In 1964's "Father Goose" she was well-matched opposite Cary Grant as a French schoolmistress who must rely on his gruff coast-watcher to evade enemy forces during World War II.īut Caron's film appearances grew fewer and further between by the mid-1960s. Two years later, she earned her second Oscar nomination as a young unmarried mother in Bryan Forbes' drama "The L-Shaped Room" (1963). Again, she found success almost immediately 1961's "Fanny" earned multiple Academy Award nominations for its sweeping story about a young sailor torn between his desire for adventure and his love for a young woman (Caron).
#GIGI 1958 MOVIE FREE#
The decline of the musical in the late 1950s provided her with the exit she sought, and Caron was free to pursue straight dramatic and comedic roles.
Both films remained enduring classics decades after their release, and helped to cement Caron's status as one of the select performers who came to fame as part of the Hollywood musical's heyday.īy 1956, she had already been married twice - once to meat packing heir George Hormel, and later to British theater legend Peter Hall - and sought more substantive roles. In it, she did no dancing at all, and her singing voice was dubbed by Betty Wand. With 1958's "Gigi," Caron is Colette's heroine, a young girl trained to become a courtesan by her aunt (Isabel Jeans) and grandmother (Hermione Gingold), which was her final appearance in a major Hollywood musical. Gradually, she became known for films that required little or no dancing at all she earned her first Academy Award as "Lili" (1953), a naïve country girl who falls for a self-pitying puppeteer (Mel Ferrer). She proved a perfect partner for Fred Astaire in "Daddy Long Legs" (1955) and an ideal Cinderella in "The Glass Slipper" (1955), but Caron found screen musicals physically taxing and began to study acting.
#GIGI 1958 MOVIE MOVIE#
Much of Caron's early movie career was devoted to musicals, which made excellent use of her ballet training and endearingly girlish screen persona. The film led to a contract with MGM and more roles in films. Three years later, Kelly would bring her to instant stardom when he cast her as his love interest and chief dance partner in what many considered his greatest film, "An American in Paris" (1951). The Nazi occupation of France forced her to flee to Cannes, but she returned after the war, and by the age of 16, was performing in the Ballets des Champs Elysee, where Gene Kelly saw her in a production of "La Recontre." The Hollywood icon was moved to meet Caron backstage after the performance, but intense antipathy from her fellow dancers had forced her to flee the theater. Father Claude was a chemist, while mother Margaret, an American and former dancer, who introduced her daughter to ballet at the age of 10. Her effortless class and grace, both onscreen and off, especially in the face of a high-profile divorce case in 1965, were at the center of her enduring popularity.īorn Leslie Claire Margaret Caron in Boulogne-sur-Seine, France on July 1, 1931, she was prepared for a career in dance from an early age.
Caron was still active in the 1990s and early 2000s, enjoying substantive roles in several well-regarded films, including "Damage" (1993), "Chocolat" (2000) and one of the final Merchant-Ivory productions, "Le Divorce" (2003).
Her Hollywood star faded somewhat in the late 1960s and 1970s, though she was active in European productions, where she was well utilized as elegant older women. Caron also projected considerable warmth and charm in straight dramas, which led to a successful career outside of musicals, including Oscar-nominated turns in "Gaby" (1958) and "The L-Shaped Room" (1963). An unconventional beauty who specialized in waif-like roles in her early career, Leslie Caron was an actress and dancer who rose to fame in the 1950s in such acclaimed musicals as "An American in Paris" (1951) and "Gigi" (1958).
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