Mylène Demongeot

Mylène Demongeot (; born Marie-Hélène Demongeot ; 29 September 1935 – 1 December 2022) was a French film, television and theatre actress and author with a career spanning seven decades and more than 100 credits in French, Italian, English and Japanese speaking productions.

Demongeot became a star at age 21 with her portrayal of Abigail Williams in The Crucible (1957) which garnered her a BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles nomination and the best actress prize at the socialist Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. Some other notable film roles include Elsa in Otto Preminger's Bonjour Tristesse (1958), alongside Deborah Kerr and David Niven, and as Milady de Winter in Les Trois Mousquetaires (1961).

A "veteran of cinema" who started as one of the blond sex symbols of the 1950s and 1960s, she managed to avoid typecasting by exploring many film genres including thrillers, westerns, comedies, swashbucklers, period films and even pepla, such as Romulus and the Sabines (1961) opposite Roger Moore or Gold for the Caesars (1963).

Demongeot also has a cult following based on the Fantomas trilogy, as Hélène Gurn opposite Louis de Funès and Jean Marais: Fantômas (1964), Fantômas Unleashed (1965) and Fantômas Against Scotland Yard (1967). Thirty years later, she starred again in another one of France's most successful comedy trilogies as Madame Pic in Fabien Onteniente's Camping (2006), Camping 2 (2010) and Camping 3 (2016).

She was twice nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the César Awards for 36 Quai des Orfèvres (2004) and French California (2006). In 2007, she was made a Commander of the Ordre des Arts et de Lettres of the French Republic. In 2017, she was inducted into the Légion d'Honneur by ethologist and neurologist Boris Cyrulnik, with the rank of Chevalier.

She remained popular until her death from peritoneal cancer. At the time of her death, she was starring in Thomas Gilou's film Maison de retraite (2022) alongside Gérard Depardieu, one of the biggest box office hits of 2022 in France. Through an Élysée Palace official tribune, President Emmanuel Macron paid a long tribute to her which included : "we salute the career of a great figure in the French Seventh Art, who knew how to shine in all its genres to move all French people".

Early life Demongeot was born in September 1935 in Nice, Alpes-Maritimes, the daughter and only child of Alfred Jean Demongeot, a high-ranking civil servant, born on 30 January 1897 in Nice (himself the son of Commandant Marie Joseph Marcel Demongeot and Clotilde Faussonne di Clavesana, an Italian aristocrat) and Claudia Troubnikova, born on 17 May 1904 in Kharkiv (Ukraine, Russian Empire). Her parents, both actors themselves, had met in Shanghai, China, where her half-brother, Léonid Ivantov, from the first marriage of her mother, was born, in Harbin on 17 December 1923.

Like hundreds of other major European figures of stage and screen, she trained at the Cours Simon in Paris where her classmates included Jean-Pierre Cassel, Claude Berri and Guy Bedos. She was a classically trained pianist and her first ambition was of becoming a professional.

Career

In the United Kingdom she appeared in several comedies, including It's A Wonderful World (1956) and Upstairs and Downstairs (1959). Several of her films were made for the Rank Organisation.

Between September 2013 and June 2014, she was a columnist member of the radio show Les Grosses Têtes by Philippe Bouvard on RTL.

Personal life Demongeot was married to director Marc Simenon from 1968 until his death in 1999. She resided in a country house in Mayenne surrounded by animals. She was a member of the honor committee of the (English: Right to Die with Dignity - ADMD; a member of the World Federation of Right to Die Societies).

Demongeot was the victim of a financial scam set up by her account manager who stole €2 million from her, money which was used to make loans to numerous high-profile personalities, like Isabelle Adjani, Alexandre Arcady or Samy Naceri. Justice took hold of the case in June 2012 and two banks were found guilty. She recounts these years of proceedings in her book Très chers escrocs… (2019, English: Very Dear Crooks…).

