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Info, data, curriculum vitae

Anny Duperey - The theater, I love it!

Enchanting Anny Duperey (»[Ani Dyperε:]«, after her grandfather Duperray; in real Annie Legras) impresses with a clear look, a keen nose and a clear-cut chin, a tall elegant silhouette (*) and with a touch of coolness and distance she knows how to moderate to a point of sneering-fresh humor.

Even though the stunning attractive »tall brunette« with the luscious lips and the striking blue eyes impresses with her extraordinary talent of dramatic art, unfortunately the roles she is confined in, in cinema and on television as well, do not always allow her to state all the extent of her talent and to demonstrate her versatility. One just has to experience her on stage once.

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Short info

Eyesome face, her imposing height, her sporty dream figure and last but not least her appearance and her beauty predestinate her for the role as (cool) show-mistress in many movies or as princess on stage. Whereby especially her fair complexion shows to advantage very effectively.

Anny Duperey ⚯ Bernard Giraudeau

Although she seems very sensitive and thoughtful in her books due to her family history, nevertheless, often her pleasure of life becomes evident. And one is hardly able to evade her natural behavior, her disarming frankness and her charm. At first sight a cool, inapproachable, mysterious or even dangerous beauty in real she is more some kind of a swinging natural mate. And an unparalleled bundle of energy.
So she answered a question whether she has a foible for conspicuous nail enamel, it is easier by that to hide away her fingernails dirty from gardening.
In press one has made her the following compliments among others:

Anny Duperey ⚯ Cris Campion

Anny Duperey has a charming intelligence and an intelligent charm.

Or by Frédérique Jourdaa:

Everything is in her expression. Two bright eyes framed by dropping eyelids, full of an undefinable sorrow. With a piercing view inside you.

For about sixteen years actor colleague Bernard Giraudeau († 2010) like her very well-known was Anny Duperey's life companion and she has two children Gaël (* 1982) and Sara (* 1985) with him.
After they had drifted apart in 1991 she lived between 1993 and 2004 with Cris Campion, she had met during shooting of Charlemagne. (In their common scene she represents the mother and he the son of Charlemagne.)
With her both cohabitants she appeared in several movies, plays, TV mini serials and interviews and stays joined in friendship with them.

In 2006 Sara Giraudeau continues the family tradition starting her own theater career. Also Gaël is drawn to acting. On December 22nd 2011 all three together, Anny Duperey, Sara und Gaël Giraudeau, are playing on stage in La grande librairie: Au Théâtre du Rond-Point for a TV event.

In 2015 the popular artist can look back on fifty years at the front of the stage.

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Contact

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Curriculum vitae

Extraordinary attractive Anny Duperey is born in Rouen on June 28th 1947 as first child of Ginette and Lucien Legras. At the age of 8½ she and her sister Patricia, eight years younger than her, loose their father and their mother, who suffocated due to a wrong installed bathroom oven. For some minutes too late Anny, who sleeps next door, discovers their dead bodies. Both orphans are divided up in their parents' families and live their complete own lives.

Already very young Anny is attracted by dance and even more by theater. With special permission she is allowed to leave the College Camille St Saens two years earlier than regular to exchange to the academy of arts of her hometown. After two years of studies she wins a first price of comedy and at the age of seventeen she leaves Rouen with destination Paris with the firm intention to attend the academy of arts in the capital.

Black diamond of French cinema

Anny Duperey starts by following courses of dramatic art, while earning her money in parallel as model and mannequin for fashion and advertisement. Then she finally enters the academy. And it is just in her first year in the establishment when she is discovered by Jean Meyer, who engages her in the Théâtre Michel for The three marriages of Melanie. Anny Duperey plays then in La Mamma, at the sides of Elvire Popesco, who attests to her brilliant talent. About the same time - so the story goes - her face on the cover of a magazine catches Jean-Luc Godard's eyes and by all means he wants her for a bigger role in his Nouvelle Vague movie Two or three things that I know about her. So she makes her movie debut in 1966. Just one year earlier she was shortly to watch on TV in L'examen de passage.

