Micheline Presle (French pronunciation:[miʃlinpʁɛːl]; born Micheline Nicole Julia Émilienne Chassagne; 22 August 1922 – 21 February 2024) was a French actress.[1] She was sometimes billed as Micheline Prelle.[1][2][3][4][5][6] Starting her career in 1937, she starred or appeared in over 150 films appearing first in productions in her native France and also in Hollywood during the era of Classical Hollywood Cinema, before returning again to Europe,[1] especially French films from the mid-1960s until 2014.[1][5][6]
Biography
Early life
Born in Paris on the left bank on 22 August 1922,[1][7] Presle wanted to be an actress from an early age. She took acting classes in her early teens. She was the daughter of Robert Chassagne, a French banker (who fled to the United States amid a finance scandal) and artist Julie Bachelier.[1]
She received early education in a convent school, but took acting classes with the Belgian actor Raymond Rouleau. She reprised the relationship by appearing with him in Falbalas, a/k/a Paris Frills (1945).[1]
Early French cinema (1937–1950)
Presle made her film debut at the age of 15 in the 1937 production of La Fessée.[1] In 1938, she was awarded the Prix Suzanne Bianchetti as the most promising young actress in French cinema. Her rise to European stardom, in films such as Devil in the Flesh (1947),[1][5] led to offers in Hollywood.[1][5]
"Exquisite good looks" coupled with a "graceful transition between froth and drama" facilitated her long career, with more than 200 credited roles.[5]
In 1950, Presle was signed by 20th Century Fox, led by Darryl F. Zanuck. He promised she "could avoid "ooh-la-la" eye-candy roles" with spare time so she could make a biopic about Sarah Bernhardt, a project to which she had obtained the film rights for a biography written by Bernhardt's granddaughter.[5] However, Hollywood's promise soon dimmed. Zanuck changed Presle's last name to Prell, thinking to his American ear that her name was a homonym for 'pretzel.'[5][8] It was later changed to Prelle after a soap company brought out Prell shampoo.[9] Her first Hollywood production was a starring role opposite John Garfield in the film Under My Skin directed by Jean Negulesco. That same year, director Fritz Lang cast her opposite Tyrone Power in the war drama American Guerrilla in the Philippines. In 1950, she became the second wife of American actor William Marshall with whom she had a daughter, Tonie. William Marshall had teamed up with actor Errol Flynn and his production company, and in 1951 he directed Flynn and her in the film Adventures of Captain Fabian.[1]
Disenchanted with Hollywood, since "They gave me uninteresting parts in bad pictures," she went back to work in European film.[5]
Presle died in Nogent-sur-Marne on 21 February 2024, at the age of 101,[1][2][5][11] at the Maison des Artistes, a retirement home for artists, which receives partial government support.[3] Her death was confirmed by Olivier Bomsel, her son-in-law, without specifying the cause.[5]
[22] However it was not released until after the Liberation of France due to the ban on the films of Claude Dauphin after he joined the Free French.[23]
[1] Film critic Manny Farber in The New Republic, 16 December 1946, wrote: "This is the only movie I have ever seen in which a posturing, narcissistic personality is shown in the full run of everyday situations and is handled with a matter-of-fact understanding that makes it into a sad, creative, extremely curious and complicated character."[25]
Spy story. "[S]helved during the war ... (a shortened version was released with the title The French Way in 1952 in the United States). The film revolves around a long-standing feud...."[27]
She palayed the eponymous lead, a loveable prostitute and member of the resistance.[1][5] The film was released in the autumn of 1945, and was the first French film incorporating the theme of resistance. It is an adaptation of two short stories by Guy de MaupassantBoule de suif and Mademoiselle Fifi, which are inter-weaved, and is set during the Franco-Prussian War. A reviewer in Britain noted its "sense of humour, drama, satire and technical skill".[28]
