Renée Simonot

Jeanne Renée Deneuve (born 10 September 1911), known professionally as Renée-Jeanne Simonot, is a retired French actress and voice artist. She is the widow of actor Maurice Dorléac, the mother of actresses Catherine Deneuve and Françoise Dorléac and the grandmother of actors Christian Vadim and Chiara Mastroianni.

Renée Simonot
Simonot in May 1965[1]
Born
Jeanne Renée Deneuve

(1911-09-10) 10 September 1911
Le Havre, French Third Republic
Occupation
  • Stage actress
  • voice artist
  • film actress
Years active1918–2001
Spouse(s)
​
​
(m. 1940; died 1979)​
Children4, including Françoise Dorléac and Catherine Deneuve
RelativesChristian Vadim (grandson)
Chiara Mastroianni (granddaughter)

Early life and career

Born in Le Havre, France to Joseph-Sévère Deneuve and Antoinette-Jeanne Deneuve (née Schenardi). [2][3] she debuted at the Odéon Theatre in 1918 at the age of seven. Primarily a stage actress, she remained there for 28 years, holding the post of "leading lady". Her daughter Catherine chose to use her maiden name, Deneuve, as her stage name. Simonot is Renée's stage name, which she took from an opera singer and family friend.[4]

Renée Simonot was one of the first French actresses to begin the dubbing of American films in France from the beginning of the talkies in 1929 through the 1930s. She was the voice of Olivia de Havilland (in most of her films), Sylvia Sidney, Judy Garland, Donna Reed and Esther Williams, among others.

Personal life

She had her first daughter, Danielle, out of wedlock on 27 October 1936 with actor Aimé Clariond.[5][6][7] Simonot told Le Point magazine in 2013: "Mr. Clariond was not my husband. He was married, not divorced and separated from his wife for a long time. The only happiness he gave me is a child. For the rest, he was charming, but we could not count on him."[8]

While dubbing for MGM, she met Maurice Dorléac and they married in 1940. The couple had three daughters: Françoise (1942–1967), Catherine (born 22 October 1943) and Sylvie (born 14 December 1946).[9]

Simonot has been a widow since 1979 and lives in Paris. In an interview conducted a few months before her 102nd birthday in 2013, she said: "My old age is not sad. I am lucky to be very surrounded. There is not a day where I don't get a phone call or a visit from my children and grandchildren."[8]

In 2019, ahead of her 108th birthday, daughter Catherine told Gala: "It's pretty amazing, it comes from her genes. My sisters and I are holding her. She has been in a home for two or three years. At the same time it's a little scary, it still seems very far in life. I am all the more surprised by her longevity that she is not sick."[10]

Selected stage work

References
  1. "Maurice Dorleac et sa femme Renée Simonot, parents des actrices..." Getty Images.
  2. "Family tree of Antoinette-Jeanne SCHENARDI". Geneanet. Retrieved 2020-11-04.
  3. "Family tree of Joseph-Sévère DENEUVE". Geneanet. Retrieved 2020-11-04.
  4. Annick Cojean (31 August 2012). "Catherine Deneuve: 'Je n'ai aucune envie de jouer une grand-mère modèle'". Le Monde (in French). Retrieved 30 August 2017.
  5. "Les secrets d'alcôve sur Catherine Deneuve", RMC (France), 15 February 2013 (in French)
  6. "Renée Dorléac ou la traversée du siècle" by Jean-Noël Mirande, Le Point, 18 May 2013 (in French)
  7. "LES GENS DU CINEMA ©". www.lesgensducinema.com.
  8. Mirande, Jean-Noël (May 18, 2013). "Renée Dorléac ou la traversée du siècle". Le Point.
  9. "LES GENS DU CINEMA ©". www.lesgensducinema.com.
  10. Média, Prisma. "Catherine Deneuve se confie sur sa mère Renée, âgée de 108 ans : « C'est assez incroyable » - Gala". Gala.fr.
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