Yvette Andréyor

Beautiful Yvette Andréyor (1891-1962) was a French actress of the silent era. Her two most famous films were Louis Feuillades’ serials Fantômas (1913) and Judex (1916). She appeared in 108 films between 1910 and 1962.


French postcard in the 'Nos artistes dans leur loge' series, no. 327. Photo: Comoedia, Paris.


French postcard in the 'Les Artistes de Judex' series by Coquemer Grav. Photo: Gaumont. Publicity still for Judex (Louis Feuillade, 1916) with Yvette Andreyor as Jacqueline.


French postcard in the Les Vedettes du Cinéma series by Editions Filma, no. 1. Photo: Agence Générale Cinématographique.

Fantômas

Yvette Andréyor was born as Yvette Louise Pauline Royé in Paris, France in 1891. She was the daughter of the artist Jean-Baptiste André Royé and Marie-Louise Carcel.

At age six, she made her stage debut at the Théâtre de l'Odéon. She had her artistic training at the Conservatoire where she would win the first prize in 1913. Then she played at the Théâtre Antoine and in Belgium.

She made her film debut in 1910 for the Gaumont studio. Opposite Léonce Perret she played the wife in Le Haleur/The Hauler (Léonce Perret, 1911). In Le Bossu/The Hunchback (Andrew Heuzé, 1912) with Henry Krauss, she was the first interpreter of Aurore de Nevers.

Director Louis Feuillade noted her and made several short films with her alongside Renée Carl, René Navarre, André Luguet or Suzanne Grandais. For the next ten years, she was known as one of the favourite performers of Feuillade.

In 1912, she played Josephine in Fantômas (Louis Feuillade, 1913), a serial in twelve episodes with René Navarre in the title role. Three years later, she played the sweet Jacqueline Aubry in another popular serial, Judex (Louis Feuillade, 1916). Aubry is a young widow who falls in love with the popular hero, played by René Cresté.

In 1918, she filmed the last episode of La nouvelle mission de Judex/The new mission of Judex (Louis Feuillade, 1918). It would turn out to be her final collaboration with Feuillade. In 1917, she married actor Jean Toulout. They made several films together and divorced in 1926.


Spanish minicard. Photo: Reclam Films, Mallorca / Gaumont. Edmund Breon as Inspector Juve, Georges Melchior as the reporter Fandor and Yvette Andreyor as Joséphine 'la pierreuse' (the hustler) in a scene from the serial Fantomas, second series, Juve versus Fantômas/ Juve contre Fantômas (Louis Feuillade, Gaumont, 1913), card no. 2. Juve and Fandor meet Joséphine at the fancy ball.


Spanish collectors card by Chocolate Pi, Barcelona, no. 4. Photo: Gaumont. Yvette Andreyor in La déserteuse (Louis Feuillade, 1917). The Spanish release title was Tortura de madre.

A beautiful voice and talent

Yvette Andréyor worked with many filmmakers, such as Gaston Ravel, Jacques de Baroncelli, Robert Peguy and Germaine Dulac. She played with Romuald Joubé, her husband Jean Toulout and Gaston Modot in Mathias Sandorf (Henry Fescourt, 1921), an adaptation of the adventure novel by Jules Verne.

In 1923, she returned to the Théâtre de l'Odéon where she had made her stage debut. For several years she devoted herself exclusively to the stage. In 1928, she appeared in one last silent film, Les deux timides/Two Timid Souls (René Clair, 1928), featuring Jim Gérald and Pierre Batcheff.

The sound cinema showed little interest in her, although she had a beautiful voice and talent. In the 1930s, Andréyor only played in some short films and was offered supporting roles under the direction of Alberto Cavalcanti and Robert Peguy.

After the war she shared the bill with Georges Marchal in Torrents (Serge de Poligny, 1946) and with Bourvil in Pas si bête/Not so stupid (André Berthomieu, 1946).

The actress later focused mainly on the theatre where she played in Luigi Pirandello's 'Six Characters in Search of an Author' and François Mauriac's 'Le Feu sur terre' (Fire on Earth). She finished her film career with the role of the governess of Yves Vincent in La planque/The Hideout (Raoul André, 1961).

In total anonymity, Yvette Andréyor died in 1962 in Paris. She was 71. Her former husband Jean Toulout had died just 12 days before her.


Spanish collectors card by Chocolate Pi, Barcelona, no. 2. Photo: Gaumont. Yvette Andreyor and René Cresté in La déserteuse (Louis Feuillade, 1917). The Spanish release title was Tortura de madre.


Spanish collectors card by Chocolate Pi, Barcelona, no. 3. Photo: Gaumont. Yvette Andreyor in La déserteuse (Louis Feuillade, 1917). The Spanish release title was Tortura de madre.


Spanish collectors card by Chocolate Pi, Barcelona, no. 5. Photo: Gaumont. Yvette Andreyor in La déserteuse (Louis Feuillade, 1917). The Spanish release title was Tortura de madre.


Spanish collectors card by Chocolate Pi, Barcelona, no. 6 (of six cards). Photo: Gaumont. Yvette Andreyor and René Cresté in La déserteuse/Déserteuse! (Louis Feuillade, 1917). The Spanish release title was Tortura de madre.

Sources: Wikipedia (French and English) and IMDb.

This post was last updated on 4 September 2022.