Biography
Gabrielle Danièle Marguerite Andrée Girard (9 October 1926 – 17 October 2015), professionally known as Danièle Delorme, was a French actress and film producer renowned for her performances in films directed by Marc Allégret, Julien Duvivier, and Yves Robert.
Delorme was born in Levallois-Perret, Hauts-de-Seine, one of four children of André Girard, a celebrated painter, poster artist, and theater designer, and his wife Andrée (née Jouan). André Girard maintained studios in Venice during 1936–37 and Manhattan in 1938. Returning to France, he was not mobilized in 1939. After the Battle of France, he relocated to Antibes, then part of the free zone, where he established a network that recruited and conducted espionage for the French Resistance. It was during this period that Delorme began her acting career.
At 14, in 1940, Delorme started acting, initially taking on minor roles before venturing into film. Two years later, leveraging her father's connections, she secured a small role in The Beautiful Adventure (La Belle aventure, 1942) under the name Danièle Girard.
In 1944, director Marc Allégret cast Delorme in a more prominent role. She adopted the stage name Danièle Delorme, which she retained throughout her career. Contrary to some accounts suggesting she chose the name to conceal her relationship with her father from the Gestapo, the change was proposed by actor Bernard Blier, who worked with her on her second film. He recommended the name inspired by the heroine of Victor Hugo's play Marion Delorme. Two decades later, Delorme would co-star with Blier again in the philosophical courtroom drama The Seventh Juror (Le septième juré, 1962).
During her first decade in acting, Delorme often portrayed delicate, demure, and intelligent young women, roles suited to her appearance. Her first husband, Daniel Gélin, who also appeared in The Beautiful Adventure, described her as having "the face of a little girl, an upturned nose with passionate nostrils, the lips of a child, the body of a woman, and a certain charm that attracts attention." Richard W. Seaver of The New York Times characterized her as "a winsome wisp of an actress, with her soft smile and grey eyes." These qualities earned her a breakthrough role in Miquette et sa mère (1949). That same year, she portrayed the title character in Gigi (1949), preceding Leslie Caron's acclaimed performance in the American musical adaptation (Gigi, 1958).
Another significant role was her portrayal of a femme fatale in Julien Duvivier's Voici le temps des assassins (1956), released as Deadlier Than the Male in the US and Twelve Hours to Live in the UK, starring alongside Jean Gabin.
In 1960, Delorme joined over 140 intellectuals, educators, writers, and celebrities in signing a manifesto supporting the right of French conscripts to refuse military service in Algeria. Consequently, on 28 September, the French government banned all signatories from appearing on state-run radio, television, or theaters. Simultaneously, the information minister announced a forthcoming cabinet order to withhold government funding from any film projects involving signatories.
