female icons
The French actress will always be remembered for this character, which ended up marking her life
There are actresses whose lives have been marked by a character. That is the case of the French Martine Carol, who will always be remembered for her interpretation of Lola Montes.
Her real name was Marie-Louise Jeanne Nicolle Mourer, but in the cinema she is remembered as Martine Carol (Saint-Mandé, France, May 16, 1920 – Monte Carlo, February 6, 1967). She studied acting under the direction of René Simon, debuting as a stage actress in 1940 and in the cinema in 1943. She made her debut with a small character in ‘The strangers in the house’, a film shot during the occupation by Henri Decoin, and her first absolute leading role was He arrived with the adventure film ‘Surprise Voyage’ (1947) by Henri Decoin, but his great consecration took place with ‘The Lovers of Verona’ (1949), by André Cayatte. That same year she works alongside Luis Mariano in ‘Je n’aime que toi…’. At that time, she was already one of the most beautiful actresses in French cinema, an aura that accompanied her until her death, frequently chosen to play seductive and elegant blondes. In the last years of the decade of the 40s and the beginning of the following one, she was the most outstanding sex symbol as well as erotic myth and the highest grossing actress in French cinema.
In the first 50 there were a succession of films dedicated to consecrating her glamor and beauty, including the Spanish-French co-production ‘El Deseo y el Amor’ (1951) co-directed by Luis María Delgado, which was partly shot in Torremolinos, putting on the map to the beautiful city of the Costa del Sol, ‘Adorable creatures’, by Christian-Jaque and ‘Mujeres soñadas’, by René Clair (both 1952), ‘Lucrecia Borgia’ (1953), again with Christian-Jaque, director who directs her again in ‘Madame du Barry’ and ‘Three Fates of a Woman’, in 1954 and in ‘Nana’ (1955), with whom he had married. She made ‘La playa’ (1954) with the Italian Alberto Lattuada, and ‘Los carnets del Mayor Thompspn’ (1955) with the North American Preston Sturges.
But 1955 is also the year in which he stars in ‘Lola Montes’, directed by Max Ophüls, a film for which he occupies a place of honor in the history of cinema. The film collected the story of the famous courtesan and dancer (1821-1861), courtesan and dancer famous throughout Europe. Born in Ireland, Lola was the lover of great men such as the Hungarian musician Franz Liszt or Ludwig I of Bavaria. In the twilight of her career, she worked in a circus in New Orleans, Louisiana, where she would perform an acrobatic number while a ringmaster (played by Peter Ustinov) recounted her scandalous life to the audience. One of the masterpieces of director Max Ophüls.
The decade ends with him working on major international blockbusters such as ‘Around the World in 80 Days’ (1956) by Michael Anderson and ‘Ten Seconds from Hell’ (1959), directed by Robert Aldrich. Furthermore, in 1960 she played Josefina in Abel Gance’s blockbuster ‘Austerlitz’ (1960), which recreated Napoleon’s famous battle.
Despite her fame and fortune, Martine Carol’s life was messy, with a suicide attempt after breaking up with her lover, married actor Georges Marchal, drug abuse, and four marriages. She even got to be kidnapped by the gangster Pierre Loutrel, albeit briefly and receiving some roses the next day as a sign of apology. Martine Carol was married four times. Her husbands were: Stephen Crane, American actor and restaurant manager, formerly husband of Lana Turner. They married in 1948 and divorced in 1953. Christian-Jaque, French film director. Married on July 15, 1954, and divorced in 1959. André Rouveix, a young doctor whom she met in Martinique, and whom she married on August 3, 1959. They divorced in 1962. Mike Eland, a businessman English. They were married in 1966, remaining together until her death.
Martine Carol died suddenly on February 6, 1967 from an acute myocardial infarction in a hotel in Monte Carlo. She was 46 years old. She was initially buried in the Père-Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. However, her grave was violated (some media claimed that the actress was buried with her jewelry), so she had to be buried permanently in the Grand Jas Cemetery in Cannes. Before she died, she even shot another great film, ‘Vanina Vanini’, directed by Roberto Rossellini, her last job was in the British thriller ‘Hell Is Empty’, which was released after her death.
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