Acting

Mary Marquet

Born 1895-04-14 · Leningrad, USSR [now St. Petersburg, Russia]

Mary Marquet (born Micheline Marguerite Delphine Marquet; 14 April 1895 – 29 August 1979) was a French stage and film actress. Marquet came from a family of artists: her parents were actors, an aunt was a star dancer at the Paris Opera, and another was an official at the Comédie-Française. She entered the National Superior Conservatory of Dramatic Art in 1913 and studied under Paul Mounet. She failed her final exams, but was immediately engaged in the company of Sarah Bernhardt, who was a great friend of the family. She went on play alongside her in The Eugene Morand cathedral. She became established with her role in L'Aiglon by Edmond Rostand, whose mistress she became from 1915 to his death in 1918. She made her film debut in 1914 in a silent film, Les Frères ennemis, which was never finished. Her first major film role was in Sappho, produced by Léonce Perret in 1932. After World War I, she joined the Comédie-Française in 1923 where she stayed for over twenty years, before moving to the boulevard Theatre. During the World War II, throughout the occupation, she sought the protection of German officers to protect her son who had told her of his intention to join the Resistance. The response was his arrest and deportation to Buchenwald concentration camp where he died aged 21. This was possibly the cause of her problems at the time of the Liberation when, due to her alleged relations with the enemy, Marquet was arrested and sent to Drancy and then to Fresnes. She was later released for lack of evidence. In the 1950s, she turned to poetry recital, while continuing her career in theater on the boulevards. She worked for ORTF in the Maigret episodes of Les Cinq Dernières Minutes and Les Saintes Chéries and in the television adaptation of Lucien Leuwen, the novel by Stendhal. Parallel to her acting career, as an antiquarian she ran a stand for many years at the Swiss Village, an important antique market in Paris where she demonstrated her skills as a saleswoman, mixing theatrical memorabilia with commercial interests. Among her most successful parts in over forty films, were her roles in, Landru in 1962, Claude Chabrol, La Grande Vadrouille in 1966 by Gérard Oury, and Casanova in 1975 by Federico Fellini. After these three minor parts she played important roles in La vie de château (1966) the mother of Philippe Noiret and the stepmother of Catherine Deneuve and the Le malin plaisir (1975) with Claude Jade and Anny Duperey. Mary Marquet and Victor Francen on their wedding day in 1934. Her first lover was Edmond Rostand around 1915, living together for three years. In 1920 she married Maurice Escande, the future director of the house of Molière, ending in divorce in 1921, before meeting Firmin Gémier, the director of the new Théâtre National Populaire, who was still married but whose wife was barren. In 1922, Marquet gave birth to their son. Before the death of Gémier in 1933, Marquet became the mistress of the president of the then Council, André Tardieu, in a semi-official liaison. Having broken up with Tardieu, she married Victor Francen. The couple separated after seven years together. Marquet died of heart attack at the age of 84 in her apartment in the Rue Carpeaux, She is buried in Montmartre Cemetery. Source: Article "Mary Marquet" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Acting credits

Don't Look Now... We're Being Shot At! poster
7.9

During World War II, two French civilians and a downed British Bomber Crew set out from Paris to cross the demarcation line between Nazi-occupied Northern France and the South. From there they will be able to escape to England. First, they must avoid German troops – and the consequences of their own blunders.

Don't Look Now... We're Being Shot At!

1966

Bluebeard poster
6.4

Paris, France, during the First World War. While thousands of soldiers die every day on the battlefields, Henri Landru, a seemingly respectable furniture dealer, married and father of four children, relentlessly feeds his own sinister factory of death.

Bluebeard

1963

Fellini's Casanova poster
6.9

Imprisoned for practicing black magic, writer and adventurer Giacomo Casanova escapes and wanders Europe, using his fluid sexuality to find his place in life amid a variety of eccentric and strange characters.

Fellini's Casanova

1976

Love at the Top poster
6.1

A shy bank employee unexpectedly invites a young woman to a café, leading to a one-night stand. When he shares this with his disillusioned friend, the writer helps him navigate a dazzling social ascent.