[2] It was to be produced independently with a distributor sought later.[35] Micheline Presle was borrowed from 20th Century Fox to play the female lead.[36]
science-fictionspy film remake of the 1919 eight-part silent film The Mistress of the World directed by William Dieterle and starring Martha Hyer and Carlos Thompson.[56] It marked the comeback in his native country of the director William Dieterle after several decades spent in Hollywood.[57] In West Germany, it was released in a longer version split in two parts (Die Herrin der Welt – Teil I and Die Herrin der Welt – Teil II). It was developed when producer Artur Brauner invested in a three-hour West German-French-Italian co-production.[58] Brauner contracted William Dieterle to direct the film.[59] The film was made with a predominantly German crew, but with a multi-national cast including Martha Hyer and Sabu from Hollywood, Carlos Thompson from Argentina and Gino Cervi from Italy, and Micheline Presle and Lino Ventura from France.[59]
Released in France in 1966, King of Hearts was neither successful critically nor at the box office, with only 141,035 admissions.[80] However, it achieved cult film status, when United States distribution rights were picked up by Randy Finley and Specialty Films in Seattle in 1973. It was paired with Marv Newland's Bambi Meets Godzilla and John Magnuson's Thank You Mask Man and marketed under the heading The King of Hearts and His Loyal Short Subjects.[81][82] It made the rounds in the mid-1970s i repertory movie theaters as well as non-theatrical college and university film series across the United States, eventually running for five years at the now defunct film house the Central Square Cinemas[83] (2 screens) in Cambridge, Massachusetts.[84]
Peau d'Âne a/k/a Donkey Skin or Once Upon a Time and The Magic Donkey
^The French Cinema Book; edited by Michael Temple and Michael Witt. (2004) (London: British Film Institute.) p 123. Georges Sadoul (1962) Le Cinéma français (1890–1962). (Paris: Flammarion) pp.92–93.
^Jaque-Catelain. (1950) Jaque-Catelain présente Marcel L'Herbier. (Paris: Vautrain) p.144
^L'Herbier, Marcel. (1979) La Tête qui tourne. (Paris: Belfond) pp.272–273.
^THOMAS F. BRADY (7 January 1950). "FLYNN TO APPEAR IN HIS OWN MOVIE: Will Produce 'Bargain' With Co-Author, William Marshall, in France This Summer Of Local Origin". New York Times. p. 20.
^"Il mistero dei tre continenti".Roberto Chiti; Roberto Poppi; Enrico Lancia; Mario Pecorari (1991). Dizionario del cinema italiano. I film. Gremese Editore, 1992. ISBN88-7605-593-2.
^"Il mistero dei tre continenti". Marco Giusti. 007 all'italiana. Isbn Edizioni, 2010. ISBN9788876381874.
^Bergfelder, Tim (2005). International Adventures: German Popular Cinema and European Co-productions in the 1960s. Berghahn Books. p. 122. ISBN1571815384.
^Bart, Peter (21 March 1965). "Paris to Hollywood With No Stop at Marshalltown". New York Times. Hollywood, California. p. X11.
^Crowther, Bosley (23 April 1963). "Screen: Paris Outshines Love Story: Scenes the Attraction of 'Time Out for Love' Jean Seberg Is Among Synthetic Characters Revival With Revision". New York Times. p. 31.
^Lino Micciché, Storia del cinema italiano, Edizioni di Bianco & nero, 2001
^DeLuca, Gerald A. "Central Square Cinemas". Cinema Treasures. Cinema Treasures, LLC. Archived from the original on 20 May 2016. Retrieved 16 June 2017. The most famous bit of programming here was Philippe de Broca's 1966 "King of Hearts", which ran for four years or so and spawned a huge cult following that gave the film new life across the United States. The Central Square Cinemas closed April 1, 1980.
^"Le Cœur à l'ouvrage – Film (2000)". SensCritique. 11 July 2000. Retrieved 26 February 2024. Le "Coeur à l'ouvrage" est une histoire d'amour où les sentiments ont la part belle.