Demongeot died of primary peritoneal cancer on 1 December 2022, at the age of 87.

Quotes Among the quotes on or from her colleagues, are found: Brigitte Bardot wrote in one of her books: "Mylène was my little cinema sister, then became my combat sister, a libra like me, she has always loved animals, even going so far as to save a baby lion from set that she brought back to the hotel which hosted her during the filming". Arthur Miller wrote: "Mylene Demongeot was [in The Crucible] truly beautiful, and so bursting with real sexuality as to become a generalized force whose effects on the community transcended herself." Demongeot met Gary Cooper at the opening of the first escalator to be installed in a cinema, at the Rex Theatre in Paris, on 7 June 1957. She declared in a filmed interview: "Gary Cooper was sublime, there I have to say, now he, was part of the stars, Gary Cooper, Cary Grant, John Wayne, those great Americans who I've met really were unbelievable guys, there aren't any like them anymore." On David Niven she said in a filmed interview: "He was like a lord, he was part of those great actors who were extraordinary like Dirk Bogarde, individuals with lots of class, elegance and humour. I only saw David get angry once. Preminger had discharged him for the day but eventually asked to get him. I said, sir, you had discharged him, he left for Deauville to gamble at the casino. So we rented a helicopter so they immediately went and grabbed him. Two hours later, he was back, full of rage. There I saw David lose his British phlegm, his politeness and class. It was royal. [Laughs]."