Love at the Top

1974

Royal Affairs in Versailles poster
6.7

Witty narration follows the history of Versailles Palace; founded by Louis XIII, enlarged by autocratic Louis XIV, whose personal affairs and amours, and those of his two successors, are pursued in more detail to the start of the Revolution, after which the story is brought rapidly up to date.

Royal Affairs in Versailles

1953

The Nabob Affair poster
6.0

Serge, alias Count Fornari, is hired by a mysterious employer to try to steal the Nabob, an exceptionally valuable diamond that Jeannette, alias Aménita (Perrette Pradier), the companion of a billionaire, wears as a locket. She covets the diamond and steals it from the safe. About to be caught in the act, she keeps it hidden in a handkerchief in her hand and manages to conceal it in Serge's pocket during the hotel ball. When she rejoins the billionaire, he asks her to open her hand, but the diamond is gone. The result is a chase full of misunderstandings and twists and turns between the three protagonists.

The Nabob Affair

1960

Lettre ouverte poster
6.0

Martial, Colette 's husband, is madly jealous. One day, he catches his wife writing a letter and he does want to know what this message contains, to no avail.

Lettre ouverte

1953

The Marriage Came Tumbling Down poster
6.7

Jacques spends his summer vacation with his grandfather, Jericho, in the company of his wife Marie. The malicious ancestor quickly realizes that his grandson's marriage is on the brink of breakdown. He does everything to save him.

The Marriage Came Tumbling Down

1968

Arsène Lupin vs. Arsène Lupin poster
6.0

André Laroche, an industrialist, has just passed away. Face to his grave, as he is being buried, Anne de Vierne, the wife of a magistrate, confesses to her son François that Laroche was in fact Lupin and that he is his natural child. But he is not the gentleman thief's only offspring! Lupin had indeed another son by a housemaid, Gérard Dagmar, a dancer, magician and - occasionally - burglar. Which complicates the task of François who, to respect the last wishes of the testator, has gone in search of the treasure of Poldavia. For he keeps finding Gérard on his way and his efforts are constantly thwarted by his half-brother. Will Gérard prevent François from becoming the worthy successor to their father or will the two young men decide to join forces? That is the question.

Arsène Lupin vs. Arsène Lupin

1962

Sapho poster
9.0

During a transvestite ball, a young provincial meets Fanny Legrand. A great love is born between them. Later, the young man learns that Fanny was a great coquette. He leaves her, he comes back, he forgives. But when he embarks for America, Fanny does not follow him.

Sapho

1934

Piédalu fait des miracles poster
4.5

The inhabitants of Marboue-Chambourcy want a swimming pool, and the difficulties in realizing this expensive dream divide the village into two clans: on one side the women, on the other the men. Piedalu, whom this conflict desolates, discovers by chance, as part of a found bicycle, a fortune in gold coins.

Piédalu fait des miracles

1952

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Le polygame

1974

The Gardener of Argenteuil poster
6.4

Tulipe, is an old man who lives alone in an old railway carriage in the Argentueil region of Paris. His main passions are gardening and oil painting, but he also has a secret source of income. His godson discovers that Tulipe is actually a master forger, producing perfect copies of 10 franc notes. His godson’s girlfriend sees this as an opportunity to get very rich – but she must persuade Tulipe to forge 500 franc notes. Assuming Tulipe’s agreement, his godson and his girlfriend buy an expensive new car and luxury villa in provincial France – but there is a cruel turn of fate in store for them when Tulipe strikes up a friendship with a millionaire playboy.

The Gardener of Argenteuil

1966

A Matter of Resistance poster
6.8

In the countryside near Normandy's beaches lives Marie, unhappy. It's 1945, she's married to Jérôme, a somewhat fussy milquetoast, diffident to the war around him and unwilling to move his wife to Paris, where she longs to live, shop, and party. A German outfit is bivouacked at Jérôme and Marie's crumbling château because its commanding officer is pursuing Marie. She's also eyed by a French spy working with the Allies as they plan D-Day. He woos her (posing to the Germans as her brother) and, in his passion, forgets his mission. Heroics come from an unexpected direction, and Marie makes her choice.

