Juliette Gréco

Acting

Juliette Gréco

Born 1927-02-07 · Montpellier, Hérault, France

Juliette Gréco (7 February 1927 – 23 September 2020) was a French singer and actress. Her best known songs are "Paris Canaille" (1962, originally sung by Léo Ferré), "La Javanaise" (1963, written by Serge Gainsbourg for Gréco) and "Déshabillez-moi" (1967). She often sang tracks with lyrics written by French poets such as Jacques Prévert and Boris Vian, as well as singers like Jacques Brel and Charles Aznavour. Her 60-year career concluded with her final worldwide tour titled "Merci", which began in 2015. As an actress, Gréco played roles in films by French directors such as Jean Cocteau and Jean-Pierre Melville. Juliette Gréco was born in Montpellier, France, to an absent Corsican father, Gérard Gréco; her mother Juliette Lafeychine (1899–1978) was from Bordeaux. Her lineage hails in part from Greece. She did not receive love from her mother in her childhood and suffered from her harsh comments due to being an unwanted child, such as "You ain't my daughter. You're the child of rape". She was raised by her maternal grandparents in Bordeaux with her older sister Charlotte. After the death of her grandparents, her mother took them to Paris. In 1938, she became a ballerina at the Opéra Garnier. When World War II began, the family returned to the southwest of France. Gréco was a student at the Institut Royal d'éducation Sainte Jeanne d'Arc in Montauban. The Gréco family became active in the Resistance and her mother was arrested in 1943. The two sisters decided to move back to Paris but were captured and tortured by the Gestapo, then imprisoned in Fresnes Prison in September 1943. Her mother and sister were deported to Ravensbrück while Juliette, being only 16, remained in prison for several months before being released. After her release, she walked the eight miles back to Paris to retrieve her belongings from the Gestapo headquarters. Her former French teacher and her mother's friend, Hélène Duc, decided to take care of her. In 1945, Gréco's mother and sister returned from deportation after the liberation of Ravensbrück by the Red Army. Gréco moved to Saint-Germain-des-Prés in 1945 after her mother moved to Indochina, leaving Gréco and her sister behind. Gréco became a devotee of the bohemian fashion of some intellectuals of post-war France. Duc sent her to attend acting classes given by Solange Sicard. She made her debut in the play Victor ou les Enfants au pouvoir in November 1946 and began to host a radio show dedicated to poetry. Her friend Jean-Paul Sartre installed her at the Hotel La Louisiane and commented that Greco had "millions of poems in her voice". She was known to many of the writers and artists working in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, such as Albert Camus, Jacques Prévert and Boris Vian, thus gaining the nickname la Muse de l'existentialisme. Gréco spent the post-Liberation years frequenting the Saint-Germain-des-Prés cafes, immersing herself in political and philosophical bohemian culture. As a regular at music and poetry venues like Le Tabou on Rue Dauphine, she was acquainted with Jean Cocteau, and was given a role in Cocteau's film Orphée (1950). ... Source: Article "Juliette Gréco" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA.

Acting credits

The Night of the Generals poster
6.8

A German intelligence officer investigates a prostitute's killing in Warsaw during World War II. He lands on three major Nazi generals as suspects, two of whom are also involved in a plot to kill Adolf Hitler.

The Night of the Generals

1967

Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool poster
7.1

An immersive look at the eventful life and brilliant artistic career of visionary American jazz trumpeter Miles Davis (1926-1991).

Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool

2019

Orpheus poster
7.6

A famous poet in postwar Paris, scorned by the Left Bank youth, is in love with both his wife Eurydice and a mysterious princess. Seeking inspiration, the poet becomes obsessed and follows the princess from the world of the living to the land of the dead.

Orpheus

1950

Bonjour Tristesse poster
6.7

A spoiled teenager spends the summer at the French Riviera with her rich, widower, playboy father, but when his old flame resurfaces, she resolves to keep her frivolous lifestyle at all costs.

Bonjour Tristesse

1958

Belphegor, Phantom of the Louvre poster
4.6

A collection of artifacts from an archeological dig in Egypt are brought to the famous Louvre museum in Paris, and while experts are using a laser scanning device to determine the age of a sarcophagus, a ghostly spirit escapes and makes its way into the museum's electrical system.

Belphegor, Phantom of the Louvre

2001

The Sun Also Rises poster
5.8

A group of disillusioned American expatriate writers live a dissolute, hedonistic lifestyle in 1920's France and Spain.

The Sun Also Rises

1957

The Roots of Heaven poster
6.2

In French Equatorial Africa, an idealist campaigns to save the African elephant, gaining support from a nightclub hostess and an ex-soldier. His cause attracts a mix of characters, including a U.S. commentator, a government aide opposed to him, and an ivory hunter with conflicting interests.

The Roots of Heaven

1958

Disorder poster
5.7

Variations on the cultural and intellectual explosion in the Saint-Germain-des-Prés district in 1946.

Disorder

1950

Everyman's Feast poster
4.0

Austrian television director Fritz Lehner makes his feature debut with the big-budget drama Jedermann's Fest, based on the 1911 play by Hugo von Hofmannsthal, which in turn was based on a medieval tale. Originated in parts of England, the myth of Jan Jedermann ("John Everyman") deals with a rich man on his deathbed coming to terms with his life's failures. Not following much of a plot, the modernized version involves famous fashion designer Jedermann (Klaus Maria Brandauer) imagining his last big gala event while rendered unconscious as a result of a car accident in his Ferrari. He is a success in Vienna but not in fashionable Paris, so he wishes to impress French elder stateswoman Yvonne Becker (Juliette Greco).

