Leslie Caron

Leslie Claire Margaret Caron  born 1 July 1931 is a French-American actress, dancer, and writer. She is the recipient of various accolades, including a Golden Globe Award, two BAFTA Awards, and a Primetime Emmy Award, in addition to nominations for two Academy Awards.

Caron started 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 receiving critical acclaim for 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 went on to star 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), That’s Entertainment! (1974) in featured segments, 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

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. While her older brother Aimery Caron became a chemist like their father, Leslie was prepared for a performing career from childhood by her mother.

Career

Caron started her career as a ballerina. Gene Kelly discovered her in the Roland Petit company “Ballet des Champs Elysées ” and cast her to appear opposite him in the musical, An American in Paris (1951), a role in which a pregnant Cyd Charisse was originally cast. This role led to a long-term MGM contract and a sequence of films which included the musical, The Glass Slipper (1955), and the drama, The Man with a Cloak (1951), with Joseph Cotten and Barbara Stanwyck. Still, Caron has said of herself: “Unfortunately, Hollywood considers musical dancers as hoofers. Regrettable expression.”

She also starred in the successful musicals Lili (1953), with Mel Ferrer; Daddy Long Legs (1955), with Fred Astaire; and Gigi (1958) with Louis Jourdan and Maurice Chevalier.

In 1953, Caron was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for her starring role in Lili. For her performance in the British drama, The L-Shaped Room (1962), she won the BAFTA Award for Best British Actress and the Golden Globe, and was nominated for the Best Actress Oscar.

In the 1960s and thereafter, Caron worked in European films as well. Her later film assignments included Father Goose (1964), with Cary Grant; Ken Russell’s Valentino (1977), in the role of silent-screen legend Alla Nazimova; and Louis Malle’s Damage (1992). Sometime in 1970, Caron was one of the many actresses considered for the lead role of Eglantine Price in Disney’s Bedknobs and Broomsticks, losing the role to British actress Angela Lansbury.

In 1967, she was a member of the jury of the 5th Moscow International Film Festival. In 1989, she was a member of the jury at the 39th Berlin International Film Festival.

Caron has continued to act, appearing in the film Chocolat (2000). During the 1980s, she appeared in several episodes of the soap opera Falcon Crest as Nicole Sauguet. She is one of the few actresses from the classic era of MGM musicals who are still active in film — a group that includes Rita Moreno, Margaret O’Brien, and June Lockhart. Her other later credits include Funny Bones (1995) with Jerry Lewis and Oliver Platt; The Last of the Blonde Bombshells (2000) with Judi Dench and Cleo Laine; and Le Divorce (2003), directed by James Ivory, with Kate Hudson and Naomi Watts.

On 30 June 2003, Caron traveled to San Francisco to appear as the special guest star in The Songs of Alan Jay Lerner: I Remember It Well, a retrospective concert staged by San Francisco’s 42nd Street Moon Company. In 2007, her guest appearance on Law and Order: Special Victims Unit earned her a Primetime Emmy Award. On 27 April 2009, Caron traveled to New York as an honored guest at a tribute to Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe at the Paley Center for Media.

For her contributions to the film industry, Caron was inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame on 8 December 2009 with a motion pictures star located at 6153 Hollywood Boulevard. In February 2010, she played Madame Armfeldt in A Little Night Music at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, which also featured Greta Scacchi and Lambert Wilson.

In 2016, Caron appeared in the ITV television series The Durrells as the Countess Mavrodaki.

Veteran documentarian Larry Weinstein’s Leslie Caron: The Reluctant Star premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on 28 June 2016.

Personal life

In September 1951, Caron married American George Hormel II, a grandson of the founder of the Hormel meat-packing company. They divorced in 1954. During that period, while under contract to MGM, she lived in Laurel Canyon in a Normandie style 1927 mansion near the country store on Laurel Canyon Blvd. One bedroom was all mirrored for her dancing rehearsals.

Her second husband was British theatre director Peter Hall. They married in 1956 and had two children: Christopher John Hall (TV producer) in 1957 and Jennifer Caron Hall, a writer, painter, and actress, in 1958. Her son-in-law, married to Jennifer, is Glenn Wilhide, the producer and screenwriter.

