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Danielle Darrieux (born May 1, 1917) is a
France|French singer and actor|actress.

Born in Bordeaux, France, Darrieux was the
daughter of a medical doctor who was at the time
serving with the French Army during World War I
but who later died unexpectedly when she was seven
years old. Raised in the city of Paris,
France|Paris she had a good singing voice and was
musically gifted, studying the cello at the
"Conservatoire de musique. " At age 13, she
auditioned for the role of a young girl in the
musical film Le Bal and earned the part. Her
youthful beauty combined with her singing and
dancing ability in the 1931 film immediately led
to numerous other film offers and she went on to a
hugely successful and enduring career.

In 1935, Darrieux married Film
director|director/screenwriter Henri Decoin who,
after she had made more than two dozen successful
films in France, encouraged her to try Hollywood.
Offered numerous scripts, in 1938 she accepted a
lucrative offer from Universal Studios to star
opposite Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. in the
sophisticated comedy The Rage of Paris. Although
the film was well received by audiences and
critics, World War II briefly interrupted her
career. However, under the Germany|German
occupation of France she continued to perform, a
decision that was severely criticized by her
compatriots. She fell in love with Porfirio
Rubirosa, a Dominican Republic diplomat posted to
Paris and after divorcing her husband, they
married in 1942. Rubirosa was a notorious
womanizer and the less than happy marriage ended
within a few years and officially with a divorce
in 1947. Rubirosa immediately married the American
tobacco heiress, Doris Duke and Darrieux married
her last husband, Pierre Louis.

At the end of World War II, Darrieux kept her
successful career going and eventually accepted
another offer to appear in a Hollywood production.
Once again she received very positive reviews for
her performance in the 1951 MGM musical,  Rich,
Young and Pretty. Although she at once returned to
her native France, the following year director
Joseph L. Mankiewicz lured her back to Hollywood
to star opposite James Mason in the acclaimed 1952
spy thriller 5 Fingers. Back home, she appeared in
the 1954 French drama Le Rouge et le noir opposite
Gérard Philipe, one of the country's biggest box
office draws. The next year she starred as Lady
Constance Chatterly in Lady Chatterley's
Lover|L'Amant de lady Chatterley (Lady Chatterly's
Lover). Based on the D.H. Lawrence novel and the
play by Philippe de Rothschild, it was adapted for
the screen by co-writer and director, Marc
Allégret. Due to its sexual content, both the
book and the film were banned in the United
States.

Approaching the age of forty, she returned to
Hollywood for a supporting role in United Artists'
1956 big budget epic Alexander the Great
(movie)|Alexander the Great starring Richard
Burton and Claire Bloom. Despite a strong cast and
a competent director, the film was a critical and
box office failure and it was the last
English-language film she would make in United
States|America. However, in 1961 she went to
England at the request of director Lewis Gilbert
to star opposite Kenneth More in The Greengage
Summer. Successfully adapting to age, and a
recognizable talent throughout Europe, she also
made films in Germany, Italy, Spain, Hungary and
Czechoslovakia. Throughout her career, her singing
voice proved a positive and during the 1960s she
sang at concerts and did Sound
recording|recordings for a French record label.

Although primarily a film actress, Darrieux
appeared on the stage and in 1970, she replaced
Katharine Hepburn in the Broadway production Coco.
All during the 1970s and through to the 21st
century, Danielle Darrieux has continued to act in
a remarkable career spanning eight decades.