23 February 2024

Micheline Presle (1922-2024)

On 21 February, French actress Micheline Presle (1922-2024) passed away at 101. In the 1940s and 1950s, she formed the queen trio of French cinema with Michèle Morgan and Danielle Darrieux. The chic and elegant star gained worldwide attention for Le diable au corps/Devil in the Flesh (Claude Autant-Lara, 1947). The success of this film also earned Presle three roles in a Hollywood production, under the name Micheline Prelle. Over nine decades, La Presle made more than one hundred and fifty films.

Micheline Presle
French postcard by Edition du Globe (EDUG), Paris, no. 163. Photo: Studio Harcourt.

Micheline Presle (1922-2024)
French postcard by Collection Chantal, Paris, no. 637. Photo: Discina, Paris.

Micheline Presle
French postcard, no. 13. Photo: Studio Harcourt.

Gérard Philipe and Micheline Presle in Le Diable au corps (1947)
French postcard by Editions La Malibran, Paris, no. CF 23, 1990. Gérard Philipe and Micheline Presle in Le Diable au corps/Devil in the Flesh (Claude Autant-Lara, 1947).

Micheline Presle and François Périer in Bobosse (1959)
French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. S-1147. Photo: Paramount. Micheline Presle and François Périer in Bobosse (Etienne Périer, 1959).

Micheline Presle and Jacques Perrin in Peau d'âne (1970)
French postcard by Editions d'art Yvon, Paris, no. 40-110-07. Photo: Parc Film / KIM. Micheline Presle and Jacques Perrin in Peau d'âne/Donkey Skin (Jacques Demy, 1970). Caption: Peau d'âne. Un Conte de Charles Perrault. Un film écrit et réalisé par Jacques Demi (sic). Ma mère, je désire que Peau d'Ane me fasse un gâteau. (Donkey Skin. A Tale by Charles Perrault. A film written and directed by Jacques Demi (sic). My mother, I want Donkey Skin to make me a cake.)
French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris. no. 22. Photo: Studio Carlet Ainé.

Most promising actress


Micheline Presle (sometimes Presles or Prelle) was born Micheline Nicole Julia Émilienne Chassagne in Paris in 1922. She was the daughter of a businessman and took acting classes as a teen. Her film debut was La Fessée/The Buttock (Pierre Caron, 1937) with Albert Préjean. In 1938 she was awarded the Prix Suzanne Bianchetti for the most promising actress. She took the name of Presle after her character's name Jacqueline Presle in Jeune fille en détresse/Girls in Distress (Georg Wilhelm Pabst, 1939).

In the 1930s and the war years, Presle often played the lively young and naive girl. Examples are La nuit fantastique/Fantastic Night (Marcel L'Herbier, 1942) and Falbalas/Paris Frills (Jacques Becker, 1944) with Raymond Rouleau.

Presle became a 'vedette' of French cinema. After the war she played more serious roles as the streetwise young woman, such as the prostitute in Boule de suif/Angel and Sinner (Christian-Jaque, 1946), the adultress in Le diable au corps/Devil in the Flesh (Claude Autant-Lara, 1947), and the ethereal woman coming back from the dead in Les jeux sont faits/Second Chance (Jean Delannoy, 1947).

At the same time, she also played the female lead of Helene/Jone in the major Franco-Italian epic Gli ultimi giorni di Pompei/Sins of Pompei (1950) by Paolo Moffa and Marcel L'Herbier, in whose films she was often performing during the 1940s.

At the summit of her French career, Presle went to the US. She was offered a contract by 20th Century Fox and she worked in Hollywood under the name Prelle. She was first cast in Under My Skin (Jean Negulesco, 1950) with John Garfield, and then in American Guerrilla in the Philipines (Fritz Lang, 1950) with Tyrone Power. She was married to actor-turned-producer William Marshall (1950-54), who directed her in The Adventures of Captain Fabian (William Marshall, 1951), opposite Errol Flynn. The film flopped, Presle disliked Hollywood, divorced Marshall, and returned to France.

Micheline Presle
French postcard by SERP, Paris, no. 5. Photo: Studio Harcourt.

Micheline Presle
French postcard by Editions Chantal, Rueil, no. 637B. Photo: Discina, Paris.

Micheline Presle
French postcard by Editions Chantal, Rueil, no. 637A. Photo: Discina, Paris.

Micheline Presle
French postcard by Collection Chantal, Paris. no. 637. Photo: Discina, Paris.

Micheline Presle
French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris. no. 22. Photo: Studio Piaz.

Micheline Presle

Blind date


Back in France, Micheline Presle played in many films, such as Si Versailles m'était conté/Royal Affairs in Versailles (Sacha Guitry, 1953), Napoléon (Sacha Guitry, 1955), La mariée est trop belle/Her Bridal Night (Pierre Gaspard-Huit, 1956) opposite young Brigitte Bardot, and Christine (Pierre Gaspard-Huit, 1958) with Alain Delon and Romy Schneider.

