Dany Carrel

Dany Carrel (1932-    ) is a legendary actress of French cinema, television and theater.  Born in Tourane, French Indochina (now renamed as DaNang, Vietnam) to a Vietnamese mother and a French father, her given name at birth was Yvonne Chazelles du Chaxel.

In 1953, Dany Carrel made her acting debut in a film called Dortoir des Grandes (Inside a Gils' Dormitory).  She first gained international prominence with her role as Maria in the film, Porte de Lilas (The Gates of Paris) (1957).  Dany Carrel went on to star in over 40 films throughout her career.  Known for her beauty and exotic Eurasian features, during the 1950s and 1960s Dany Carrel had become a sex symbol among movie audiences in countries within the Francophonie.   In 1969, she starred in Delphine, a film directed by Vietnamese-French filmmaker Eric Le Hung.  Among her most popular films include Escapade (1957),  Le Moulin des Supplices (Mill of the Stone Women) (1960), Les Ennemis (The Enemies) (1962), L'Enfer (Inferno) (1964), Piège Pour Cendrillon (A Trap for Cinderella) (1965) and Clérambard (1969).


During the 1970s and 1980s, Dany Carrel shifted from the big screen to television starring in television films such as La Voleuse de Londres (1974), Le Féminin Pluriel (1982), La Rescousse (1982), Merci Sylvestre (1983) and Le Saut du Lit (1989).  Dany Carrel has also appeared on numerous plays on the French theater.  Her most popular play was Marcel Achard's L'Idiote where she played the lead role of Josefa first in 1962 replacing actress Anie Girardot and again in her reprisal in 1971.  Dany Carrel's last theater performance to date was in 1994 in the play written by Yves Jamiaque, Laisse Parler Ta Mère.  

Dany Carrel wrote and published her autobiography in 1991 entitled L'Annamite (The Vietnamese) which has been made into a television movie.

Link(s):

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