Caron had an affair with Warren Beatty (1961). When she and Hall divorced in 1965, Beatty was named as a co-respondent and was ordered by the London court to pay the costs of the case.

In 1969, Caron married Michael Laughlin, the producer of the film Two-Lane Blacktop; they divorced in 1980.

Caron was also romantically linked to Dutch television actor Robert Wolders from 1994 to 1995.

From June 1993 until September 2009, Caron owned and operated the hotel and restaurant, Auberge la Lucarne aux Chouettes (The Owls’ Nest), in Villeneuve-sur-Yonne, about 130 km (80 mi) south of Paris. Unhappy with the lack of work in France, she left for England in 2013.

In her autobiography, Thank Heaven, she states that she obtained American citizenship in time to vote for Barack Obama for president.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1951	An American in Paris	Lise Bouvier
1951	The Man with a Cloak	Madeline Minot
1952	Glory Alley	Angela Evans
1953	The Story of Three Loves	Mademoiselle	Segment: “Mademoiselle”
1953	Lili	Lili Daurier	BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actress Nominated–Academy Award for Best Actress
1955	The Glass Slipper	Ella
1955	Daddy Long Legs	Julie Andre
1956	Gaby	Gaby
1958	Gigi	Gigi	Laurel Award for Top Female Musical Performance Nominated–Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical
1958	The Doctor’s Dilemma	Mrs. Dubedat
1959	The Man Who Understood Women	Ann Garantier
1960	Austerlitz	Mlle de Vaudey
1960	The Subterraneans	Mardou Fox
1961	Fanny	Fanny	Laurel Award for Top Female Dramatic Performance (5th place) Nominated–Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama
1962	Guns of Darkness	Claire Jordan
1962	The L-Shaped Room	Jane Fosset	BAFTA Award for Best British Actress Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama Laurel Award for Top Female Dramatic Performance (3rd place) New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress (2nd place) Nominated–Academy Award for Best Actress
1962	Three Fables of Love	Annie	Segment: “Les deux pigeons”
1964	Father Goose	Catherine
1965	A Very Special Favor	Dr. Lauren Boullard
1965	Promise Her Anything	Michele O’Brien
1966	Is Paris Burning?	Françoise Labé
1967	Il padre di famiglia	Paola, la moglie di Marco
1970	Madron	Sister Mary
1971	Chandler	Katherine Creighton
1976	Surreal Estate	Céleste
1977	The Man Who Loved Women	Véra
1977	Valentino	Alla Nazimova
1978	Crazed	Nicole
1979	Goldengirl	Dr. Sammy Lee
1980	All Stars	Lucille Berger
1981	Chanel Solitaire		uncredited
1982	Imperative	Mother
1984	Dangerous Moves	Henia Liebskind
1990	Courage Mountain	Jane Hillary
1990	Guns	Waitress
1992	Damage	Elizabeth Prideaux
1995	Funny Bones	Katie Parker
1995	Let It Be Me	Marguerite
1999	The Reef	Regine De Chantelle
2000	Chocolat	Madame Audel	Nominated–Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2003	Le Divorce	Suzanne de Persand
2017	The Perfect Age	Marguerite	short movie
2020	A Christmas Carol	The Ghost of Christmas Past (voice)

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1959	ITV Play of the Week	Thérèse Tarde	Episode: “The Wild Bird”
1968	Off to See the Wizard	Ella	Episode: “Cinderella’s Glass Slipper: Part 1”
1973	Carola	Carola Janssen	TV film
1974	QB VII	Angela Kelno	Miniseries
1978	Docteur Erika Werner	Erika Werner	TV series
1980	Kontrakt	Penelope	TV film
1981	Mon meilleur Noël	La Nuit	Episode: “L’oiseau bleu”
1982	Tales of the Unexpected	Nathalie Vareille	Episode: “Run, Rabbit, Run”
1982	The Unapproachable	Klaudia	TV film
1983	Cinéma 16	Alice	Episode: “Le château faible”
1984	Master of the Game	Solange Dunas
1986	The Love Boat	Mrs. Duvall	Episode: “The Christmas Cruise”
1987	Falcon Crest	Nicole Sauget	3 episodes
1988	Lenin: The Train	Nadia	TV film
1988	The Man Who Lived at the Ritz	Coco Chanel	TV film
1994	Normandy: The Great Crusade	Osmont, Mary-Louise (voice)
1996	The Ring	Madame de Saint Marne
1996	The Great War and the Shaping of the 20th Century	Czarina Aleksandra Romanov (voice)	3 episodes
2000	The Last of the Blonde Bombshells	Madeleine	TV film
2001	Murder on the Orient Express	Sra. Alvarado
2006	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Lorraine Delmas	Episode: “Recall” Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series
2013	Jo	Josette Lenoir	Episode: “Le Marais”
2016–2018	The Durrells	Countess Mavrodaki	6 episodes