In the direct sequel Anny Duperey plays more or less extended roles in movies, which she just holds cheap in retrospect partly - »it's clear, some rolls I just have gotten due to my long legs«. Although she acts opposite famous actors like Michel Constantin, Michel Auclair, Bruno Cremer, Maurice Ronet, Jean-Claude Brialy, Raymond Pellegrin, Peter van Eyck, Claude Jade, Brigitte Bardot and for various respected directors like e.g. Francis Rigaud (Jerk à Istambul, 1967; English title: Punch up in Istanbul), Michel Boisrond (L'homme qui valait des milliards, 1968; English title: The Man who was worth Millions), André Hunebelle (Sous le signe de Monte-Cristo (1968; English title: Under the Sign of Monte-Cristo), Roger Vadim (Spirits of the Dead / Metzengerstein, 1968), Jean Aurel (Les femmes, 1969; title: Women or The Vixen), Pierre Richard (Les malheurs d'Alfred, 1971; English title: The Troubles of Alfred), Jean Delannoy (Pas folle la guêpe, 1972; English title: Not Dumb, the Bird), Jean-Claude Brialy (L' Oiseau rare, 1973; English title: A rare Bird) and George (Lautner Pas de probléme!, 1974; English title: No Problem).
At least in the beginning of her career Alain Resnais allows her in Stavisky (1974) acting opposite Jean-Paul Belmondo and François Périer to escape from these mostly light comedies »à la française« and cock-and-bull stories. Clad in precious gowns designed by Yves Saint Laurent she looks just marvelous.
No wonder in this phase Helmut Newton shots photos of her for his famous book White Women and US Vogue in Karl Lagerfeld's flat.

Anny Duperey, however, writes movie history in Un éléphant ça trompe énormément (1976; English title: Pardon mon Affaire), where as dream woman in red she cheerfully dances in a flying dress on a ventilator outlet like Marilyn Monroe in the The Seven Year Itch upskirt scene. (It was was not as harmless as it seems she states Michel Drucker 2002 in Vivement Dimanche - during the first test she had been lifted and almost pushed against the ceiling.)
In an interview years later director Yves Robert stated he had put strong emphasis on finding a stunning beauty for the role of Charlotte. No doubt he has got one, and an excellent actress, too. Prompt she is nominated for the César and the movie becomes one of the most successful French comedies of the 1970s. (The original of Woman in Red, USA 1984.)
Worth seeing she is also as likeable single mother in Michael Schock's family movie Trocadero bleu citron (1978; English title: Little Love). Movie enthusiasts will notice her role in Claude Mulot's La Rose Ecorchee (1969; English title: The Blood Rose or Devil's Maniac) - it said to be the first horror movie with erotic touch or vice versa. (By the way - believe it or not - here mainly she is responsible for the creeps.

Anny Duperey, TV shooting star 1971

In the 1980s Anny Duperey appears as star or guest star, e.g. in Philippe de Broca's Psy (1980), in Alexandre Arcady's Le grand pardon (1982) and in Henri Verneuil's Mille milliards de dollars (1982). She can give a proof of the full bandwidth of her abilities in the leading part of Marc Lobet's very witty and worth to watch crime comedy Meurtres a domicile (1982) together with life partner Bernard Giraudeau. Maybe her most impressive leading part is as traumatized doctor in Francis Leroi's mystery thriller Le Démon dans l'íle (1983; English title: Demon of the Island). At the Porto fantasy movie festival (Fantasporto) she is awarded best actress.
As proof of Anny Duperey's talent may be considered that she conspicuously often plays double roles. Just even as mother and daughter or in family sagas covering several decades, respectively.

