In the late 1950s, sweet and sexy French actress Pascale Petit (1938) formed serious competition for Brigitte Bardot as The Sex Symbol of the French cinema.
Vintage postcard.
German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/65.
German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/90. Photo: Sam Lévin.
Seductive Femme Fatale
Pascale Petit was born as Anne-Marie Petit in Paris, France in 1938. Before becoming an actress, she worked as a beautician. Her cinema debut was in Les Sorcières de Salem/The Crucible (Raymond Rouleau, 1957) starring Yves Montand and Simone Signoret. Famous author Jean-Paul Sartre wrote the screenplay, based on the play by Arthur Miller. The following year, Pascale Petit's role as a rich, existentialist kid in Les tricheurs/The Cheaters (Marcel Carné, 1958) made her a star. A scene in which one of her breasts was shown caused a sensation. Hal Erickson notes at AllMovie: "Of the cast, Pascale Petit stands out as a trendy young girl whose willingness to follow the crowd leads to tragedy." She won the prestigious Prix Suzanne Bianchetti in 1958 as the most promising French actress, and soon more roles as a seductive femme fatale followed.
German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/89. Photo: Sam Levin.
German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/88. Photo: Sam Lévin.
German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/160. Photo: Fried Agency / Ufa.
French postcard by PSG, no. 33, offered by Corvisart. Photo: Lucienne Chevert.
French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 1067, offered by Corvisart, Epinal. Photo: Sam Lévin.
French postcard by PSG, no. 70, offered by Corvisart. Photo: Sam Lévin.
German and Italian B pictures
Pascale Petit played in such comedies as Faibles femmes/Three Murderesses (Michel Boisrond, 1959) with Alain Delon and Mylène Demongeot, and Une fille pour l'été/A girl for the Summer (Edouard Molinaro, 1960) opposite Micheline Presle. For a while the media compared her to Brigitte Bardot. In 1959 PP married poet and actor Giani Esposito and followed him to Italy. In the 1960s she was mainly seen in German and Italian B pictures, such as the Spaghetti Western Joe... cercati un posto per morire!/Find a Place to Die (Giuliano Carnimeo, 1968) with Jeffrey Hunter. In 1969 she divorced Esposito and married actor Ray Denton, her co-star of the spy thriller Corrida pour un espion/Code Name: Jaguar (Maurice Labro, 1965).
Dutch postcard by Gebr. Spanjersberg N.V., Rotterdam, no. 1239. Photo: Ufa, Berlin-Tempelhof.
French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. FK 29. Photo: Unifrance / Ufa.
German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag, Minden/Westf., no. 1295.
Dutch postcard, ca. 1961.
French postcard by Editions du Globe, Paris, no. 807. Photo: Lucienne Chevert.
Dutch postcard by Gebr. Spanjersberg, Rotterdam, no. 5543.
Delicious Dutch Gem
In the early 1970s Pascale Petit tried to make a comeback in France, as well in the cinema with Chronique d'un Couple.../Chronicle of a Couple (Roger Coggio, 1971) as in the music scene with Il ne reste que moi.../What's Left is Me (1973). The success was lukewarm and in the following decades she worked as a character actress in unremarkable international films and TV productions. Interesting were a small, delicious Dutch gem, A Strange Love Affair (Eric De Kuyper, Paul Verstraten, 1984), and two TV films by Brigitte Bardot's Svengali - Roger Vadim, the mini-series La nouvelle tribu/The new tribe (1996), and Un coup de baguette magique/A magic wand (1997), both featuring Marie-Christine Barrault. Pascale Petit has a daughter, Douchka, from her marriage with Giani Esposito. Douchka has been a very successful singer in the 1980s. She was specialized in songs for children, inspired by Walt Disney cartoon heroes.
French postcard by E.D.U.G., no. 64. Photo: Sam Lévin.
German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/44.
German postcard by Krüger, ca. 1961.
German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/134. Photo: Ufa.
German postcard by Ufa, Berlin-Tempelhof, no. CK 341. Retail price: 30 Pfg. Photo: Gérard Decaux / Ufa.
Scene from Les Tricheurs with Jean-Paul Belmondo and Pascale Petit.
Sources: Hal Erickson (AllMovie), AllMovie, Wikipedia and IMDb. Thanks to Marlène Pilaete for the additional info!
Vintage postcard.
German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/65.German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/90. Photo: Sam Lévin.
