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IMDbPro

Françoise Dorléac(1942-1967)

  • Actress
IMDbProStarmeter
See rank
"Cul-de-Sac" Francoise Dorelac 1967 Filmways
Three Reasons Criterion Trailer for Cul-de-sac
Play trailer1:31
Cul-de-sac (1966)
4 Videos
60 Photos
The radiant Françoise Dorléac is better remembered today as the elder, ill-fated sister of French film star Catherine Deneuve. The Paris-born actress, however, was actually the first to become a star and had quite a formidable career of her own in the 1960s until it was cut short. Born into a theatrical family in 1942 (her father was actor Maurice Dorléac), Françoise first appeared on stage at the age of 10.

Entering the film industry with the movie short Mensonges (1957), she studied at the Conservatoire d'Art Dramatique (1959-1961) and had modeled for Christian Dior by the time she started making any kind of cinematic impact. Slim, gamine, pale-skinned and a real brunette stunner, Françoise graced a number of movies before hitting celebrity stardom with François Truffaut's melodrama The Soft Skin (1964) and the classic James Bond-like spy spoof That Man from Rio (1964), both released in 1964. The two films showed the polar sides of Françoise's incredible allure and talent. In the former she played an airline stewardess who falls into a tragic affair with a married businessman (Jean Desailly) and in the latter she played a fun and flaky heroine opposite Jean-Paul Belmondo. Unlike Catherine, Françoise proved a carefree, outgoing presence both on and off camera. Known for her chic, stylish ways and almost unbridled sense of joie-de-vivre, she continued making strong marks as the adulterous wife in Roman Polanski's black comedy Cul-de-sac (1966) and even joined Gene Kelly, George Chakiris, and her sister, who was now a cinematic star by this time too, in the rather candy-coated The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967), a colorful movie which paid homage to the Hollywood musical. She and Catherine, who looked quite similar, played singing twins who dream about living in Paris.

Her fun and funny side was always an asset and often revealed as in the films as Arsène Lupin contre Arsène Lupin (1962) and Male Hunt (1964). Branching out now in such non-French movies as Genghis Khan (1965), Where the Spies Are (1966), and Billion Dollar Brain (1967), the luminous Françoise was on the brink of international stardom when her rental car flipped and burned on a roadway in Nice, France on June 26, 1967. She was near completion of the last film mentioned at the time the accident occurred. Her part in the movie was left intact. Her early death at age 25 most certainly robbed the cinema of a tried and true talent and incomparably beautiful mademoiselle who showed every sign of taking Hollywood by storm, as Catherine later did.
BornMarch 21, 1942
DiedJune 26, 1967(25)
BornMarch 21, 1942
DiedJune 26, 1967(25)
IMDbProStarmeter
See rank

Photos60

Françoise Dorléac in Billion Dollar Brain (1967)
Françoise Dorléac in Billion Dollar Brain (1967)
Françoise Dorléac in Billion Dollar Brain (1967)
Michael Caine, Karl Malden, and Françoise Dorléac in Billion Dollar Brain (1967)
Karl Malden and Françoise Dorléac in Billion Dollar Brain (1967)
Michael Caine and Françoise Dorléac in Billion Dollar Brain (1967)
Michael Caine and Françoise Dorléac in Billion Dollar Brain (1967)
Françoise Dorléac in Billion Dollar Brain (1967)
Françoise Dorléac in Where the Spies Are (1966)
Jean-Paul Belmondo and Françoise Dorléac in That Man from Rio (1964)
Françoise Dorléac and Iain Quarrier in Cul-de-sac (1966)
Donald Pleasence and Françoise Dorléac in Cul-de-sac (1966)

Known for

That Man from Rio (1964)
That Man from Rio
7.0
  • Agnès Villermosa(as Françoise Dorleac)
  • 1964
Genghis Khan (1965)
Genghis Khan
5.8
  • Bortei(as Francoise Dorleac)
  • 1965
The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967)
The Young Girls of Rochefort
7.7
  • Solange Garnier(as Françoise Dorleac)
  • 1967
Where the Spies Are (1966)
Where the Spies Are
5.6
  • Vikki(as Francoise Dorleac)
  • 1966

Credits

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IMDbPro

Actress

  • Michael Caine and Françoise Dorléac in Billion Dollar Brain (1967)
    Billion Dollar Brain
    • (as Francoise Dorleac)
  • The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967)
    The Young Girls of Rochefort
    • (as Françoise Dorleac)
  • Julie de Chaverny ou La double méprise (1967)
    Julie de Chaverny ou La double méprise
  • Cul-de-sac (1966)
    Cul-de-sac
  • Where the Spies Are (1966)
    Where the Spies Are
    • (as Francoise Dorleac)
  • Genghis Khan (1965)
    Genghis Khan
    • (as Francoise Dorleac)
  • Les petites demoiselles (1964)
    Les petites demoiselles
  • Jane Fonda, Francine Bergé, Marie Dubois, Anna Karina, and Catherine Spaak in Circle of Love (1964)
    Circle of Love
  • Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean-Claude Brialy, and Claude Rich in Male Hunt (1964)
    Male Hunt
  • The Soft Skin (1964)
    The Soft Skin
    • (as Françoise Dorleac)
  • That Man from Rio (1964)
    That Man from Rio
    • (as Françoise Dorleac)
  • Teuf-teuf
  • Arsène Lupin contre Arsène Lupin (1962)
    Arsène Lupin contre Arsène Lupin
  • Les trois chapeaux claques
  • La gamberge (1962)
    La gamberge

Videos4

Bande-annonce [OV]
Trailer 3:46
Bande-annonce [OV]
Bande-annonce [OV]
Trailer 2:47
Bande-annonce [OV]
That Man from Rio
Trailer 2:00
That Man from Rio
Cul-de-sac: The Criterion Collection [Blu-Ray]
Trailer 1:31
Cul-de-sac: The Criterion Collection [Blu-Ray]

Personal details

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    • March 21, 1942
    • Paris, France
    • June 26, 1967
    • Villeneuve-Loubet, Alpes-Maritimes, France(road accident)
    • Renée Simonot
    • Chiara Mastroianni(Niece or Nephew)
  • Other works
    Dubbing voice of Elsbeth Sigmund in the French synchronized version of Heidi (1952).
  • Publicity listings
    • 3 Articles
    • 2 Pictorials

Did you know

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  • Trivia
    Françoise and her sister Catherine Deneuve were as different as night and day. While Catherine was cool, calm, remote, and possessed with an edge of mystery about her, Françoise was quite the opposite -- fun, radiant, outgoing, with such joie de vivre. The sisters made three films together: Les portes claquent (1960), Male Hunt (1964), and The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967), which is their best remembered.
    • Husky voice

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