Filmography

Year Title Role Director Notes 1953 Children of Love Nicole Léonide Moguy 1955 Frou-Frou The mistress Augusto Genina School for Love The vocalist Marc Allégret Papa, maman, ma femme et moi The woman at the door Jean-Paul Le Chanois 1956 Micheline Maurice Cloche It's A Wonderful World Georgie Dubois Val Guest Credited as Mylène Nicole 1957 The Crucible Abigail Williams Raymond Rouleau Karlovy Vary International Film Festival - Best ActressNominated - BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles A Kiss for a Killer Éva Dollan Henri Verneuil 1958 That Night Sylvie Mallet Maurice Cazeneuve Bonjour tristesse Elsa Otto Preminger Be Beautiful But Shut Up Virginie Dumayet Marc Allégret 1959 Catherine Mougin Yves Ciampi Women are Weak Sabine Michel Boisrond Bad Girls Don't Cry Laura Mauro Bolognini The Giant of Marathon Andromeda Jacques Tourneur & Mario Bava Upstairs and Downstairs Ingrid Ralph Thomas 1960 Love in Rome Anna Padoan Dino Risi Under Ten Flags Zizi Duilio Coletti 1961The Three Musketeers Milady de Winter Bernard Borderie The Singer Not the Song Locha de Cortinez Roy Ward Baker Romulus and the Sabines Réa Richard Pottier 1962 Copacabana Palace Zina von Raunacher Steno I Don Giovanni della Costa Azzurra Vittorio Sala 1963 Girl's Apartment Mélanie Michel Deville Doctor in Distress Sonia & Helga Stronberg Ralph Thomas Gold for the Caesars Penelope Andre de Toth & Sabatino Ciuffini Because, Because of a Woman Lisette Michel Deville 1964 Fantômas Hélène Gurn André Hunebelle Cherchez l'idole Herself Michel Boisrond 1965 Uncle Tom's Cabin Harriet Géza von Radványi Fantômas se déchaîne Hélène Gurn Haroun Tazieff & André Hunebelle OSS 117 Mission for a Killer Anna-Maria Sulza André Hunebelle 1966 Tender Scoundrel Muriel Jean Becker 1967 Fantômas contre Scotland Yard Hélène Gurn André Hunebelle 1968 The Private Navy of Sgt. O'Farrell Gabby Frank Tashlin Les dossiers de l'agence O Myle Holga Marc Simenon TV series (1 Episode) 1969 The Thirteen Chairs Judy Nicolas Gessner 1970 The Mushroom Anne Calder Marc Simenon 1971 Katia Marc Simenon 1972 The Rebels (Quelques arpents de neige) Laura Denis Héroux Montreal Blues Pascal Gélinas 1973 Enuff Is Enuff (J'ai mon voyage!) Madame De Chatiez Denis Héroux Les aventures du capitaine Luckner Daphne François Villiers TV series (1 Episode) 1974 By the Blood of Others The prostitute Marc Simenon 1975 Les noces de porcelaine Julia Roger Coggio Il faut vivre dangereusement Laurence Claude Makovski 1977 L'échappatoire Elisabeth Claude Patin Recherche dans l'intérêt des familles Alcine Briant Philippe Arnal TV series (1 Episode) 1978 Douze heures pour mourir Germaine Abder Isker TV movie 1979 Un jour un tueur Cécile Pallas Serge Korber 1980 Kick, Raoul, la moto, les jeunes et les autres Martine Marc Simenon TV series (1 Episode) 1981 Signé Furax Malvina Marc Simenon 1982 Marion Marion Treguier Jean Pignol TV series (6 Episodes) 1983 Le bâtard Brigitte Bertrand Van Effenterre Flics de choc The teacher Jean-Pierre Desagnat Surprise Party Geneviève Lambert Roger Vadim 1984 Retenez Moi...Ou Je Fais Un Malheur The bench woman Michel Gérard Série noire The Baroness Jacques Rouffio TV series (1 Episode) 1986 Tenue de soirée Wife in house 3 Bertrand Blier Paulette, la pauvre petite milliardaire Madame Gulderbilt Claude Confortès 1988 Big Man Fernande Steno TV Mini-Series 1989 The Man Who Lived at the Ritz Madame Rochaise Desmond Davis TV movie 1992 Vacances au purgatoire Mathilde Marc Simenon TV movie 1994 La Piste du télégraphe Muriel Liliane de Kermadec Minder Madeleine Ken Hannam TV series (1 Episode) 1995 Chien et chat Annabelle Montbrial Marc Simenon TV series (1 Episode) 1997 L'Homme idéal Guillemette Xavier Gélin 2004 Victoire The mother Stéphanie Murat Red Lights The summer camp director Cédric Kahn 36 Quai des Orfèvres Manou Berliner Olivier Marchal Nominated - César Award for Best Supporting Actress 2005 Tokyo Tower The governess Takashi Minamoto La tête haute La Tine Gérard Jourd'hui TV movie 2006 Camping Laurette Pic Fabien Onteniente French California Katia Jacques Fieschi Nominated - César Award for Best Supporting Actress 2007 Les toits de Paris Thérèse Huner Saleem Le fantôme du lac Louise Perreau Philippe Niang TV movie 2009 Tricheuse Madame Vallardin Jean-François Davy Oscar and the Lady in Pink Lily Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt 2010 Camping 2 Laurette Pic Fabien Onteniente 2011 Si tu meurs, je te tue Geneviève Huner Saleem Maman ! The mother Hélène de Fougerolles Short 2013 On My Way Fanfan Emmanuelle Bercot La balade de Lucie The mother Sandrine Ray TV movie Les mauvaises têtes Virginie Pierre Isoard TV movie 2014 Des roses en hiver Madeleine Lorenzo Gabriele TV movie 2015 No Limit Christine Libérati Ludovic Colbeau-Justin TV series (2 Episodes) 2016 Camping 3 Laurette Pic Fabien Onteniente 3 Mariages et un coup de foudre Mamita Gilles de Maistre TV movie 2017 The Midwife Rolande Martin Provost Caïn Jacqueline Benedetti Bertrand Arthuys TV series (1 Episode) 2018 Infidèle Giulia Didier Le Pêcheur TV Mini-Series A l'intérieur Rose Da Costa Vincent Lannoo TV series (2 Episodes) 2022 Maison de Retraite Simone Tournier Thomas Gilou

Theater