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- Actress
This stunning, fragile starlet was born Henriette Michèle Leone Girardon in Lyon in August 1938. Having completed her acting studies at the local conservatoire she won a competition as "the most photogenic girl in France" by the age of twenty. Photo shoots followed and a minor career as a model with appearances on the cover of prestige magazines "Vogue" and ""Marie-Claire". She began on screen with prominent supporting roles as a deaf mute in Luis Buñuel's Death in the Garden (1956) and as a secretary in Louis Malle's The Lovers (1958). Her first starring role came courtesy of Éric Rohmer who cast her in the lead of Sign of the Lion (1962) -- one of the first films of the French Nouvelle Vague movement, shot on location in Paris. Though not a commercial success at the time, the acting received general praise throughout and Michèle attracted attention from Hollywood. Paramount approached her with an offer to appear as the owner of a Tanzanian game farm opposite John Wayne in the African adventure Hatari! (1962). According to a Life magazine profile of July 1961 Michèle 'taught herself English' on the set. Her role did not lead to a Hollywood contract. Nevertheless, for a while she remained in demand for European productions, the pick of the bunch being leads in the Spanish-made swashbuckler The Adventures of Scaramouche (1963) and the Italian comedy The Magnificent Cuckold (1964). Less high profile, but decidedly decorative, was her supporting role in the Franco-Italian "Alfie'-lookalike comedy Tender Scoundrel (1966).
By the early 70's, film offers had dried up and Michèle's career was seriously on the skids. She became increasingly despondent, especially after the end of an unhappy dalliance with a married Spanish aristocrat, José Luis de Vilallonga (a writer and occasional actor with a well-earned reputation as a cad and spendthrift). Michèle Girardon decided to end her life by ingesting an overdose of sleeping pills in her home town on March 25, 1975, aged just 36. In a tragic irony, two co-stars in Michèle's penultimate film Good Little Girls (1971), Marie-Georges Pascal and Bella Darvi, also committed suicide at the ages of 39 and 42, respectively.- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Al St. John was born on 10 September 1893 in Santa Ana, California, USA. He was an actor and director, known for Prairie Badmen (1946), Billy the Kid Trapped (1942) and A Face in the Fog (1936). He was married to Yvonne June Villon Price Pearce (actress), Lillian Marion Ball and Flo-Bell Moore. He died on 21 January 1963 in Lyons, Georgia, USA.- Actor
Jean Bouise was born on 3 June 1929 in Le Havre, Seine-Inférieure [now Seine-Maritime], France. He was an actor, known for The Big Blue (1988), La Femme Nikita (1990) and Z (1969). He was married to Isabelle Sadoyan. He died on 6 July 1989 in Lyon, Rhône, France.- Producer
- Director
- Cinematographer
Auguste Lumière was a French engineer, industrialist, biologist, and illusionist, born in Besançon, France. He attended the Martinière Technical School and worked as a manager at the photographic company of his father, Antoine Lumière. Although it is his brother Louis Lumière who is generally acclaimed as the "father of the cinema", Auguste also made a major contribution towards the development of the medium, first by helping with the invention and construction of the cinematographe (the world's first camera and projection mechanism), and second by appearing as a subject in many of the films shot by Louis. Along with his brother, he is also credited with giving the world's first public film screening on December 28, 1895. However, according to Louis, Auguste lost interest in the cinematographe as soon as construction had been completed, and thereafter showed no further interest in the film medium. After his work on the cinematograph he began focusing on the biomedical field, becoming a pioneer in the use of X-rays to examine fractures. He also contributed to innovations in military aircraft, producing a catalytic heater to allow cold-weather engine starts.- Klaus Barbie was born on 25 October 1913 in Bad Godesberg [now Bonn], Germany. He died on 25 September 1991 in Lyon, Rhône, France.
- Philippe Marlaud was born on 20 June 1959 in Paris, France. He was an actor, known for Graduate First (1978), The Aviator's Wife (1981) and La maison des autres (1977). He died on 18 August 1981 in Lyon, France.
- Andrée Lumière was born on 22 June 1894 in Lyon, France. She died on 26 November 1918 in Lyon, France.
- Actress
Marie-Françoise Audollent was born on 22 May 1943 in Clermont-Ferrand, Puy-de-Dôme, France. She was an actress, known for The Da Vinci Code (2006), Molière (1978) and My Woman Is Leaving Me (1996). She died on 30 March 2008 in Lyon, France.- Actor
- Writer
Abel Tarride was born on 18 April 1865 in Niort, Deux-Sèvres, France. He was an actor and writer, known for Le chien jaune (1932), Jérôme Perreau héros des barricades (1935) and Pour vivre heureux (1932). He died on 3 February 1951 in Lyon, Rhône, France.- Mrs. Auguste Lumiere was born on 13 September 1874 in Lyon, France. She was married to Auguste Lumière. She died on 25 June 1963 in Lyon, France.
