Background and career
Jeanne Moreau (French: [ʒan mɔʁo]; 23 January 1928 – 31 July 2017) was a French actress, singer, screenwriter, director, and socialite. She made her theatrical debut in 1947, and established herself as one of the leading actresses of the Comédie-Française.
Moreau began playing small roles in films in 1949, later achieving prominence with a starring role in Louis Malle's Elevator to the Gallows (1958). She was most prolific during the 1960s, winning the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress for Seven Days... Seven Nights (1960) and the BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actress for Viva Maria! (1965), with additional prominent roles in La Notte (1961), Jules et Jim (1962), La baie des anges (1963), Le journal d'une femme de chambre (1964) and Mademoiselle (1966).
Moreau worked as a director on several films beginning with 1976's Lumière. She continued to act into the 2010s, winning the César Award for Best Actress for The Old Lady Who Walked in the Sea (1992) and receiving several lifetime achievement awards, including a BAFTA Fellowship in 1996, a Cannes Golden Palm in 2003, and another César Award in 2008. Her collaborator and friend Orson Welles called her "the greatest actress in the world".
