Catherine Deneuve

Actor

Name at birth: Catherine Dorléac

Gorgeous and aloof, Catherine Deneuve was an icon of the French cinema in the 1960s and 1970s. Born into a family of actors, she made her film debut as a teenager, and as she grew into a woman her cool blonde charms began to turn moviegoers' heads. Though first promoted by filmmaker Roger Vadim in the early '60s, she found her breakthrough role in The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964). Her most famous movies from the era are Repulsion (1965), Belle du Jour (1967) and Tristana (1970). Since the 1970s she has made movies outside of France only infrequently, but was internationally famous as a pitchwoman for Chanel perfume in the 1980s and appeared in the critically acclaimed films The Last Metro (1980) and Indochine (1992, Oscar nomination). Deneuve also has a cult following for her portrayal of a vampire in The Hunger (1983, with Susan Sarandon) and has appeared in Dancer in the Dark (2000, starring Björk) and the campy musical 8 Femmes (2002).

Extra credit: Other sexy European leading ladies include Sophia Loren, Gina Lollobrigida and Brigitte Bardot.

She joins Bela Lugosi and Willem Dafoe in our loop They Played Vampires.