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Leslie Caron

Leslie Claire Margaret Caron (French: [lɛsli kaʁɔ̃]; born 1 July 1931) is a French and American actress and dancer. She is the recipient of a Golden Globe Award, two BAFTA Awards and a Primetime Emmy Award, in addition to nominations for two Academy Awards.

Leslie Caron

Leslie Claire Margaret Caron

(1931-07-01) 1 July 1931
  • France
  • United States

  • Actress
  • dancer

1951–present

(m. 1951; div. 1954)
(m. 1956; div. 1965)
(m. 1969; div. 1980)

Caron began her career as a ballerina. She made her film debut in the musical An American in Paris (1951), followed by roles in The Man with a Cloak (1951), Glory Alley (1952) and The Story of Three Loves (1953), before her role of an orphan in Lili (also 1953), which earned her the BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actress and garnered nominations for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award.


As a leading lady, Caron starred in films such as The Glass Slipper (1955), Daddy Long Legs (1955), Gigi (1958), Fanny (1961), both of which earned her Golden Globe nominations, Guns of Darkness (1962), The L-Shaped Room (1962), Father Goose (1964) and A Very Special Favor (1965). For her role as a single pregnant woman in The L-Shaped Room, Caron, in addition to receiving a second Academy Award nomination, won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama and a second BAFTA Award.


Caron's other roles include Is Paris Burning? (1966), The Man Who Loved Women (1977), Valentino (1977), Damage (1992), Funny Bones (1995), Chocolat (2000) and Le Divorce (2003). In 2007, she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for portraying a rape victim in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

Early life and family[edit]

Caron was born in Boulogne-sur-Seine, Seine (now Boulogne-Billancourt, Hauts-de-Seine), the daughter of Margaret (née Petit), a Franco-American dancer on Broadway, and Claude Caron, a French chemist, pharmacist, perfumer and boutique owner.[1] Claude Caron was the founder of the artisanal perfumier Guermantes.[2] While her older brother, Aimery Caron, became a chemist like their father, Leslie was prepared for a performing career from childhood by her mother.[3] The family lost its wealth during World War II and could not provide a dowry for Caron. "My mother said: 'There's only one profession that leads you to marrying money and becoming a princess or duchess, and that's ballet.' ... My grandfather whispered heavily: 'Margaret, you want your daughter to be a whore?' I heard it. This has always followed me". [4]


Of the lost fortune, Caron recalled, "My mother died of it". Her mother, who had grown up in poverty, could not cope with their reduced circumstances. She became depressed and an alcoholic and, at age 67, killed herself.[4]

1955: Orvet, by Jean Renoir, director , Théâtre de la Renaissance, Paris

Jean Renoir

1955: Gigi, by , director Sir Peter Hall, New Theatre, London

Anita Loos

1961: Ondine, by , director Peter Hall, Aldwych Theatre, London. The second act of this Royal Shakespeare Company production was broadcast on BBC Television on April 11, 1961.[22]

Jean Giraudoux

1965: Carola, by , director Norman Lloyd, PBS, Los Angeles

Jean Renoir

1975–1981: 13, rue de l'amour (Monsieur Chasse), by , director Basil Langton, US and Australia

Georges Feydeau

1978: Can-Can, musical by & Abe Burrows, director John Bishop, US and Canadian tour

Cole Porter

1983: The rehearsal by , director Gillian Lynne, English tour

Jean Anouilh

1984: On your toes by , director George Abbott, US tour

Rodgers and Hart

1985: One for the Tango (Apprends-moi Céline) by , director Pierre Epstein, US tour

Maria Pacôme

1985: L'inaccessible, author and director , Théâtre du Petit Odéon of Paris and Spoleto Festival, Italy

Krzysztof Zanussi

1991: Grand hotel, adaptation from the novel of , director Tommy Tune, Berlin

Vicki Baum

1991: Le martyre de Saint Sebastien by and Gabriele d'Annunzio, narration, directed by Michael Tilson Thomas, London Symphony Orchestra

Claude Debussy

1995: George Sand et Chopin, author Bruno Villien, Greenwich Festival, Great Britain

1997: Nocturne for lovers, adaptation , director Kado Kostzer, Chichester Festival Theatre, Great Britain

Gavin Lambert

1997: The story of Babar, by , narration, music from Francis Poulenc, Chichester Festival, Great Britain

Jean de Brunhoff

1998: Apprends-moi Céline, by , director Raymond Acquaviva, French tour

Maria Pacôme

1999: Readings from Colette, director Roger Hodgeman, , Australia

Melbourne Festival

1999: Nocturne for lovers, director Roger Hodgeman, Melbourne Festival, Australia

2006: I Remember It Well Special Guest Artist in a retrospective tribute to Lyricist Alan Jay Lerner (and his music), 42nd Street Moon Theatre Company, , San Francisco

Herbst Theatre

2009: Thank Heaven – 'platform' at the of London

Théâtre National

2009: by Stephen Sondheim, director Lee Blakeley, Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris

A Little Night Music

2014: by Richard Alfieri, director Michael Arabian, Laguna Playhouse, Laguna Beach, California

Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks

The Lover (l'Amant) by Marguerite Duras on cassettes

First World War for the radio

by Claude Debussy and Gabriele d'Annunzio, with the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas

Le Martyre de Saint Sébastien

by Colette in English on cassettes recorded in public at Merkin Concert Hall at Abraham Goodman House in New York City, 1996

Gigi

Narrated "Carnival of the Animals" music by with the Nash EnsembleWigmore Hall, 1999

Camille Saint-Saëns

The Plutocrats play for the BBC dir. Bill Bryden, written by , from the novel by Booth Tarkington, January 1999

Michael Hastings

Caron, Leslie: Vengeance. , 1982. ISBN 978-0-3851-7896-9

Doubleday

Caron, Leslie: Thank Heaven: A Memoir. , 2009. ISBN 978-0-6700-2134-5

Viking Adult

Chevalier de la by President François Mitterrand in June 1993

Légion d'honneur

by Catherine Trautmann, Minister of Culture, in February 1998

Ordre National du Mérite

Officier de la Légion d'Honneur, given by Jean Pierre Raffarin in June 2004

Prime Minister

Medaille D'Or De La Ville De Paris in 2012

Commandeur de la Légion d'honneur in March 2013

John F Kennedy Center Gold Medal in the Arts in 2015

The Oldie of the Year (TOOTY) in 2021

Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series in 2007

List of dancers

at IMDb

Leslie Caron

at the TCM Movie Database

Leslie Caron

at AllMovie

Leslie Caron