Anne Vernon

Anne Vernon (born Édith Antoinette Alexandrine Vignaud; 9 January 1924) is a French retired film and television actress who appeared in 40 films between 1948 and 1970, including three films that were entered into the main competition at the Cannes Film Festival. She appeared in films of multiple countries, including French, British, Italian, and American. As of 2025, she is believed to be among the last surviving leading ladies of the 1940s cinema.

Career Anne Vernon made her film debut in the 1948 French-Belgian film The Murdered Model, playing the supporting role of Irène. In 1949, she starred in the British romantic comedy Warning to Wantons opposite Harold Warrender. The same year, she starred in the French drama Thus Finishes the Night with Claude Dauphin. She appeared in her only American film in 1950, having a secondary role in the film noir Shakedown.

Vernon continued being a leading lady throughout the 1950s across different genres in multiple countries. These include Edward and Caroline, a French comedy film that competed at the 1951 Cannes Film Festival, and MGM British's 1953 production Time Bomb, a film noir where she played the wife of Glenn Ford's character. In 1955, she starred in an Eastern German film called Das Fräulein von Scuderi. She had a supporting role in the Italian-French drama General Della Rovere, which won the Golden Lion at the 1959 Venice International Film Festival. She was in the 1958 short film La Joconde: Histoire d'une obsession, which won the Palme d'Or at the 1958 Cannes Film Festival.

In 1964, Vernon played the mother of Catherine Deneuve's character Geneviève in the French-West German musical The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. The film won the Palme d'Or at the 1964 Cannes Film Festival. In the United States, it was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Foreign-Language Film, Best Original Screenplay (Demy), and Best Original Score (Demy and Legrand). The film's main theme, "I Will Wait for You", was nominated for Best Original Song. It was later adapted into an English-language stage musical. In 2018, a BBC Culture critics' poll ranked the film in the Top 100 Greatest Non-English Films of All Time.

By the late 1960s, Vernon's film career had slowed down. Her last film role was in the erotic drama Therese and Isabelle (1968). She, however, continued to work in various television series and TV movies.

Personal life Vernon was married three times. She married lawyer Robert Badinter in 1957. They divorced in 1965. Her second husband was René Gainville, a film director to whom she was married between 1970-1975. In 1988, she married Jean-Pierre Prouteau, a marriage that lasted for ten years until his death in 1998.

Vernon celebrated her 100th birthday on 9 January 2024, making her a centenarian.

Filmography

Television Reves d'amour (aka Dreams of Love) (1962) (TV Movie) Le Tartuffe (1962) (TV Movie) Dernier Amour (1963) (TV Movie) Bonjour Tristesse (1965) (TV Movie) Illusions Perdues (aka Lost Illusions) (1965) (TV Series) Malican peres et fils (1967) (TV Series) Au Theatre ce Soir (1969) (TV Series) Le Cyborg ou Le Voyage Vertical (1970) (TV Movie) Mauregard (1970) (TV Series) Les Dernieres volontes de Richard Lagrange (TV Series) (1972) Pont Dormant (1972) (TV Series)