11 June 2018

Danièle Gaubert

French actress Danièle Gaubert (1943–1987) made a sensational debut as a sexy adolescent seductress in Claude Autant-Lara’s Les régates de San Francisco/The Regattas of San Francisco (1960). She continued to play sexy and rebellious roles in several international films of the 1960s, including the first modern adult film Camille 2000 (1969). In the early 1970s, she retired after marrying Olympic ski champion Jean-Claude Killy.

Danièle Gaubert
French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris (French licency holder for UFA). Photo: Unifrance-Film / UFA.

Danièle Gaubert
French postcard by E.D.U.G., Paris, no. 159. Photo: Sam Lévin.

Danièle Gaubert
French postcard by E.D.U.G., Paris, no. 161. Photo: Sam Lévin.

Danielle Gaubert
French collectors card by Ste. Anne, Marseille. Photo: Sam Lévin.

Sexy Adolescent


Danièle Louise Régina Gaubert was born in Nuar, France in 1943.

As an adolescent she made her film debut in Les régates de San Francisco/The Regattas of San Francisco (Claude Autant-Lara, 1960). She played a sexy 15-year old girl who seduces handsome dockworker Laurent Terzieff.

Raoul Lévy, the producer of the film, cut several scenes without the authorisation of Claude Autant-Lara, who subsequently had his name withdrawn from the credits. When the film was shown in France, there were several incidents in cinemas. The film was banned by the mayors of Toulouse and Nancy, and was originally also banned for export.

Next Gaubert starred as a rebellious teenager in a French suburb in Terrain vague/Wasteland (1960), directed by old master Marcel Carné on his retour. That year she appeared topless on the cover of Esquire magazine.

She reunited with Claude Autant-Lara for the costume comedy Vive Henri IV... vive l'amour!/Long Live Henry IV... Long Live Love (1961), in which she was the beautiful girl between 17th-century king Henri IV (Francis Claude) and a disinterested son (Jean Sorel).

She appeared in Italy in Una storia milanese/A Milanese Story (Eriprando Visconti, 1962) with Romolo Valli, and in the German production Der Zigeunerbaron/The Gypsy baron (Kurt Wilhelm, 1962) starring Carlos Thompson. She also appeared in the American-Japanese rescue drama Flight from Ashiya (Michael Anderson, 1964) starring Yul Brynner.

Most of these films turned out to be mediocre. That year she married Rhadamés Leonidas Trujillo, son of Rafael Trujillo, the assassinated dictator of the Dominican Republic. Rhadamés Leonidas Trujillo was imprisoned in Rouen, on charges brought by his six half-brothers and half-sisters searching for the lost Trujillo fortune. Gaubert gave birth to their daughter Maria Danielle in 1965, and to their son Leonidas Rhadames in 1966.

Danièle Gaubert
French postcard by Editions P.I., no. 1052. Photo: Sam Lévin.

Danièle Gaubert
Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin, no. 124.

Danièle Gaubert
Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin, no. 125.

Danièle Gaubert
French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 1096. Offered by Les carbones Korès 'Carboplane'. Photo: Studio Vauclair.

Trendsetting, Forward-looking Pictures


After her divorce of Trujillo in 1967, Danièle Gaubert continued to play leading roles in international films. In the French-German drama Le grand dadais/The Big Softie (Pierre Granier-Deferre, 1967), she appeared opposite Jacques Perrin and Eva Renzi. In La louve solitaire/Claws of the Cat (Edouard Logereau, 1968) she starred as a sexy jewel thief opposite Michel Duchaussoy.

Gaubert then starred in Camille 2000/Forbidden Love (Radley Metzger, 1969), an erotic version of Alexandre Dumas famous story of courtesan Marguerite Gauthier’s love for Armand Duval (Nino Castelnuovo). It was one of the trendsetting, forward-looking pictures that marked the end of the 1960s, and can be seen as the first of the modern, adult films.

In Italy, she appeared with Horst Buchholz in Come, quando, perché/How, When and with Whom (Antonio Pietrangeli, Valerio Zurlini, 1969). Director Antonio Pietrangeli tragically drowned while shooting the last scenes of the film in Gaeta, Italy.

Back in France, Gaubert starred in the psychedelic comedy Paris n'existe pas/Paris Does Not Exist (Robert Benayoun, 1969) with Serge Gainsbourg. Then she appeared in the C-grade war thriller Underground (Arthur H. Nadel, 1970) starring Robert Goulet.

During the 1970s she only made one last film, the Warner Brothers production Snow Job (George Englund, 1972). The film featured ski champion Jean-Claude Killy as a downhill ski instructor who plans a heist up in the mountains in Italy.

Gaubert and Killy had met in 1968 and they married in 1973. During the late 1960’s she had posed nude for magazines like Playboy and the Italian Playmen. In 1974 she and Killy posed nude together for Oui magazine. Together they had a daughter, Emilie.

Danièle Gaubert died of cancer in 1987 in Marseille, only 44.

Danièle Gaubert
Small French playing card. Photo: Sam Lévin.

Danièle Gaubert
Spanish postcard by Postalcolor, Hospitalet (Barcelona), no. 129. Photo: Unifrance.

Danièle Gaubert
Yugoslavian postcard by Cik Razglednica.

Danièle Gaubert
French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, offered by Les Carbones Korès 'Carboplane', no. 1106. Photo: Anders.


Trailer Camille 2000 (1969). Source: Tenzis (YouTube).

Sources: Glamour Girls of the Silver Screen, Wikipedia (French) and IMDb.

1 comment:

Beth Niquette said...

What a lovely woman. I like her face, especially her lips. She is quite photogenic. Thank you for sharing about her. I'd never heard of this beautiful actress before.