Trivia

Later in life, she kept in shape through dancing and walking over six miles a day. During the shooting of Amour (2012), she used to turn on her radio at the end of her daily work and do some Andalusian dances.

She was a skilled photographer. When she was in Japan to shoot Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959), she bought a Ricohflex and began to take photos of people. All the material she took was eventually published in a book called "Tu n'as rien vu à Hiroshima".

She slept in her dressing room during the whole shooting of Amour (2012).

Didn't own a TV set, a computer nor a cellphone.

When she visited New York for the first time in her life in January 2012, she asked Sony executives if someone could bring her to see the Statue of Liberty.

Is one of 13 French actresses to have received an Academy Award nomination. The others in chronological order are: Claudette Colbert, Colette Marchand, Leslie Caron, Simone Signoret, Anouk Aimée, Isabelle Adjani, Marie-Christine Barrault, Catherine Deneuve, Juliette Binoche, Marion Cotillard, Bérénice Bejo and Isabelle Huppert.

She was also a poet.

Both Emmanuelle and her Amour (2012) co-star, Jean-Louis Trintignant, were part of Krzysztof Kieslowski's Three Colors Trilogy. She appeared in Three Colors: Blue (1993) while he played the leading male role in Three Colors: Red (1994).

Used to practice archery in her youth. She took an interest in the sport by watching a Japanese sensei when she was in Hiroshima to shoot Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959). She later bought a bow and arrows to take lessons in Paris.

After the success of Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959), she was offered many roles in the English language, but, since she didn't speak it, she couldn't perform them.

Both Emmanuelle and Anouk Aimée received an Oscar nomination for Best Actress for playing opposite Jean-Louis Trintignant: coincidentally, both actresses were playing a character named Anne.

She was one of Georges Franju's three muses, the other two being Edith Scob and Francine Bergé.

She lived in the Latin Quarter of Paris.

Was the 6th French actress (out of 7) to be nominated for an Academy Award for a French-language performance. The others in chronological order are Anouk Aimée, Isabelle Adjani, Marie-Christine Barrault, Catherine Deneuve, Marion Cotillard and Isabelle Huppert.

For her performance in Amour (2012), she became the oldest Oscar nominee for Best Actress at age 85. Coincidentally, her fellow nominee Quvenzhané Wallis became the youngest one ever at 9 for her performance in Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012).

Both her BAFTA nominations were for movies which had the word Amour in the title: Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959) and Amour (2012).

She and Marion Cotillard are the only actors to win both a BAFTA and a César award for the same performance. Cotillard won both awards in 2008 for La Vie En Rose (2007) and Riva won in 2013 for Amour (2012).

She gives her name to a square (located near her family's farm) in her native town of Cheniménil. She originally declined the honor, stating (in September 2016) that she found it pretentious, but later changed her mind as she said to feel an always stronger emotional connection to her native Vosges.

Owned until her death her family house in Remiremont, which she last visited in October 2016. Always stayed in great terms with her neighbors of over 40 years, Claudine and Michel Jeanpierre.

Favourite movies included L'Avventura (1960), Wild Strawberries (1957), Jules and Jim (1962), La Notte (1961), Electra (1962), Over There, 1914-18 (1963).

Hobbies included traveling, cooking, biking and collecting exotic items.

Her paternal grandfather was Italian, and her other grandparents were French. Her grandfather, Alfred (Alfredo) Riva (b.1877), was born in Monvalle, Lombardy, on the side of Lake Maggiore. Her other grandparents came from Vosges families (Nourdin, Hacquard, Hollard).

She was very good friends with singer and actor Jacques Brel. The two appeared in a movie together, Les risques du métier (1967).

Jean-Pierre Melville stated that he wouldn't have done Léon Morin, Priest (1961) had Emmanuelle or Jean-Paul Belmondo declined their roles.

She unanimously won the "Prix du syndicat de la critique" for Best Actress in 1966 (1965/1966 season) for her stage performance in "L'Opéra du monde".

Mother Jeanne Fernande Nourdin (b. 1908) was a seamstress. Father René Alfred (Alfredo) Riva (b. 1906) was a sign painter.

