghai Drama, directed by Georg Wilhelm Pabst. She then spent six months in England where, in addition to learning English, she took theatre and singing lessons. René Clair made her the teacher heroine of his film Air pur but the Second World War stopped the project. In 1944, towards the end of the war, she appeared in Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne directed by Robert Bresson, the film for which she became famous and remains best known. She played, with subtlety and great modernity, a cabaret dancer who has become a prostitute and is manipulated by a woman wishing to take revenge on a lover who rejected her, by throwing him into the arms of the dancer.

In 1950, Labourdette joined the theatre company of Madeleine Renaud and Jean-Louis Barrault, with whom she performed alongside her film career. She also did dubbing, notably lending her voice to Grace Kelly in the French versions of John Ford's Mogambo (1953) and Alfred Hitchcock's To Catch a Thief (1955). In 1956 she acted under the direction of Jean Renoir in Elena and Her Men, alongside Ingrid Bergman and Jean Marais. In 1961, she played a notable supporting role in Lola, Jacques Demy's first feature film. Her cinema film career ended with Le Clair de terre, a 1970 film by filmmaker Guy Gilles.[5] From the end of the 1950s, she appeared several times in French soap operas and television films, including the popular Les Cousins de la Constance.

During her career, Labourdette worked for several notable directors, including G. W. Pabst, René Clair, Robert Bresson, René Clément, Jacques Becker, Gilles Grangier, Jean-Paul Le Chanois, Jean Renoir, and André Cayatte .

She was the second wife of journalist and writer Louis Pauwels from 1956 until his death in 1997. In 1961, they adopted a daughter, Zoé.

Labourdette died on 30 September 2014 in Le Mesnil-le-Roi, Yvelines, aged 95.[6]

Filmography

YearTitleRoleNotes
1938Prison sans barreaux Uncredited
1938The Shanghai Drama Vera Blonski
1941The Pavilion Burns Denise
1943 Germaine
1945Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne Agnès
1947 Hélène
1950The Adventurers of the Air Gisèle Lesieur
1950The Glass Castle Marion
1951Edward and Caroline Florence Borch de Martelie
1951Monsieur Fabre Countess de La Tour
1951 Caroline, the secretary
1952The Case Against X Catherine Villard
1952My Husband Is Marvelous Micheline
1953 Geneviève Labbé
1955To Paris with Love Sylvia Gilbert
1955Papa, maman, ma femme et moi Marguerite, the florist
1956It Happened in Aden Simone
1956Elena and Her Men Paulette Escoffier
1957The Truth About Women Countess
1960The Night of Suspects Gaby Farnoux
1961Lola Mme Desnoyers
1961 Mme Martel
1962Tales of Paris Jacqueline (segment "Sophie")
1962 Mme de Saint-Aigne
1962Five Miles to Midnight Mme. Lafont
1962 Simone Darbon
1968 Owner of the Au pan coupé bar
1968The Young Wolves Mme Sinclair
1970 Woman guide

Television

YearTitleRoleNotes
1958La Répétition ou l'Amour puniHortensiaFilm by
1960Les Cinq Dernières Minutes (series) Jacqueline Masserey Season 1, episode 16: by
1964Baroness Adeline Hulot d'ErvyFilm by Yves-André Hubert
1967 Mme LambertFilm by
1973Laure de Berny Series
1974Cathy FaustFilm by
1974Mme de LamartineFilm by
1974Madeleine VaindrierFilm by
1975The motherFilm by
1976EspéranceSeries by Bernard Toublanc-Michel
1978VaninaFilm by
1979Évelyne Film by Bernard Toublanc-Michel
1979 (series)Clémence Lavaronnière Episode by
1978Mme Dandillot Film by
1981Aunt JoFilm
1983Deux amies d'enfance

Bibliography

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Élina Labourdette . British Film Institute . https://web.archive.org/web/20170205015044/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b9f8406a5 . 5 February 2017 . dead.
  2. Reader p.21
  3. Web site: Foucart . Yvan . Elina Labourdette . Les Gens du Cinéma . 6 May 2024 . French.
  4. Web site: Henry . Pierre . Élina Labourdette, telle qu'elle est . 7 . Gallica . LaPresse . 5 May 2024 . French . 13 November 1945.
  5. She nevertheless agreed to appear for Jacques Burtin in 2011 in Le Dernier Kodachrome, a tribute to cinema and dreams.
  6. News: L'actrice Elina Labourdette, "dame du bois de Boulogne", est morte . 5 May 2024 . . . 30 September 2014 . French.