Berriau, Simone |
| ACTOR, COMEDIAN, THEATRE DIRECTOR (FRANCE) |
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BORN 21 Jul 1896, Touques, Basse-Normandie - DIED 26 Feb 1984, Paris BIRTH NAME Bossis, Simone Blanche Eugénie GRAVE LOCATION Paris: Cimetière de Montmartre, 20 Avenue Rachel (division 05) |
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Simone Berriau was born in Calvados, Normandie. She grew up in Machecoul. When she was fifteen years old eloped to Morocco with the son of a chatelain. In Morocco she married Colonel Henri Berriau, who was the right hand of Marshal Lyautey. Her husband died in 1918 and a few months afterwards her daughter Henriette was born. She returned to France, where the Lyautey family brought her into contact with the singer Rose Caron, who gave her singing lessons. In 1923 she debuted as Simone Berry at the Opéra-Comique in Bizet's "Carmen". In 1934 she bought the vineyard Mauvanne in Hyères and she was visited there by Charly Chaplin, Colette, Louis Jouvet and many others. In 1935 voice problems forced her to retire from singing. She started a movie career and appeared in several successful films until 1942. In that year she became the manager of the théâtre Antoine in Paris that staged works by Sartre and Camus. She died in her theatre in 1984. Henriette (1919-2018) would make herself a name as the actress Helena Bossis. Family • Daughter: Bossis, Héléna Related persons • was visited by Chaplin, Charly • was visited by Colette, Sidonie Gabrielle • was visited by Jouvet, Louis |
| Images |
 The grave of Simone Berriau at the Montmartre Cimetière, Paris. Picture by Androom (05 Nov 2017) |
Sources • Simone Berriau - Wikipédia (FR) |