Also in several European and international movies and TV productions Anny Duperey is to see, e.g. with Mario Adorf, Bruno Cremer and Maurice Ronet in the French/German/Italian movie Sans Sommation (1973; English title: Without Warning) or at the sides of Al Pacino and Marthe Keller in Sydney Pollack's US movie Bobby Deerfield (1978). (Quotation of the director »The wonderful, wonderful French actress«. In the making-of he additionally expresses his regret that a lot of her scenes had fallen victim to the editing due to overlength.) Also remarkable is her appearance in Serge Moati's French/German movie Nuit d'Or (1976; English title: The Golden Night) at the sides of Klaus Kinski and Maurice Ronet. She even appears in two German movies shot in Germany and Austria, resp., Umarmungen und andere Sachen (1975; English title: Embraces) with Sydne Rome and Jean-Pierre Leaud and well-known actors of the »Bayerischer Komödienstadel«(!) (Engl.: Bavarian Popular Theater) like Ludwig Schmid-Wildy and also in Car Napping - Bestellt, geklaut, geliefert (1979 English title: Carnapping or Escapade).
But she regrets a little bit that in general too long time one confined her in roles of »tall cold and sophisticated women«.
After playing with Gérard Depardieu and Pierre Richard in Les comperes (1983; English title: Com Dads) of Francis Veber and with Victor Lanoux in La Triche (1984; English title: The Cheat) of Yannick Bellon she has her next movie appearance not until the mammoth screen epic Germinal (1993) of Claude Berri and Tôt ou tard (1999; English title: Sooner or later) of Anne-Marie Etienne. In 2007 she is back again in cinema in Valerié Guigabodet's Danse avec lui (English title: Dance with him) and in 2009 one can watch her in De l'autre côté du lit (English title: Changing Sides) of Pascale Pouzadoux, in Eden Is West of Constantin Costa-Gavras and in Bambou of Didier Bourdon as well and in additional movies more frequently, too. In 2012 as guest star in L'amour dure trois ans of Frederic Beigbeder and together with an illustrious star ensemble in Vous n'avez encore rien vu (English title: You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet) of doyen Alain Resnais she comes back into the cinemas quasi almost as herself .

Anny Duperey (en VOGUE ;-)

But Anny Duperey's heart beats for the theater, perhaps because here she is able to show all her talent. For instance in particular as a singer and dancer in the musical Attention fragile (1978) she successfully plays at the sides of Bernard Giraudeau, her life partner in those days.
Already at the age of 23 she remembers her roots and returns to academy and theater. She also attends the prestigious Cours Simon in those days. She did not want to see herself just as acting photo model or cover girl. In the 1970s and 1980s she gained big stage successes especially under the directors Jean Mercure and her mentor Jean-Louis Barrault (»Anny Duperey is my daughter on the stage.«) also at the French State Theater. She plays in Isabella, Three Tall Ships a Con Man of Dario Fo, in Jarry sur la Butte of Alfred Jarry and in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. For almost a decade she impersonates Helen of Troy in Giraudoux's Tiger at the Gates and even during a tour through the USA, Canada and the USSR she attracts attention. At that in 1977 she just falls in love with Bernard Giraudeau aptly playing Paris herein (and whom she had selected for the role). In her autobiography Les chats de hasard one can discern she just views Helen a little bit as her alter ego.
Until now one can attend her play on stage. So she very successfully acts in Oscar Wilde's An ideal husband (1995/6), in an adaptation of John Murrell's Sarah (2003/4) and in the one-character play Oscar et la dame rose (2005-8) by Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt. In 2010/11 she and her daughter Sara Giraudeau stage in Colombe, incusive a broadcast on TV. 2010-12 she is to see in Desole pour la Moquette of Bertrand Blier. And in 2013 she plays Giraudoux' Mad Woman of Chaillot. End of 2018 she reads in Theater Edouard VII from her book Les chats de hasard and is 2022 with Mes cher enfants on stage again.
Arguably half a dozen Molière nominations state their talent.

