This delicately beautiful blonde French actress became an star, gaining prominence with starring roles in films directed by her second husband, Claude Chabrol. Born as Colette Suzanne Dacheville, she adapted her stage name of Stephane Audran in the mid-1950s. A doctor's daughter, she was born and raised in Versailles and began her acting career onstage and in a short film directed by Eric Rohmer. Audran entered features in 1957 with a small role in Herve Bromberger's gangster-themed "La Bonne tisane/Good Medicine/Kill or Cure". After being introduced to Chabrol by Gerard Blain and Jean-Claude Brialy, the actress asked for a part in the director's next film; the result was a supporting role in "Les Cousins" (1959) but it marked the beginning of a their on and off screen relationships. Even after their marriage ended, the actress and the director continued to work together.Chabrol helped to shape the onscreen persona of Audran as that of a coolly elegant middle-class Frenchwoman. Bringing a combination of old-fashioned movie star glamour and a detached sophistication bolstered by a strong acting technique, the actress shone in a number of Chabrol films ranging from "Les Bonne femmes/The Girls" (1960) to "The Champagne Murders/Le Scandale" (1966). "Les Biches/The Does" (1967), in which Audran starred as a lesbian opposite her first husband Jean-Louis Trintignant, brought her the Best Actress Award at the Berlin Film Festival. Other notable Chabrol films include "Le Boucher/The Butcher" (1969), "Juste avant la nuit/Just Before Nightfall" (1971), "Violette Noziere" (1977) and "The Blood of Others" (1984). Audran also appeared in several notable features directed by others, including two which won Oscars as Best Foreign Film: Luis Bunuel's surrealistic comedy "The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie" (1972) and Gabriel Axel's well-crafted "Babette's Gastebud/Babette's Feast" (1988). Her English-language films have, however, more disappointing, but she was well-cast as Lord Marchmain's knowing mistress in the 1982 TV adaptation of "Brideshead Revisited".
Profession(s):
Actor
Sometimes Credited As:
Collette Suzanne Jeannine Dacheville
Cesar Best Supporting Actress "Violette Noziere" 1979
British Film Academy Award Best Actress "The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie" and "Juste avant la nuit" 1973
San Sebastian International Film Festival Golden Shell Award Best Actress "Le Boucher" 1970
Berlin Film Festival Best Actress Award "Les biches/The Does" 1968
1996 Appeared in supporting role in Ringo Lam's "Maximum Risk", starring Jean-Claude Van Damme
1987 Starred as Babette in Gabriel Axel's Oscar-winning foreign film "Babette's Feast"
1984 Co-starred in the HBO film "The Blood of Others", directed by Claude Chabrol
1982 Had featured role as Cara, the mistress of Lord Marchmain (Laurence Olivier) in the British miniseries "Brideshead Revisited"
1978 Earned Best Supporting Actress Cesar for her portrayal of Isabelle Huppert's mother in "Violette Noziere"
1975 Began appearing in English-language roles in "The Black Bird" and "And Then There Were None/Ten Little Indians"
1972 Co-starred in Luis Bunuel's Oscar-winning "Le Charme discret de la Bourgeoisie/The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie"
1969 Recieved further attention for her performance in Chabrol's "Le Boucher/The Butcher"
1968 Had breakthrough leading role in Chabrol's "Les Biches/The Does", opposite ex-husband Jean-Louis Tringtignant and Jacqueline Sassard
1960 Starred in Rohmer's first feature, "The Sign of Leo/Le Signe du Lion"
1959 First collaboration with Claude Chabrol, "Les Cousins"
1957 Feature acting debut in "La Bonne Tisane/Kill or Cure"
1955 Stage acting debut in "La Maison carree"
Appeared in ashort film directed by Eric Rohmer