Denise Grey

Denise Grey (born Édouardine Verthuy; 17 September 1896 – 13 January 1996) was an Italian-born actress who became a naturalized French citizen.

Biography

Édouardine Grey was born in Châtillon in the Aosta Valley of north-west Italy, close to the French border. The town at the time primarily spoke the Valdôtain dialect. She was naturalized as a French citizen on 13 July 1922. She started working in the film industry in 1915 in the silent film En famille, an adaptation of the novel by Hector Malot, before dedicating herself to theatre work. She went back to working in films, now talkies, in the 1930s. She came to fame in the 1940s with films such as Monsieur Hector (1940), Boléro (1942) or Devil in the Flesh (1947). Old age did not end her career. For example, in 1972, she starred in a French television series called Les Rois maudits. Thanks to the film La Boum, in which she plays "Poupette", the great-grandmother of Sophie Marceau, she gained recognition from a new audience growing up in the 1980s. In 1986, she sang Devenir vieux (Becoming Old).

She was a member of the Comédie-Française between 1944 and 1946 and between 1957 and 1958.

Personal life She had a daughter: Suzanne Grey, also an actress, who was born on 28 June 1917 and died on 13 December 2005.

Death She died in 1996, a few months before reaching the age of 100. She rests next to her husband in the cemetery of Arradon (Morbihan).

Selected filmography Nemrod et compagnie (1916) - Esther Nuno Les bleus de l'amour (1918) - Mimi Bertin Honneur d'artiste (1920) - Miss Nicholson Jeunes filles à marier (1935) The Lady from Vittel (1937) - Mme Bleu Trois artilleurs au pensionnat (1937) - Hortense, deuxième institrice Trois artilleurs à l'opéra (1938) - Paulette Serge Panine (1939) - Lady Harton Monsieur Hector (1940) - Maroussia de Dragomir Montmartre sur Seine (1941) - Moussette L'oasis dans la tourmente (1942) Bolero (1942) - Anne-Marie Houiller Romance for Three (1942) - Loys Erland The Blue Veil (1942) - Madame Volnar-Bussel The Honourable Catherine (1943) - Madame d'Ambroisie Des jeunes filles dans la nuit (1943) - La mère d'Andrée Vingt-cinq ans de bonheur (1943) - Élisabeth Castille Retour de flamme (1943) - Madame de Nogrelles Goodbye Leonard (1943) - Bernardine Léonard - la femme insupportable et dépensière de Félicien L'aventure est au coin de la rue (1944) - Madame Laurat-Dossin Majestic Hotel Cellars (1945) - Madame Van Bell L'extravagante mission (1945) - Mme Brockseller Madame et son flirt (1946) -La pseudo-cousine Léa Strange Fate (1946) - Madame d'Evremond The Ideal Couple (1946) - Antoinette L'insaisissable Frédéric (1946) - Miss Baxter On demande un ménage (1946) - Sabine Robinet Six heures à perdre (1947) - Mme. de Witt Devil in the Flesh (1947) - Madame Grangier Four Knaves (1947) - Madame de la Bastide Coincidences (1947) - Madame Bardolas Et dix de der (1948) - Betty Une femme par jour (1949) - La duchesse Bonheur en location (1949) - Gilde Rome Express (1950) - Margot Not Any Weekend for Our Love (1950) - Gabrielle, fille du baron La ronde des heures (1950) - Madame Méry-Mirecourt My Friend Sainfoin (1950) - La mère d'Eugénie Blonde (1950) - Isabelle Truche Tomorrow We Get Divorced (1951) - Mme Tourelle Les petites Cardinal (1951) - Mme Cardinal Allô... je t'aime (1952) - Mme Dupuis Article 519, Penal Code (1952) - Madre di Clara The Tour of the Grand Dukes (1953) - La baronne The Father of the Girl (1953) - Isabelle Marinier Dortoir des grandes (1953) - Mme. Hazard-Habran - La directrice Julieta (1953) - Mme Valender - la mère de Julietta et Martine The Pirates of the Bois de Boulogne (1954) - Mme. Grossac The Sheep Has Five Legs (1954) - Mme Durand-Perrin, la mère Rasputin (1954) - La princesse Dikvona Poisson d'avril (1954) - Clémentine Prévost El torero (1954) - (uncredited) Service Entrance (1954) - Madame Thévenot Il seduttore (1954) - Jacqueline's Mother Fantaisie d'un jour (1954) - Mme. de Cédillon Spring, Autumn and Love (1955) - La cliente La villa Sans-Souci (1955) La rue des bouches peintes (1955) - Winifred L'auberge en folie (1956) - La grand-mère Mitsou (1956) - Estelle Une nuit aux Baléares (1957) - Marguerite Vargas La peau de l'ours (1957) - Mme Legrand, la belle-mère On Foot, on Horse, and on Wheels (1957) - Marguerite Martin Sylviane de mes nuits (1957) - Mme Anita de Santos Carve Her Name with Pride (1958) - Mrs. Bushell It's All Adam's Fault (1958) - Jeanne Sandret Police judiciaire (1958) - Madame Jambert Le tombeur (1958) - Natacha Olivaro Mimi Pinson (1958) - La grand-mère A Dog, a Mouse, and a Sputnik (1958) - Marguerite Martin Le confident de ces dames (1959) - La comtesse de Corte Bianca Bombs on Monte Carlo (1960) - Contesse Tamm Le panier à crabes (1960) - L'impresario Love and the Frenchwoman (1960) - Danielle's mother (segment "Divorce, Le") La Bonne Soupe (1964) - Mme Boudard mère Pas de caviar pour tante Olga (1965) - Mrs. Dumont-Freville La maison de campagne (1969) - La baronne de Bocquigny Hello-Goodbye (1970) - Concierge Mais qui donc m'a fait ce bébé? (1971) Les Rois maudits (1972, TV Mini-Series) - Mme de Hongrie La boum (1980) - Poupette N'oublie pas ton père au vestiaire... (1982) - La dame à la moto La Boum 2 (1982) - Poupette En cas de guerre mondiale, je file à l'étranger (1983) - Madame Toussaint mère Le voleur de feuilles (1984) - Isabelle Debecker Le gaffeur (1985) - La mère de Gabriel Les saisons du plaisir (1988) - Emmanuelle de La Grandière Van Bergh A Fine Romance (1991) - Madame Legris