Anny Duperey is very successful as writer, too. Not only in France. Already her first book L'Admiroir (1976) is awarded with the Prix de l'Académie française. She continues with Le Nez de Mazarin (1986; English title: The Cardinal's Nose, 1992), the very striking autobiography Le voile noir (1992), Je vous écris (1993), Les chats de hasard (1999), the novels Allons plus loinx-tu? (2002) and Une soirée (2005), the letter dialog with Nina Vidrovitch De la vie dans son art, de l'art dans sa vie (2008), both books about chickens Le poil et la plume (2011) and 2012 the illustrated book Fabuleux destin de l'oeuf and again a novel Le Tour des arènes (2022). Also complemented by some anthologies. For instance the illustrated books Lucien Legras, photographe inconnu (1993) created with her early deceased father's photos and Chats (2008) including besides many other even some own photos. Additional biographic texts and photos are collected in Le Rêve de ma mère ( 2017).
Moreover she writes scripts for movies.

Anny Duperey - a very discreet star

Besides Anny Duperey has devoted herself to black-and-white photography like once her gifted father Lucien Legras and has created a lot of photos of her colleagues worth to see. But concerning exhibitions she is reserved, however, in the course of her activities as author she presents insights from time to time. Especially in 2018 with the photo book Les photos d'Anny.
She is also a talented painter and one can frequently see her during home stories and interviews standing near her scaffold.
During her model days she has learned tailoring and sometimes she wears her self-made dresses in front of the camera.
In the 70s Anny Duperey has temporary impressed in circus at trapeze during some years almost on professional level, partly with her boyfriend Francis Perrin. Especially four times on TV in Gala de l'Union des Artistes and 1977 in Circus of the Stars in Los Angeles. Even in 1994 on the occasion of an episode of Une famille formidable.

In addition to acting and writing Anny Duperey intensely commits herself in social field. e.g. as active ambassador of the French SOS Children's Villages repeatedly on TV and for Rire Médicine (clowns playing for and with children in hospitals), too. Also she supports SOS-PAPA (fathers' rights in divorce) and temporarily she acted here as ambassador as well.
Since 1997 she is cevalier de la legion d'honneur - in 2012 she is promoted to officier rank.
Due to her various engagements and her frank and gentle nature she is an appreciated guest for TV and radio interviews and for festivals as well. For instance as moderator of the 49th Gala de l'Union des Artistes on French TV 2010 or repeatedly as laudator e.g. at the 40th World Circus Festival of Tomorrow in 2019, at the 46th César ceremony or at the 60th Monte Carlo Television Festival in 2021.
Explicitly asked in interviews she makes no secret of her political attitude, however, does not often commit herself to election campaigns (but e.g. for François Mitterrand, 1981 and Lionel Jospin, 2002). As self-confident and emancipated public figure, nevertheless, she is always good for a clear frank statement.

Autograph hunters claim Anny Duperey to be one of the most or even the most kind and likeable French celebrity. She gladly makes time for her fans. It is told she even signs early act photos amused and with a smile. In general it seems she has no trouble with, because in some movies and photo sessions she shows rather a lot of her skin. Even up to nowadays. Or in her own words out of the 1970s: »Nude yes, porn no way.« - generation 1968 heritage.
Because she speaks English accent-free - for Bobby Deerfield she learned it during a three week crash course visiting her colleague Ian Holm and his wife in London - even international autograph requests do not cause troubles. She modestly affirms her missing accent, however, just belies her real language skills.

Due to her a bit husky, expressive and melodious voice Anny Duperey is a wanted speaker for French audio-books, not only as story teller for Grimm Brothers' fairy tales and Walt Disney's children stories, but also for demanding literature and (better: therefore) for her own business on Les chats de hasard.
By the way: her voice does not derive from (chain) smoking. According to what she said she gave it up in 1992, after a 60 cigarettes per day consume under stress.

