 |
Suzanne FlonFrench film actress
Date of Birth: 28.01.1918
Country:  France |
Content:
Biography of Suzanne Flon
Suzanne Flon was a French film actress who started her career modestly and went on to become a true movie star and theater celebrity over a successful fifty-year career. She was born on January 28, 1918, in Le Kremlin-Bicêtre, Val-de-Marne, France. The daughter of a railroad worker and a seamstress, she was interested in writing poetry during her school years. After completing her education, Flon worked as an English translator at the famous Parisian department store "Au Printemps" until she became the personal secretary of the renowned singer Edith Piaf.
Early Career
Suzanne Flon's first performance was as the hostess of a musical revue. She continued to work on stage, which led her to collaborate with a well-known playwright named Jean Anouilh in the early 1940s. Thanks to Jean, Flon played Ismene in the production of "Antigone" and Joan of Arc in the successful play "The Lark" in 1953. She also showed some interest in avant-garde artists and worked with Marguerite Duras, appearing in plays by Shakespeare, Pirandello, Chekhov, and Molière, and winning several theater awards. In 1959, Suzanne became a member of the National People's Theater and performed in several productions directed by one of the most significant French directors of the 1920s and 1930s, René Clair.
Movie Career
Flon's film career began with a role in the French film "Capitaine Blomet" in 1947, before she achieved international fame in the 1950s. She portrayed the refined and free-spirited model Marianne Hayam, who captivated the young disabled artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, played by José Ferrer, in the award-winning melodrama "Moulin Rouge" in 1952. In addition, the actress appeared as Baroness Nagel in her friend Orson Welles' comedy thriller "Mr. Arkadin" in 1962. During the 1960s, Flon primarily focused on war films. She received the Venice Film Festival award for her portrayal of the unwavering mother Cordier, whose son refuses to participate in World War II, in the drama "Don't Kill" in 1961. In the war thriller "The Train" in 1964, alongside Burt Lancaster, Jeanne Moreau, and Paul Scofield, Suzanne appeared as Mademoiselle Villard, a curator who disrupts the Nazis' secret plan to smuggle art masterpieces out of France.
Later Career and Legacy
Continuing to receive awards for her work, the actress continued to appear in roles as stylish and sensual "grand dames." She won the French national film award, the César Award, for her performance as the vengeful and mentally unstable Eleanor, the aunt of actress Isabelle Adjani's character, in the detective thriller "One Deadly Summer" in 1983. She received the same award again in 1989 for her role in Georges Wilson's film "La vouivre" with Lambert Wilson and Jean Carmet. Some of Suzanne's later works included films such as "Gaspar and Robinson," "Children of Nature," "A Crime in Paradise," "The Owners," "The Flower of Evil," "Stork Delivery," "Strange Gardens," "The Best Man's Bride," and "Merry Christmas." Her soothing voice was often used for narration in numerous French documentaries. Suzanne Flon did not stop performing on stage, in films, and on television until her death from stomach disease (gastroenteritis) at the age of 87 in 2005, in Île-de-France, France. Throughout her career, the actress was honored with two Molière Awards, the national theater awards of France.
