Advertisement

Iconic Jules et Jim actress Jeanne Moreau dies aged 89

AFP/Getty Images
AFP/Getty Images

French actress Jeanne Moreau has died at the age of 89 at her home in Paris.

The iconic star was best known for her roles in French New Wave classics Jules et Jim and Lift to the Scaffold, as well as her work behind the camera.

French President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to the late star on Monday, saying that she has “embodied cinema” and “always rebelled against the established order.”

After starting her career on the stage, Moreau went on to star in a number of French films in the 1950s and 60s.

Iconic: Jeanne Moreau in New Wave classic Jules et Jim
Iconic: Jeanne Moreau in New Wave classic Jules et Jim

She won the Best Actress prize at Cannes in 1960 for her role in Moderato Cantabile, two years before her acclaimed role in Jules et Jim.

Moreau then picked up the Bafta Awards for Best Actress for her turn in 1967 film Viva Maria!

She worked with Orson Welles on a number of film projects, starring opposite Anthony Perkins in his adaptation of Kafka’s The Trial.

Later notable roles included 1992’s The Old Lady Who Walked in the Sea, for which she won the César Award for Best Actress.

Moreau was the recipient of a number of lifetime achievement awards including Bafta fellowship in 1996.

Talking about feeling ‘nostalgic’ for the French New Wave in the 1996’s Moreau once said: “Nostalgia for what? Nostalgia is when you want things to stay the same.

“I know so many people staying in the same place. And I think, my God, look at them! They’re dead before they die. That’s a terrible risk. Living is risking.”