She was one of the two French actresses who starred in French-language films to be nominated for a BAFTA award for Best Leading Actress in 2013 with her performance in Amour (2012), the other was Marion Cotillard for her performance in Rust and Bone (2012). It was the first time in the history of BAFTA that two French-language performances were nominated for the Best Actress category.

She won the Best Actress Award at Acapulco Film Festival for her performance in Therese (1962).

She won the "Prix du Cinéma Français" for her film work.

She was originally slated to star in the U.S. premiere of Didier Bezace's stage production of 'Savannah Bay' at the Kennedy Center, but eventually backed out of the project due to medical recommendations that prevented her from traveling overseas. Geneviève Mnich replaced her.

She's one of only three French actresses to win the Best Actress BAFTA since the integration of Best British Actress and Best Foreign Actress to one category: the other two are Stéphane Audran for Just Before Nightfall (1971) and The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972) (in 1974) and Marion Cotillard in La Vie En Rose (2007) (in 2008).

When initially approached to direct Mademoiselle (1966), Georges Franju introduced her to screenwriter Jean Genet as his ideal pick for the title role. Genet was very enthusiastic about the idea and when Franju mentioned fellow candidate Romy Schneider, the writer stated: 'You've shown me a jewel, I won't swop it against a false pearl, and German at that'. This collaboration never saw the day and Franju later remarked that he would have made the movie straight away had he agreed to Romy's casting, but he had also been partial to Emmanuelle. The film was eventually directed by Tony Richardson and starred Jeanne Moreau.

She starred in 3 movies that were nominated for the Best Picture César: Three Colors: Blue (1993), Venus Beauty Institute (1999) and Amour (2012). The last two won.

Her friends nicknamed her 'Hiroshima' after her star-making movie, Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959).

One of her professional regrets was not having been offered enough comedy roles in her career, largely because of her strict association with the tragic heroine of Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959).

Back in the 60's, she mentioned Charlotte Corday, Tess of the D'Urbervilles and Mrs. Dalloway as dream roles she would have liked to play.

She's been credited as either Emmanuelle or Emmanuèle Riva through most of her film career. Within the years, she signed autographs using both names as well.

For her performance in Amour (2012), she was one of five French actresses to have won the NSFC (National Society of Film Critics) Award for Best Actress (in 2013) . The other four are: Sylvie in La vieille dame indigne (1965) (in 1967), Isabelle Adjani in The Story of Adele H (1975) (in 1975), Marion Cotillard in Two Days, One Night (2014) and The Immigrant (2013) (in 2015), and Isabelle Huppert in Elle (2016) and Things to Come (2016) (in 2017).

Died the same day as Eléonore Hirt.

Her memorial service was held at the Saint-Germain de Charonne Church in the 20th arrondissement of Paris on Saturday 4 February 2017 at 11.00 a.m. She was later buried at the Charonne cemetery.

When she was Oscar-nominated for her portrayal of Anne in Michael Haneke's Amour (2012), one of her fellow nominees was Naomi Watts for The Impossible (2012). Watts had previously played Ann in Haneke's Funny Games (2007) (the director uses variations of the same name for all his female protagonists).

Georges Franju wanted Emmanuelle to play the role of Lady Beltham in his long-craved version of Fantomas, but he eventually died before the project could see the light of the day. Emmanuelle stated that not playing that part is one of her big regrets.

Enjoyed to do film and stage work in equal measure.

In 2012 she became the eleventh recipient of the Prix Marguerite Duras for her body of work.

Both Emmanuelle and Delphine Seyrig played an unnamed heroine nicknamed 'Elle' in a movie penned by Marguerite Duras: Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959) and The Music (1967) respectively.

She was awarded the "Victoire du Cinéma Français" for her performance in Therese (1962).

Before the start of the shooting of Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959), she would wait for Marguerite Duras to pass on to her Alain Resnais's instructions about how to play her role. The first message Resnais sent her was that she had to shave her legs for the part.

Loved ballet and classical music.

Michael Haneke stated that, had she still been alive, he would have likely cast his frequent collaborator Annie Girardot as the female lead in Amour (2012), but he also added that- thinking retrospectively about the whole thing- it's unlikely that she would have been as believable as Emmanuelle as the screen wife of Jean-Louis Trintignant.

Her first acting experience was in a school production of Antigone on her father's wishes (he otherwise never approved of her acting dreams).