Everyman's Feast

2002

Uncle Tom's Cabin poster
5.9

In the pre-Civil War South, a sadistic plantation owner brutalizes his slaves to the point of rebellion. Always obedient, peaceful and honest old slave Tom plays a central role in this tragedy.

Uncle Tom's Cabin

1965

Without Leaving an Address poster
6.4

A woman in Paris hires a taxi driver to locate her ex-lover, father to her newborn child, who left her without leaving an address.

Without Leaving an Address

1951

Hôtel La Louisiane poster
NR

Hôtel La Louisiane is, at its core, a film about freedom and dignity. Freedom for those who wish to live in a place where they are able to feel inspired. Dignity for the hotel owner to stand by his promise to his father and keep their mission alive: to provide an affordable sanctuary for artists and students in search of fulfilling employment, which they certainly won’t find at other hotels. Freedom, too, to be in an environment of tolerance and rid of prejudice. This film is not just a story about a mythical setting in Paris; it portrays the microcosm of a lifestyle in which collective values reign supreme. A film where what’s real and true is placed above national borders or cultural barriers.

Hôtel La Louisiane

2015

Cherchez l'idole poster
6.4

After stealing a diamond from Mylène Demongeot, Richard hides it inside a guitar. But on returning to the music shop he discovers that the precious instrument has just been sold! The problem is complicated by the fact that five stars all bought the same model that morning...

Cherchez l'idole

1964

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Paris nach Noten

1968

Elena and Her Men poster
5.9

Set amid the military maneuvers and Quatorze Juillet carnivals of turn-of-the-century France, Jean Renoir’s delirious romantic comedy Elena and her Men stars a radiant Ingrid Bergman as a beautiful, but impoverished, Polish princess who drives men of all stations to fits of desperate love. When Elena elicits the fascination of a famous general, she finds herself at the center of romantic machinations and political scheming, with the hearts of several men—as well as the future of France—in her hands.

Elena and Her Men

1956

La TV des 70's : Quand Giscard était président poster
7.2

In May 1974, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing became President of the Republic and wanted to bring about a new era of modernity. One of his first decisions was to break up the ORTF with the creation of three new television channels: TF1, Antenne 2 and FR3. Three new public channels but autonomous and competing. It is a race for the audience which is engaged then, and from now on the channels will make the war! This competition will give birth to a real golden age for television programs, with variety shows in the forefront. The stars of the song are going to invade the living rooms of the French for their biggest pleasure. This unedited documentary tells the story of the metamorphosis of this television of the early 1970s, between freedom of tone, scandals, political intrigues and programs that have become mythical.

La TV des 70's : Quand Giscard était président

2022

Droit de Réponse poster
8.3

"Droit de Réponse" (Right of Reply) is a French debate program broadcast between December 12, 1981 and September 19, 1987 on the TF1 channel, presented by Michel Polac and produced by Maurice Dugowson. Broadcast live on a weekly basis, on Saturdays from 8.30 p.m., the right of reply has been the source of many controversies, due to the various speakers who have come to present their point of view on the show (which leads to famous scandals , remained in the memory of viewers), but also for the variety and relevance of the topics covered, which ensured the success of the program on the air for several years. On French television, this program is considered by some observers as a “pioneer program in terms of controversy-show or clash, in modern language”.

Droit de Réponse

1981

Juliette Gréco, l'insoumise poster
NR

Her chansons made her world-famous: Juliette Gréco. The French singer and actress died on September 23 at the age of 93. To mark the occasion, ARTE is repeating a portrait of the singer from 2012, which was made for her 85th birthday. At that time, she gave one concert after another...

Juliette Gréco, l'insoumise

2012

The Naked Earth poster
10.0

Africa, early 20th century, an Englishman marries the girlfriend of a late friend and faces natives and adventures, on the banks of a river infested with crocodiles.

The Naked Earth

1958

The Green Glove poster
6.4

In World War II France, American soldier Michael Blake captures, then loses Nazi-collaborator art thief Paul Rona, who leaves behind a gem studded gauntlet (a stolen religious relic). Years later, financial reverses lead Mike to return in search of the object. In Paris, he must dodge mysterious followers and a corpse that's hard to explain; so he and attractive tour guide Christine decamp on a cross-country pursuit that becomes love on the run...then takes yet another turn.

The Green Glove

1952

Where the Truth Lies poster
7.0

A young veterinarian falls in love with a strange woman, a former explorer who might be a Voodoo priestess, after he comes to help her ailing cheetah. She begs him to return to Africa with her, but he doesn’t want to leave his wife. Soon his wife finds herself plagued by a series of bizarre accidents.

Where the Truth Lies

1962

Paris Calligrammes poster
5.5

Ulrike Ottinger weaves her personal memories of Parisian bohemianism and the serious social, political and cultural upheavals of the time into a cinematic “figure poem.”

Paris Calligrammes

2020

France, Song poster
NR

Song chronicle of France in the 60s. The film introduces the work of famous French chansonnier singers.

France, Song

1969

Crack in the Mirror poster
7.5

Three stars appear in two separate but intertwined stories of romantic triangles gone wrong in this ambitious drama. In the first segment, Hagolin is a loutish construction worker with an unhappy wife, Eponine. The wife becomes involved with a swarthy working man, Larnier, and their passion knows no boundaries of caution or safety. Eventually, Eponine's and Larnier's lust drives them to madness, and they murder Hagolin. The second tale concerns an up-and-coming young lawyer, Claude, whose mentor is a highly successful veteran attorney, Lamerciere, with a beautiful young wife named Florence. Claude finds himself defending Larnier and Eponine, while Lamerciere dies of a heart attack after he discovers that Florence has been unfaithful to him with Claude.

Crack in the Mirror

1960