Seductive Femme Fatale
Pascale Petit was born as Anne-Marie Petit in Paris, France in 1938. Before becoming an actress, she worked as a beautician. Her cinema debut was in Les Sorcières de Salem/The Crucible (Raymond Rouleau, 1957) starring Yves Montand and Simone Signoret. Famous author Jean-Paul Sartre wrote the screenplay, based on the play by Arthur Miller. The following year, Pascale Petit's role as a rich, existentialist kid in Les tricheurs/The Cheaters (Marcel Carné, 1958) made her a star. A scene in which one of her breasts was shown caused a sensation. Hal Erickson notes at AllMovie: "Of the cast, Pascale Petit stands out as a trendy young girl whose willingness to follow the crowd leads to tragedy." She won the prestigious Prix Suzanne Bianchetti in 1958 as the most promising French actress, and soon more roles as a seductive femme fatale followed.
German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/89. Photo: Sam Levin.
German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/88. Photo: Sam Lévin.
German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/160. Photo: Fried Agency / Ufa.
French postcard by PSG, no. 33, offered by Corvisart. Photo: Lucienne Chevert.
French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 1067, offered by Corvisart, Epinal. Photo: Sam Lévin.
French postcard by PSG, no. 70, offered by Corvisart. Photo: Sam Lévin.
German and Italian B pictures
Pascale Petit played in such comedies as Faibles femmes/Three Murderesses (Michel Boisrond, 1959) with Alain Delon and Mylène Demongeot, and Une fille pour l'été/A girl for the Summer (Edouard Molinaro, 1960) opposite Micheline Presle. For a while the media compared her to Brigitte Bardot. In 1959 PP married poet and actor Giani Esposito and followed him to Italy. In the 1960s she was mainly seen in German and Italian B pictures, such as the Spaghetti Western Joe... cercati un posto per morire!/Find a Place to Die (Giuliano Carnimeo, 1968) with Jeffrey Hunter. In 1969 she divorced Esposito and married actor Ray Denton, her co-star of the spy thriller Corrida pour un espion/Code Name: Jaguar (Maurice Labro, 1965).
Dutch postcard by Gebr. Spanjersberg N.V., Rotterdam, no. 1239. Photo: Ufa, Berlin-Tempelhof.
French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. FK 29. Photo: Unifrance / Ufa.
German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag, Minden/Westf., no. 1295.
Dutch postcard, ca. 1961.
French postcard by Editions du Globe, Paris, no. 807. Photo: Lucienne Chevert.
Dutch postcard by Gebr. Spanjersberg, Rotterdam, no. 5543.
Delicious Dutch Gem
In the early 1970s Pascale Petit tried to make a comeback in France, as well in the cinema with Chronique d'un Couple.../Chronicle of a Couple (Roger Coggio, 1971) as in the music scene with Il ne reste que moi.../What's Left is Me (1973). The success was lukewarm and in the following decades she worked as a character actress in unremarkable international films and TV productions. Interesting were a small, delicious Dutch gem, A Strange Love Affair (Eric De Kuyper, Paul Verstraten, 1984), and two TV films by Brigitte Bardot's Svengali - Roger Vadim, the mini-series La nouvelle tribu/The new tribe (1996), and Un coup de baguette magique/A magic wand (1997), both featuring Marie-Christine Barrault. Pascale Petit has a daughter, Douchka, from her marriage with Giani Esposito. Douchka has been a very successful singer in the 1980s. She was specialized in songs for children, inspired by Walt Disney cartoon heroes.
French postcard by E.D.U.G., no. 64. Photo: Sam Lévin.
German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/44.
German postcard by Krüger, ca. 1961.
German postcard by Krüger, no. 902/134. Photo: Ufa.
German postcard by Ufa, Berlin-Tempelhof, no. CK 341. Retail price: 30 Pfg. Photo: Gérard Decaux / Ufa.
Scene from Les Tricheurs with Jean-Paul Belmondo and Pascale Petit.
Sources: Hal Erickson (AllMovie), AllMovie, Wikipedia and IMDb. Thanks to Marlène Pilaete for the additional info!
10 comments:
Wow - she is beautiful! Happy PFF.
She is beautiful! Although not as nice as those handsome male stars you post! :)
Very beautiful. How a career or fame is determined by the chance choice of films.
I could see she would be a beauty that would cause some serious competitiveness for Brigette. Love that name Pascale.
You always have such beautiful women up on your blog (the men are pretty good too!) Happy PFF!
She was extremely attractive, she may still be, but I have to say I've never heard her name before.
Great bit of film history. I've never seen one of her films even though I'm an ardent Francophile.
stunning cards as ever...i've always loved those large format european postcards with scalloped edges. happy belated PFF!
Thank you for all your comments. Hope to meet again, next week at PFF.
So beautiful!
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