Full list by date of death

Micheline Presle

Actress

Born - 2 August 1922, Paris, France
Died - 21 February 2024

Elegant, patrician, brown-haired French actress with classic figure and Claudette Colbert-like acting style. Born Micheline Chassagne, she took her stage name from one of the characters she played in her early pre-World War Two films. Hiding out in a Cannes hotel during the war, she still managed to make films, but went to Hollywood in 1948, where she was billed as 'Prelle' to avoid confusion over the pronunciation of her name. After an unfulfilling five years there, she returned to France, where she was still busy in films seven decades after her debut: La Fessee (1937), Paradise Lost (1939), La Nuit Fantastique (1942), Boule de Suif (1945), Le Diable au Corps (1946), The Last Days of Pompeii (1947), Under My Skin (1949), I Shall Return/An American Guerilla in the Philippines (1950), Adventures of Captain Fabian (1951), Royal Affairs at Versailles (1953), Napoleon (1954), Treize a Table (1955), The Bride is Too Beautiful (1956), Christine (1958), Blind Date (1959), Mistress of the World (1960), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), If a Man Answers (1962), The Prize (1963), Dark Purpose (1964), King of Hearts (1966), Once Upon a Time/The Magic Donkey (1970), The Legend of Frenchie King (1971), Clochemerle (1972), The Slightly Pregnant Man (1973), Nea/A Young Emmanuelle (1976), Papa Travaille (1978), Lili Lamont (1983), Alouette (1988), Fanfan (1993), A Chef in Love (1996), Venus Beauty Institute (1999), Chouchou (2003), Grabuge! (2005), A Man and His Dog (2005), Plein Sud/Going South (2009), Hitler in Hollywood (2010), Rue Mandar (2012), Sex, Love & Therapy (2014), her last, and many more: at 77 years, hers was one of the longest unbroken film careers on record. Twice married and divorced - the director Tonie Marshall (died 2017) was her daughter.