Hand-coloured
French postcard by Edit. Chantal, Rueil, no. 571. Photo: Discina, Paris. Michèle Morgan in La Loi du Nord/Law of the north (Jacques Feyder, 1939).
Blonde French actress Michèle Morgan (1920-2016) was a classic beauty. She has been one of her country's most popular leading ladies for over five decades. The delicate, sophisticated, and detached star was especially noted for her large, expressive eyes.
French postcard by Collection Chantal, Paris. no. 637. Photo: Discina, Paris.
French actress Micheline Presle (1922) is well-known for films like Le diable au corps/Devil in the Flesh (Claude Autant-Lara, 1947), in which she plays the Red Cross nurse Martha who has an adulterous love affair with a young man (Gérard Philipe) during the First World War.
French postcard by Editions E.C., Paris, no. 10. Photo: Discina.
With his heroic physique, Jean Marais (1913-1998) was France’s answer to Errol Flynn, the epitome of the swashbuckling romantic hero of French cinema. The blonde and incredibly good-looking actor played over 100 roles in film and on television and was also known as a director, writer, painter, and sculptor. His mentor was the legendary poet and director Jean Cocteau, who was also his lover.
French postcard by Ed. Chantal, Rueil, no. 24. Photo: Discina. Viviane Romance in Carmen (Christian-Jaque, 1944).
Temperamental and beautiful French star Viviane Romance (1912-1991) played dozens of flirts, Femme Fatales, and fallen women in black & white classics of the French cinema of the 1930s and 1940s.
French postcard by Collection Chantal, Paris, no. 96 A. Photo: Discina, Paris.
French actress and singer Danielle Darrieux (1917-2017) was an enduringly beautiful, international leading lady. From her film début in 1931 on she progressed from playing pouting teens to worldly sophisticates. In the early 1950s, she starred in three classic films by Max Ophüls, and she played the mother of Catherine Deneuve in five films!
Characters
French card, no. 37. Photo: Discina.
Sessue Hayakawa (1889–1973) was a Japanese Issei actor who starred in American, Japanese, French, German, and British films. He was the first Asian actor to find stardom in the United States and Europe. His 'broodingly handsome' good looks and typecasting as a sinister villain with sexual dominance made him a heartthrob among American women. Several years before Rudolph Valentino, he was Hollywood's first male sex symbol. During those early years, Hayakawa was as well known and as popular as Charlie Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks, although today his name is largely unknown to the public.
French postcard by Ed. Chantal, Rueil, no. 40. Photo: Discina. Michel Simon in La comédie du Bonheur/Comedy of Happiness (Marcel L'Herbier, 1940).
Swiss actor Michel Simon (1895-1975) was a popular and beloved star of the French cinema and stage. His larger-than-life personality, impeccable comic timing, and great repertoire were seen in more than 100 films. He started his film career during the silent period and starred in classic masterpieces by Carl Theodor Dreyer, Jean Vigo, Marcel Carné, and Jean Renoir.
French postcard by Editions EC, no. 36. Photo: Discina.
Seductive daredevil Roland Toutain (1905-1977) was a French actor, songwriter, and stuntman. He is best known for playing the aviator André Jurieux in Jean Renoir's film La Règle du jeu (1939).
French postcard by Edit. Chantal, Rueil, no. 622A. Photo: Discina, Paris.
French actor Bernard Lancret (1912–1983) was a popular romantic leading man of the French theatre during the 1930s. In the cinema, he had his breakthrough in the classic La Kermesse héroïque/Carnival in Flanders (1935) and he appeared in more than 30 more films.
French postcard by Edit. Chantal, Rueil, no. 543. Photo: Discina, Paris.
Between the mid-1930s and the 1960s, French actor Jean Tissier (1896-1973) played in more than 200 films. Because of his excellent supporting roles of naive, bumbling, shy, sometimes disturbing characters, he was nicknamed 'le nonchalant qui passe'.
Magnifique
French postcard by Edit. Chantal, Rueil, no. 32. Photo: Discina, Paris.
French actress Marie Déa (1912-1992) became famous through two classics of the French cinema, Marcel Carné 's Les Visiteurs du Soir/The Devil's Envoys (1942) and Jean Cocteau's Orphée/Orpheus (1950).
French postcard by Collection Chantal, Paris, no. 578. Photo: Discina, Paris.
Gaby Sylvia (1920-1980) had a remarkable career in French cinema in the late 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. She had an even more intense career on the French stage from the late 1930s to the mid-1970s.
French postcard by Collection Chantal, no. 838. Photo: G. Aldo / Discina, Paris.
Beautiful, photogenic actress Louise Carletti (1922-2002) was the young and sweet star of the French cinema of the late 1930s and 1940s.
French postcard, no. 14. Photo: Discina.
Vivacious French entertainer Suzy Delair (1917-2020) starred in many different films and was also famous in France as a singer of songs like 'Avec son Tra-la-la'. For several years, the saucy star was the companion of film director Henri-Georges Clouzot, in whose films of the 1940s she appeared.
French postcard by Editions E.C., Paris, no. 62. Photo: Film Discina.
Madeleine Renaud (1900-1994) was an acclaimed French stage actress, who also had a career in film. One of her best-known films was La Maternelle (1933).
Le beau Gosse
French postcard by Editions et Publications Cinématographiques (EPC), no. 300. Photo: Discina.
Handsome and athletic Georges Marchal (1920-1997) was one of the main lead actors in the French cinema of the 1940s and 1950s, together with Jean Marais. He starred in several costume dramas and Swashbucklers and later appeared in films by Luis Buñuel.
French postcard by E.C. Paris, no. 58. Photo: Aldò Graziati / Discina. Alain Cuny in Les visiteurs du soir (Marcel Carné, 1942).
French actor Alain Cuny (1908-1994) worked in both France and Italy. Among his most notable films are Les Visiteurs du soir (1942), Les Amants/The Lovers (1958), La dolce vita (1960) and Satyricon (1969).
French postcard, no. 88. Photo: Discina.
With his heroic physique, Jean Marais (1913-1998) was France’s answer to Errol Flynn, the epitome of the swashbuckling romantic hero of French cinema. The blonde and incredibly good-looking actor played over 100 roles in film and on television and was also known as a director, writer, painter, and sculptor. His mentor was the legendary poet and director Jean Cocteau, who was also his lover.
French postcard by Edition Chantal, Rueil, no. 67. Photo: Discina.
Dashingly handsome French film actor Louis Jourdan (1919-2015) is known for his cultivated, lead roles in several Hollywood films. With his polished good looks, he often was typecast as the old-fashioned European lover, but in the 1980s he could broaden his range with character roles like the eccentric villain opposite James Bond in Octopussy (1993).
French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 57. Photo: Discina.
The legendary idol of the French cinema Gérard Philipe (1922–1959) was adored for his good looks, but he was also a very talented actor. He played roles as diverse as Faust and Modigliani and he was sought out by France's preeminent directors for his versatility and professionalism.
Sources: Wikipedia, and Unifrance.
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