32 Facts About Catherine Deneuve

1.

Catherine Deneuve gained recognition for her portrayal of icy, aloof, and mysterious beauties for various directors, including Jacques Demy, Luis Bunuel, Francois Truffaut, and Roman Polanski.

2.

Catherine Deneuve first came to prominence in Jacques Demy's 1964 musical The Umbrellas of Cherbourg.

3.

Catherine Deneuve went on to star for Polanski in Repulsion, and for Bunuel in Belle de Jour and Tristana.

4.

Catherine Deneuve was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actress for Belle de Jour, and the Academy Award for Best Actress for Indochine.

5.

Catherine Deneuve won the 1998 Volpi Cup for Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival for Place Vendome.

6.

Catherine Deneuve has two sisters, Francoise Dorleac, as well as a maternal half-sister, Danielle, whom their mother had out of wedlock in 1937 with Aime Clariond, but who was later adopted by Maurice and took his surname.

7.

Catherine Deneuve used her mother's maiden name, which she chose for her stage name, in order to differentiate herself from her sisters.

8.

Catherine Deneuve made her film debut with a small role in Andre Hunebelle's Les Collegiennes with her younger sister Sylvie Dorleac who, like their older half-sister Danielle, was an occasional child actress.

9.

Catherine Deneuve subsequently appeared in several films for director Roger Vadim as well as in L'Homme a femmes, which caught the eye of Jacques Demy, who cast Deneuve in his romantic film musical Les Parapluies de Cherbourg, the film that brought her to stardom.

10.

Catherine Deneuve played the cold but erotic persona, for which she would be nicknamed the "ice maiden", in Roman Polanski's horror classic Repulsion, reinforcing it in Luis Bunuel's Belle de Jour, and reaching a peak in Tristana.

11.

Catherine Deneuve's starring roles at the time were featured in such films as A Slightly Pregnant Man with Marcello Mastroianni and Le Sauvage with Yves Montand.

12.

Catherine Deneuve made her debut film as a producer in 1988, Drole d'endroit pour une rencontre, alongside frequent co-star Gerard Depardieu.

13.

In 1997, Catherine Deneuve was the protagonist in the music video for the song N'Oubliez Jamais sung by Joe Cocker.

14.

Catherine Deneuve made another foray into Hollywood the following year, starring in The Musketeer for Peter Hyams.

15.

In 2005, Deneuve published her diary A l'ombre de moi-meme ; in it she writes about her experiences shooting the films Indochine and Dancer in the Dark.

16.

Catherine Deneuve provided the voice role of Marjane Satrapi's mother in Satrapi's animated autobiographical film Persepolis, based on the graphic novel of the same name.

17.

Catherine Deneuve appeared nude in two Playboy pictorials in 1963 and 1965.

18.

Catherine Deneuve's image was used to represent Marianne, the national symbol of France, from 1985 to 1989.

19.

Catherine Deneuve is considered the muse of designer Yves Saint Laurent; he dressed her in the films Belle de Jour, La Chamade, La sirene du Mississipi, Un flic, Liza, and The Hunger.

20.

Catherine Deneuve began appearing in the new Louis Vuitton luggage advertisements in 2007.

21.

Catherine Deneuve was listed as one of the fifty best-dressed over 50s by the Guardian in March 2013.

22.

Catherine Deneuve is a designer of glasses, shoes, jewelry and greeting cards.

23.

Besides her native French, Catherine Deneuve speaks fluent Italian and English and has some knowledge of Spanish, though she does not fluently speak the language.

24.

Catherine Deneuve has been married once: to photographer David Bailey from 1965 to 1972, though they separated in 1967.

25.

Catherine Deneuve has lived with director Roger Vadim, actor Marcello Mastroianni, cinematographer Hugh Johnson, and Canal+ tycoon Pierre Lescure.

26.

Catherine Deneuve has not had a public relationship since her breakup with Lescure in 1991.

27.

In 2006, Catherine Deneuve told The Daily Telegraph that she was in a relationship, but would not disclose the name of her partner.

28.

Catherine Deneuve is close friends with the artist Nall and owns some of his works.

29.

On 6 November 2019, BBC News reported that Catherine Deneuve suffered a mild stroke and was recuperating in a Paris hospital.

30.

Catherine Deneuve began smoking in 1960 at age 16, and was known to smoke up to three packs a day.

31.

Catherine Deneuve quit in 1985 with the aid of hypnotherapy, but started again in 1996.

32.

In 2020, French actress and recent co-star Juliette Binoche told Vanity Fair that Catherine Deneuve has stopped smoking since her stroke.