Jeanne Moreau

French actress, singer, screenwriter and director (1928-2017)

Fame63.7
Momentum3.4
France rank#231

Source-basedFalling

Fame63.7
Momentum3.4
France rank#231
Actors rank#108
Wikipedia62.6K

Lived 1928–2017, aged 89France

France ActorsActor

Wikipedia
61 languages
Cross-language footprint
Rank in France
#231
Actors
Era
1928–2017
Aged 89
Known for
The Adolescent
1979

Summary

Updated 2026-06-21

She moved through the French New Wave like smoke through light — Louis Malle's muse in Elevator to the Gallows, the axis of Jules et Jim, the face Orson Welles called the greatest actress alive.

Biography

About

Jeanne Moreau made her stage debut in 1947 and rose through the Comédie-Française before film pulled her in. Small parts in 1949 gave way to Elevator to the Gallows in 1958, the role that made her central to a generation of directors. The 1960s belonged to her: Cannes Best Actress for Seven Days... Seven Nights, a BAFTA for Viva Maria!, turns in La Notte, Jules et Jim, and Diary of a Chambermaid that redefined what a woman could be onscreen. She directed starting in 1976 with Lumière and kept acting into her eighties, winning a César for The Old Lady Who Walked in the Sea in 1992. The awards p…

Gallery