Anny Duperey: I lived two fine romances

The actress very well-known and extraordinary popular in France and the francophone countries, and this cross-generational, in parallel right from the beginning continues an awarded career on television. Less in series, but in TV-movies and in mini series. For instance one can watch Anny Duperey in Claude Santelli's Sarn (1968), in Jean Kerchbron's Koenigsmark (1968), with long fair hair in the third episode of Claude Guillemots La Brigade des Malefices: Voir Vénus et mourir (1970), in Nina Companeez's 6-episode series Un ours pas comme les autres (1978), in Robert Mazoyer's 5-episode series Un Château au soleil (1988), in Christopher Franck's La seconde (1989), in Clive Donner's trilogy Charlemagne (1993) playing Bertha with Big Feet where impressing attention is drawn to her respectable shoe size, in Christian Faures L'enfant perdu (1997), in Nina Companeez's two-parter Un Pique-Nique chez Osiris (2001), in a double role in Joyce Buñuel's Le voyage de la grande-duchesse (2003), in Daniel Janneau's Une vie en retour (2005), in the second season of 5-episode series Clara Sheller (2008), in Christian Duguay's Coco Chanel (2008), in Jérôme Cornuau's Le Tueur du lac (2017), in all eight episodes of Grand Hôtel (2020) and in also eight episodes of La Faute à Rousseau (2021) just to list some broadcasted outside of France or available on DVD and other sources, respectively.
Most successfully, however, since 1992 she played in the loose trilogy episodes of Une famille formidable in movie length. The sixth season for instance reached more than 40% rating on French TV in 2006 - just cult status. Temporarily her life partner Cris Campion and later her son Gaël acted in several chapters. Meanwhile consisting of six one hour episodes the series ended out of respect to writer and director Joël Santoni's death after 26 years in autumn 2018 with the fifteenth season.
Several times her performance in different roles has been awarded with the 7 d'Or TV prize.

Of course, she can employ her popularity for having advertising appeal. For example Anny Duperey might have served as an inspiration for the Brune of the well-known fashion illustrator René Gruau, especially because in 1982 she advertised for Marcelle Griffon in a TV commercial as well.

In interviews, however, she likes to describe her career as »zig zag« and remarks that cinema had suddenly »forgotten« her in the mid eighties. Even after her César nomination she was without job for one year. Well, maybe due to her beauty she has just been underestimated as actress. So she could have easily stolen the show of the international title star. Just have a look at the photos shot during the press release of De l'autre côté du lit (2009; English title: Changing Sides), where she leaves a deep impression even by the side of also not quite unattractive Sophie Marceau (playing her daughter). Presently experts just consider versatile Anny Duperey the best French actress of (at least) her generation.
The episodes serial Une famille formidable, however, cements her film role as (grand) mother in front of the camera and benefits by the dignified aging of its most beautiful leading actress as well. Even if an eye-lifting in early 1998 and hair color contribute a bit as she freely admits.

That all has given Anny Duperey the reputation in France to be one of the most versatile artists, a socially active popular figure, who cuts a fine figure both on stage and in front of the camera as actress, dancer and singer. In classical and in modern plays, in comedies and in thrillers.
Additionally she has gained reputation as writer. Extracts of Le voile noir were a part of the test paper in the French exam in 2002 and are to find in the French school reader.
Even a filled yellow rose is named after her since 2007.

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Filmographies and bibliographies

Anny Duperey turns red to green; all her nails, too

Exploit e.g. Dailymotion, Vimeo, Youtube and videos at Google for clips from different broadcasts and movies. Or search on more »official« level:

• INA - Institut national de l'audiovisuel, numerous French TV broadcasts covering the last decades and also movies for download. Often digital remastered (INA.fr; partly in English).

• A very impressive amount of photos out of TV magazines at Base de Donnés de films français avec images (www.php88.free.fr/bdff).

• French National Library (https://data.bnf.fr/; partly in English)

• Ministère de la Culture (www.culture.gouv.fr)

• Culmination as »herself« staring a long interview in Swiss TV (www.rts.ch) from 1976