Theatre

• 1955: Orvet, by Jean Renoir, director Jean Renoir, Théâtre de la Renaissance, Paris
• 1955: Gigi, by Anita Loos, director Sir Peter Hall, New Theatre, London
• 1961: La sauvage, by Jean Anouilh, BBC (live), London
• 1961: Ondine, by Jean Giraudoux, director Sir Peter Hall, Aldwych Theatre, London
• 1965: Carola, by Jean Renoir, director Norman Lloyd, PBS TV, Los Angeles
• 1975–1981: 13, rue de l’amour (Monsieur Chasse), by Georges Feydeau, director Basil Langton, US and Australia
• 1978: Can-Can, musical by Cole Porter & Abe Burrows, director John Bishop, US and Canadian tour
• 1983: The rehearsal by Jean Anouilh, director Gillian Lynne, English tour
• 1984: On your toes by Rodgers and Hart, director George Abbott, US tour
• 1985: One for the Tango (Apprends-moi Céline) by Maria Pacôme, director Pierre Epstein, US tour
• 1985: L’inaccessible, author and director Krzysztof Zanussi, Théâtre du Petit Odéon of Paris and Spoletto Festival, Italy
• 1991: Grand hotel, adaptation from the novel of Vicki Baum, director Tommy Tune, Berlin
• 1991: Le martyre de Saint Sebastien by Claude Debussy and Gabriele d’Annunzio, narration, directed by Michael Tilson Thomas, London Symphony Orchestra
• 1995: Georges Sand et Chopin, author Bruno Villien, Greenwich Festival, Great Britain
• 1997: Nocturne for lovers, adaptation Gavin Lambert, director Kado Kostzer, Chichester Festival Theatre, Great Britain
• 1997: The story of Babar, by Jean de Brunhoff, narration, music from Francis Poulenc, Chichester Festival, Great Britain
• 1998: Apprends-moi Céline, by Maria Pacôme, director Raymond Acquaviva, French tour
• 1999: Readings from Colette, director Roger Hodgeman, Melbourne Festival, Australia
• 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, Herbst Theater, San Francisco
• 2009: Thank Heaven – ‘platform’ at the Théâtre National of London
• 2009: A Little Night Music by Stephen Sondheim, director Lee Blakeley, Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris
• 2014: Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks by Richard Alfieri, director Michael Arabian, Laguna Playhouse, Laguna Beach, California

Recordings

• The Lover (l’Amant) by Marguerite Duras on cassettes
• First World War for the radio
• Le Martyre de Saint Sébastien by Claude Debussy and Gabriele d’Annunzio, with the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas
• Gigi by Colette in English on cassettes recorded in public at Merkin Concert Hall at Abraham Goodman House in New York City, 1996
• Narrated “Carnival of the Animals” music by Camille St Saëns with the Nash Ensemble – Wigmore Hall, 1999
• The Plutocrats play for the BBC dir. Bill Bryden, written by Michael Hastings, from the novel by Booth Tarkington, January 1999

Bibliography

• Caron, Leslie: Vengeance. Doubleday, 1982. ISBN 9780385178969
• Caron, Leslie: Thank Heaven: A Memoir. Viking Adult, 2009. ISBN 9780670021345

Honors

• Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur by President François Mitterrand in June 1993
• Ordre National du Mérite, by Catherine Trautmann, Minister of Culture, in February 1998
• Officier de la Légion d’Honneur, given by Prime Minister Jean Pierre Raffarin in June 2004
• Medaille D’Or De La Ville De Paris in 2012
• Commandeur de la Légion d’honneur in March 2013
• J F Kennedy Gold Medal in the Arts in 2015