Françoise Rosay

Françoise Rosay was born on April 19, 1891 in Paris, France as Françoise Bandy de Nalèche.

Her first recorded film was Falstaff in 1911, and she began to work in Hollywood from 1929 onwards.

Studied acting and singing at the Paris Conservatoire in 1913.

Attempted briefly a career as an opera singer. Sang four soprano roles at the Paris National Opera during the season 1919-1920.

She was an actress and writer, known for Carnival in Flanders (1935), Johnny Frenchman (1945) and Le petit café (1931). She was married to Jacques Feyder.

It was not until 1938 that her biological father, Count François Louis Bandy de Nalèche, acknowledged her as his daughter.

Rosay spent the duration of World War II in England and Switzerland, where she taught acting classes at the Conservatoire de Genève. She still appeared in films during this time, notably the British Halfway House (1944) as the refugee French wife of a British sea captain.

In Hollywood, she co-starred with Charles Boyer, Maurice Chevalier and Buster Keaton and worked with directors such as William Dieterle (September Affair, 1949), Martin Ritt (The Sound and the Fury, 1958), Ronald Neame (The Seventh Sin, 1956) and Peter Glenville (Me and the Colonel, 1957) with Danny Kaye.

In 1950 she appeared on stage at London's Winter Garden Theatre, playing the title role in 'Madame Tic Tac' but it had only a short run.