A Matter of Resistance

1966

Midnight... Quai de Bercy poster
7.3

Having recently moved into her new apartment, Irène Cazenave, the widow of a well-known police officer, is forced by one of her husband's colleagues to take part in an investigation. The building's provocative concierge has been found murdered. We watch a parade of suspects, only to learn at the end that Irène killed the janitor under blackmail. She kills herself.

Midnight... Quai de Bercy

1953

Drôles de phénomènes poster
6.5

Since the day their mother Aline remarried, Patrice and Eric, a joyful pair of twins, have been very happy. Indeed, François Chantour, their stepfather, is very kind and behaves like a big brother to them. Even if they are not very rich, the four of them live a cheerful life in their charming house. The trouble is that, in Lyon, the family on the boys'father's side are worried, especially the twins' grandmother, who fears Patrice and Eric are given a bad education. She therefore brings them to her big house in the hope of their improving their manners. A very unfortunate decision indeed.

Drôles de phénomènes

1959

Boys and Girls poster
7.0

Ten young people (six boys and four girls), most of whom students, rent a house in bad repair and set about living together. The experience is not obvious and the ten tenants have to cope with more than one difficulty. But they also have their moments. Things really go awry when Françoise, an unmarried girl, is forced to deliver the baby she carries prematurely and when Solange, the lonely girl of the group, attempts suicide. Shortly afterwards, the group learns that the house is due for demolition. They decide to take advantage of this opportunity to face adult life individually.

Boys and Girls

1967

Bruno: Sunday's Child poster
10.0

The weekend of August 15th gives the opportunity to Michel Fauvet, a recently divorced father, to spend two full days with Bruno, his thirteen-year-old son, that he can normally see only one Sunday a month. Feeling guilty, he tries to compensate for the trauma inflicted to Bruno by giving him presents. This time around, Michel has decided to treat him to a nice trip to Bruges and the Belgian Coast. Which will not prevent Bruno from asking his father disturbing questions.

Bruno: Sunday's Child

1969

Phèdre poster
4.0

In the absence of her royal husband Theseus, thought to be dead, Phaedra declares her love to Hippolyte, Theseus's son from a previous marriage.

Phèdre

1968

Maid in Paris poster
10.0

Penelope Benson, known as Penny, is both romantic and determined. Put in a select boarding school by her mother, she takes advantage of a trip to Paris to get away from it all and live her own life. That's how she meets Antoine du Merlet, whom she takes for a young hoodlum when in fact he's a police superintendent. She spends the night at his place, which leads to a number of setbacks for poor Antoine, who is stigmatized by the headmistress, abandoned by his mistress and has to face a strip-tease session starring the unconscious Penny... But Penny's a spicy one and Antoine's a nice guy, so... !

Maid in Paris

1956

Quelle sacrée soirée poster
5.0

Jean Duclos has extraordinary adventures after taking the train and mistakenly taking the luggage of a young dancer, Lola Wanda. An oil tycoon appoints him as a proxy for his future company, and then he marries his beautiful cousin, Suzy.

Quelle sacrée soirée

1957

The Marvelous Visit poster
5.2

In a small French village, an angel appears disguised as a beautiful young blond.

The Marvelous Visit

1974

Operation Lady Marlene poster
5.1

Robert Lamoureux plays a General in the Resistance. With an unlikely team of French patriots, he easily outwits the buffoonish Germans and steals the master copy of their plans to invade England. By doing so, he prevents the invasion and makes it more likely that the Allies will win the war.

Operation Lady Marlene

1974

Law of the Streets poster
7.5

Yves Tréguier, a young orphan, escapes from a reform school in Brittany to join "Dédé la Glace" in Paris, an old-timer with whom he has a sincere friendship. The love of Zette, a young girl he has met, and the benevolent friendship of Father Blain, the bistro owner, give him the desire for regular work. "Jo le Grec", a pimp jealous of Dédé's friendship with Yves, seduces Wanda, a prostitute he loves, and shoots Dédé dead. Blain prevents him from doing the same to Yves, and shoots him in turn. Yves can live an honest life with Zette and the baby she's expecting.

Law of the Streets

1956