Presle also performed in Italy in Casa Ricordi/House Ricordi (Carmine Gallone, 1954), Beatrice Cenci/Castle of the Banned Lovers (Riccardo Freda, 1956) and she had a smaller part in Villa Borghese/It Happened in the Park (Gianni Franciolini, Vittorio de Sica, 1953).

In 1959 she played opposite Hardy Kruger in Blind Date (Joseph Losey, 1959) and in 1962 Presle returned to Hollywood to play in the Bobby Darin and Sandra Dee vehicle If a Man Answers (Henry Levin, 1962), and subsequently in The Prize (Mark Robson, 1963) with Paul Newman.

During the 1960s she played in such popular films as Philippe de Broca's Le roi de coeur/The King of Hearts (1965), but also in the art films L'Assassino/The Assassin (Elio Petri, 1961), La Religieuse/The Nun (Jacques Rivette, 1965), Peau d'ane/Monkey Skin (Jacques Demy, 1970), I Want to Go Home (Alain Resnais, 1989), and Mignon è partita/Mignon Has Come to Stay (Francesca Archibugi, 1989). From the early 1960s on, Presle also played in several French TV series, such as the long-running comedy Les saintes chéries (1965-1970). She has appeared frequently on the stage as well.

Presle was nominated for a César as the best supporting actress in I Want to Go Home (Alain Resnais, 1989). Since then, Presle performed regularly in film again. She was very visible in the films of her daughter, Tonie Marshall, such as in Pas très catholique/Something Fishy (Tonie Marshall, 1994) and France boutique (Tonie Marshall, 2003). In 2004, she received a special César for her entire oeuvre. At a very high age, Micheline Presle appeared in Thelma, Louise et Chantal (Benoît Pétré, 2010) starring Jane Birkin, and in the short family drama Je montrerai mes seins/I Show My Tits (Eduardo Sosa Soria, 2013). Her last cameo was in the film Tu veux... ou tu veux pas? (Tonie Marshall, 2014).Micheline Presle died of natural causes in 2024 in Nogent-sur-Marne (Val-de-Marne). She was 101. Her daughter Tonie Marshall passed away four years earlier.

Micheline Presle
French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris. no. 40. Photo: Charles Vandamme, Les Mirages.

Micheline Presle (1922-2024)
French postcard by Massilia. Photo: Studio Carlet Ainé.

Micheline Presle
French postcard by Edit. Chantal, Rueil. no. 68. Photo: Védis Films.

Micheline Presle
French postcard by Edit. O.P., Paris. no. 53. Photo: Studio Piaz.

RIP Micheline Presle (1922-2024)
French postcard by Editions O.P., Paris, no. 170. Photo: Teddy Piaz.

Micheline Presle (1922-2024)
Dutch postcard, no. 3140. Photo: 20th Century Fox. Presle's stage name in Hollywood was Micheline Prelle.

Micheline Presle (1922-2024)
French postcard by Greff Editeur, Paris, no. 45. Photo: Studio Harcourt.

Micheline Presle
French postcard by Editions du Globe, Paris. no. 619. Photo: Sam Lévin, Paris.

Sources: Hans Beerekamp (Het Schimmenrijk - Ducth), Gary Brumburgh (IMDb), Allociné, Wikipedia, and IMDb.

13 comments:

LiT Web Studio said...

the rome film festival has just started so i'm in the mood for a great cinema post. i just adore that first image - those perfect lips! happy PFF!

MuseSwings said...

Interesting post as always! Our cinematic adventures are always afoot since we've had Netflix. We see movies and "meet" actors we would not otherwise get to know.

sophie said...

I competely love your blog!! is so interesting and well documented!! :D

Snap said...

That first shot, the red lips, purple, green eyes ... WOWOW! Wonderful post. Happy PFF!

Dorincard said...

Her lips don't lie, Shakira. Color me blind, though. There's life outside Sillywood.

Funoldhag said...

Such pretty pretty people pictured on your posts! At first I thought one of the pictures was of Alice Faye - but of course it wasn't. Great blog! Carol

viridian said...

Thanks for sharing, and Happy Postcard friendship friday.

Lyneen said...

WIsh I understood French... why was she rowing the boat and he laying with his head in her lap!!!!! Seems it should be the other way... She was a Beauty!

Sheila @ A Postcard a Day said...

Incredible that she's still working. good for her!

Joy said...

She was very beautiful and seems a very natural actor, no wonder she is still working. Interesting photo cards as well.

Joy said...

She was very beautiful and seems a very natural actor, no wonder she is still working. Interesting photo cards as well.

Tylko nie ty vider said...

Nice post. Thanks for sharing!

Paul van Yperen said...

THank you, for your nice comment.