Renée Saint-Cyr

Biography

French actress Renée Saint-Cyr became synonymous with chic comedy and costumed drama, enjoying major success for nearly seven decades before her death after an attack of bronchitis at age 99. Over the years she equipped herself well opposite the established talents of Raymond Rouleau, Jules Berry, Raimu, Noël-Noël, Harry Baur, Pierre Brasseur and Paul Meurisse. Born Marie Louise Eugénie Vittore on November 16, 1904, and the daughter of a hotel owner and opera singer, Renée was a one-time model who married Charles Leopold Lautner (1894-1938), a wealthy man, at age 21 before entering the acting leagues. After studies at a drama school in Marseilles, she made her film bow starring as one of The Two Orphans (1933) co-starring Rosine Deréan, based on the Gish sisters' silent classic Orphans of the Storm (1921). She took on Lillian's role and would adopt the moniker of Saint-Cyr, supposedly taken from a beloved canine. Saint-Cyr's alluring beauty, patrician demeanor, and comedic skills gave her great momentum co-starring in such chic 1930's film comedies as Toto (1933), D'amour et d'eau fraîche (1933), Une fois dans la vie (1934) (Once in a Lifetime), Le dernier milliardaire (1934), Paris (1937), L'École des cocottes (1935), Donogoo (1936), Paris (1937) and The Pearls of the Crown (1937), as well as the dramas 27 rue de la Paix (1936) and Marked Girls (1938). Renée also graced the stage during this time in a production of "The Threepenny Opera," among others. She nixed an offer to sign with 20th Century-Fox, but did star in England's Strange Boarders (1938) and Italy's Red Roses (1940) (Red Roses) co-starring Vittorio De Sica. Into the 1940s war years, she starred in such popular film vehicles as the Hector Berlioz biopic La symphonie fantastique (1942) (The Fantastic Symphony), the title dramatic roles in Marie-Martine (1943) and Paméla (1945), plus Pierre et Jean (1943), Étrange destin (1946) and L'insaisissable Frédéric (1946). Saint-Cyr left films after shooting The Knight of the Night (1953), Il cavaliere di Maison Rouge (1954) (The Glorious Avenger) (as Marie Antoinette) and Si Paris nous était conté (1956) (as Empress Eugénie}, but returned into the next decade with La Cocktail Party (1960) and Lafayette (1962). By this time, her only child, Georges Lautner, had become an influential film writer and director and had begun churning out a series of standard genre movies that occasionally featured Renee in the cast. Such films included The Monocle (1964), Fleur d'oseille (1967), Quelques messieurs trop tranquilles (1973), Now We've Seen It All! (1976), Ils sont fous ces sorciers (1978), My Other Husband (1983), Room Service (1992).