Marie Laforêt born 5 October 1939

Marie Laforêt (born Maïtena Marie Brigitte Doumenach; 5 October 1939 – 2 November 2019) was a French singer and actress, particularly well known for her work during the 1960s and 1970s. Known as “the girl with the golden eyes,” she was seen in dozens of feature films and on television. As a chanteuse she was noted for her beautifully emotional, melancholy voice and went on to sell more than 35 million albums. 

Marie Laforêt was born to Armenian parents in Soulac-sur-Mer. Her career began accidentally in 1959 when she replaced her sister at the last minute in a French radio talent contest "Naissance d'une étoile" ("Birth of a star") and won. Director Louis Malle then cast the young starlet in the film he was shooting at the time, "Liberté", a project he finally abandoned, making Laforêt's first appearance on screen opposite actor Alain Delon in René Clément's 1960 drama "Plein Soleil". 

After this film she became very popular and interpreted many roles in the 1960s. She married director Jean-Gabriel Albicocco, who cast her in some of his own works, including "La Fille aux Yeux d'Or" ("The Girl with the Golden Eyes"), based on the Balzac story, which would become her nickname. In her second film, "Saint Tropez Blues" she sang the title song and immediately started releasing singles, her first hit being 1963's "Les Vendanges de l'Amour". 

                              

The world of music being still more competitive than that of acting has often prompted hopeful musicians to start out as actors. Marie Laforet was no exception. Her career as a vocalist only took off after she sang the jaunty title song in Saint-Tropez Blues (1961), a musical comedy in which she also starred. However, after that, she went from strength to strength with renditions of romantic ballads and pop hits like Apres Toi Qui Sait, Un amour qui s'est eteint, Les vendanges de l'amour  and the haunting Tu Fait Semblant.

Her songs offered a more mature, poetic, tender alternative to the light, teenage yé-yé tunes charting in France at the time. Her melodies borrowed more from exotic folk music, especially South American and Eastern European, than from contemporary American and British pop acts. Laforêt worked with many important French composers, musicians and lyricists, such as André Popp and Pierre Cour, who provided her with a panoply of colourful, sophisticated orchestral arrangements, featuring dozens of musical instruments and creating a variety of sounds, sometimes almost Medieval, Renaissance or Baroque, other times quite modern and innovative. 

She also recorded successful cover versions of Bob Dylan's t Blowin' in the Wind," Simon & Garfunkel's "The Sound of Silence" and The Rolling Stones number "Paint It Black," (as "Marie Douceur, Marie Colère"). At the end of the 1960s, Marie had become a rather distinctive figure in the French pop scene. Her music stood out, perhaps too much for her new label CBS Records, which expected of her more upbeat, simpler songs. She was interested in making more personal records, but finally gave in. Although her most financially successful singles ("Viens, Viens", a cover of a British hit, and "Il a neigé sur Yesterday", a ballad about the break-up of the Beatles) were released in the 1970s, Marie progressively lost interest in her singing career, moving to Geneva, Switzerland in 1978, where she opened an art gallery and abandoned music more or less altogether and acquired Swiss citizenship.

In the 1980s, Marie concentrated on her acting career, appearing in a few French and Italian films. Some music singles were eventually released, but were not popular. She made a comeback, however, in 1993 with her last album ‘Reconnaissances’, for which she wrote the lyrics. In the 1990s, she again continued to work as an actress, both on screen and on stage. She performed in a number of plays in Paris over the years, acclaimed by audiences and critics alike. 

In September 2005 she sang once again, going on tour in France for the first time since 1972. Every concert was sold out. Her final screen appearances were in “God’s Offices” (“Les Bureaux de Dieu”), (2008) and “Dispositif 47 - the Second Death” (2010), a short that also starred Jeanne Moreau after which she finally retired from screen acting. 

Over her career she has played with the greatest stars including Alain Delon, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Charles Aznavour, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Michel Piccoli, Robert Mitchum and Marcello Mastroianni, to name but a few.

She was married five times, including to Judas Azuelos, with whom she had two children, and to Alain Kahn-Sriber, with whom she had a daughter. Another daughter, Lisa Azuelos, is a filmmaker. 

“My career has been made up of odds and ends,” Ms. Laforêt once said, “but my life has been full from beginning to end.” She died on 2 November 2019 in Genolier, Switzerland, a small town in the Nyon district north of Geneva. She was 80. 

(Edited mainly from les Chansons Perdues, Wikipedia & IMDb)