Jeanne Moreau

Happy Birthday
Jeanne Moreau. (Jan 23)

“She is the heavyweight of ’60s cinema, and so far, the last of the heavyweights” (via Salon – see below for more)
“When you visit the woman Orson Welles called “the greatest actress in the world,” don’t try to light her cigarette — you might get burned.” from here at Salon
Jeanne and Orson Welles in Immortal Story (Youtube) or see the whole thing here (55 min)

Moreau as a chambermaidJeanne Moreau from the Diary of Chambermaid by Luis Bunuel.
This chambermaid from Bunuel was a cool oberserver unlike the murderous Papin sisters, portrayed brilliantly by Sylvia Testud.

“Jeanne Moreau is really something. There’s this scene where she’s like a chaste schoolteacher superficially, but inside she’s like a barbed wire fence on fire.” (Patti Smith on Jeanne Moreau)
Wonderful photos from
“Madmoiselle”

Vanessa Redgrave lost her husband who directed Moreau in this film and fell in love. Moreau later had a short marriage to Friedkin the director of “The French Connection”.
Her famous lovers include Louis Malle, Francois Truffaut and Pierre Cardin.

You can take French Lessons with Jeanne here or learn to sing
Le Tourbillon de la Vie here. (Georges Delerue composed this music for Jeanne Moreau. )

Jeanne Moreau is aquarius/dragon or THE FUN-LOVING CONQUEROR. (Roger Vadim who directed her in Les Liasions Dangereuses also had this combo).

Her chart here.
Her sun and moon in Aquarius – the same as Francois Truffaut. (his chart here).
Imagine this powerful eccentric indepedent energy coming from these two when they work together.
“This is a combination that is somewhat of another world-ethereal, philosophical, and extremely open-minded. … individuality and personality is a blend of the Aquarius traits of refinement, intelligence, and a broadly humane nature. Refined and intelligent, this combination provides the possibility of high talent or a streak of genius to be constructively developed. Ideas are prolific, and likely range from the conventional to the eccentric and the unusual.” via

Moreau as Star and Director from Ebert. I avoid reading his film reviews but this old piece on Jeanne Moreau is delightful describing her protest walkout on Warren Beatty and her friendship with Jean Eustache and how Truffaut did not drink much.

Eduard Manet, Stendhal and Eisenstein were born on January 23.
Gerard Philippe made two important films based on Stendhal, the Red and the Black and La chartreuse de Parme. Jeanne Moreau used to be on stage with Gerard Philippe and later they played the modern version of decadent couple in Vadim’s Les Liasions dangereueses.

Update: La Famille de Ninette is in (Nina’s humorous piece on her family tree and her droll family in school French).