Acting
Françoise Dorléac
Françoise Paulette Louise Dorléac (21 March 1942 – 26 June 1967) was a French actress. She was the elder sister of Catherine Deneuve, with whom she starred in the musical comedy film, The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967). Her other films include Philippe de Broca's That Man from Rio, François Truffaut's The Soft Skin (both 1964), Val Guest's Where the Spies Are (1965), and Roman Polanski's Cul-de-sac (1966).
Dorléac was the daughter of screen actors Maurice Dorléac and Renée Simonot. Slim, fair and blonde, she modeled for Dior and then made her film debut in The Wolves in the Sheepfold (1960), directed by Hervé Bromberger. She went on to appear in The Door Slams (1960) with Dany Saval and her sister Catherine Deneuve. Dorléac had a small role in Tonight or Never (1961) with Anna Karina for director Michel Deville, The Girl with the Golden Eyes (1961) with Marie Laforêt, All the Gold in the World (1961) with Bourvil, and Adorable Liar (1961) from director Deville.
Dorléac was Jean-Pierre Cassel's leading lady in The Dance (1962) and had one of the leads in a TV movie, Les trois chapeaux claques (1962), directed by Jean-Pierre Marchand.
She was reunited with Cassel in Arsène Lupin contre Arsène Lupin (1962) and was one of many stars of the television movie Teuf-teuf (1963).
Dorléac leapt to international stardom with the female lead in That Man from Rio (1964) starring Jean-Paul Belmondo and directed by Philippe de Broca. She followed it with The Soft Skin (1964) directed by François Truffaut.
She was in The Gentle Art of Seduction (1964) with Belmondo and Jean-Paul Brialy, with her sister in a support part. Dorléac was one of several French stars in Circle of Love (1964) directed by Roger Vadim, and appeared in a TV show, Les petites demoiselles (1964), directed by Deville and starring De Broca. She also appeared in the comedy films, Arsène Lupin contre Arsène Lupin (1962) opposite Jean-Claude Brialy, and Male Hunt (1964), with Belmondo and her sister.
That Man from Rio and Soft Skin were seen widely internationally and Dorléac received an offer to play the female lead in an expensive Hollywood financed epic, Genghis Khan (1965). She was David Niven's love interest in a spy film at MGM, Where the Spies Are (1966).
Dorléac appeared as the adulterous wife in Roman Polanski's black comedy Cul-de-sac (1966), shot in Britain. She returned to France to star in a TV adaption of the Prosper Mérimée novel Julie de Chaverny ou la Double Méprise (1966) directed by Marchand. Then she joined Gene Kelly and her sister Catherine, who was a cinematic star by this time, playing starstruck singing twins in The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967), an homage to Hollywood musicals.
Her final film role was the female lead in Billion Dollar Brain (1967) opposite Michael Caine, who played spy Harry Palmer.
Dorléac's parents were protective of her and her siblings, and well into adulthood she shared a bunk bed with her sister Catherine Deneuve in the family home, to which she regularly returned, according to Roger Vadim. Dorléac was on the brink of international stardom when she died in a traffic accident on 26 June 1967, aged 25.
Source: Article "Françoise Dorléac" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA.
Filmography
Browse movies and TV shows featuring Françoise Dorléac
Cinépanorama
Dim Dam Dom
The Young Girls of Rochefort
In the seaside town of Rochefort, twin sisters Delphine and Solange dream of love and artistic fulfillment beyo...
Cul-de-sac
On the run and in search of help, two wounded gangsters find refuge in the secluded castle of a feeble man and...
That Man from Rio
French military man Adrien Dufourquet gets an eight-day furlough to visit his fiancée, Agnès. But when he arriv...
The Soft Skin
Pierre Lachenay is a well-known publisher and lecturer, married to Franca and father of Sabine. He starts a lov...
Genghis Khan
This is the story of the shy Mongol boy Temujin who,during the 13th century, becomes the fearless Mongol leader...
Billion Dollar Brain
A former British spy stumbles into in a plot to overthrow Communism with the help of a supercomputer. But who i...
Where the Spies Are
A local doctor is recruited as a cold war spy to fulfill a very important secret mission in the Middle East, on...
Male Hunt
A few stories about marriage and its problems. Antoine is about to marry Gisèle. His friend Julien, an establis...
Morceaux de Cannes
We thought we'd seen, read, and heard everything there was to see about the Cannes Film Festival, from the glit...
Catherine Deneuve, belle et bien là
Catherine Deneuve couldn’t care less about being a celebrity, but fame made her an icon long ago and she occupi...
Circle of Love
In a chain reaction of romantic adventures, various people play musical beds in a remake of Max Ophul's "La Ron...
Elle s'appelait Françoise
Françoise Dorléac et Catherine Deneuve were nearly twins. Only 18 months separated these sisters who liked to s...
Behind the Screen
Episode about the making of "The Young Girls of Rochefort". Part of a series of 'behind the scenes / making of'...
Arsène Lupin vs. Arsène Lupin
André Laroche, an industrialist, has just passed away. Face to his grave, as he is being buried, Anne de Vierne...
Adorable Liar
Juliette is a young woman who just can't help lying. She lies to her sister, Sophie, to Sophie's fiancé Martin,...
Françoise Dorléac, from The Man from Rio to The Young Girls of Rochefort
Born into a family of actors, Françoise Dorléac, Catherine Deneuve's older sister, began her career at the age...
French Beauty
A story about the riddle of femininity in French cinema.
Jacques Demy: The Pink and the Black
Jacques Demy’s ability to enchant audiences was rooted in his personal struggles and doubts as a showman, estab...
Tonight or Never
A theatrical director's relationship with his aspiring actress girlfriend begins to unravel when she fails to l...
The Door Slams
Between a whimsical wife, two insolent girls, a son who is engaged in strange chemical experiments and a mother...
Deneuve, la reine Catherine
She is said to be cold, secretive and mysterious. She has the reputation of not letting anything of her intimat...
Teuf-teuf
An automobile tribute
The Young Girls Turn 25
Agnes Varda's documentary of the celebrations arising from the 25th anniversary of her husband Jacques Demy's f...
The Girl with the Golden Eyes
A skirt-chasing fashion photographer meets a charming young woman who captures his interest immediately. She is...
The Dance
The Dance is a 1962 French comedy film directed by Norbert Carbonnaux and starring Jean-Pierre Cassel, François...
All the Gold in the World
Businessman Victor Hardy wants to buy the entire area around the small village of Cabosse. He claims that he wa...
The Double Contempt
In Paris, under the Restoration, Julie de Chaverny, a young woman admired and envied by all, has been suffering...
The Little Misses
Four young girls' love of boys put their newly opened all-services company in peril.
Belmondo: The Incorrigible
Charismatic and resourceful, seducer and daredevil, Jean-Paul Belmondo has always played his roles as he lived,...
Françoise Dorléac, une promesse
A portray of French actress Françoise Dorléac
The Wolves in the Sheepfold
Three gangsters on the run break into a rehabilitation center for delinquent teenagers run by the couple Roger...
Behind the screens : Les demoiselles de Rochefort
Six-part documentary on the making of Jacques Demy's 'Le demoiselles de Rochefort'
Hommage à Michel Legrand et Jacques Demy au festival Sœurs Jumelles
In the summer of 2021, the Sœurs Jumelles festival was launched in Rochefort, a place where music and images co...