Leslie Caron

Leslie Caron (IPA: [lɛsli kaʁɔ̃]) (born July 1, 1931) is an Oscar-nominated, Golden Globe-winning, and Emmy-winning motion picture actress and dancer. She became one of the most famous musical stars in the 1950s. Almost all her important titles are American movies. Caron has said of herself: "I'm not a ballerina. I'm a hoofer."^[1]

Career

She was born Leslie Claire Margaret Caron in Boulogne-Billancourt, France, to Claude Caron, a French chemist, and Margaret Petit, an American dancer.^[2] Caron was prepared for a performing career from childhood by her mother. Caron started her career as a ballet dancer. But eventually Gene Kelly discovered her, and cast her to appear opposite him in the classic musical An American in Paris (1951). This led to a long-term MGM contract and a string of films: The Glass Slipper (1955), Gaby (1956). She also starred in Daddy Long Legs (1955) with Fred Astaire, Gigi (1958) with Louis Jourdan and Maurice Chevalier, and Lili (1953) with Mel Ferrer. In 1953, she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for her starring role in Lili. In 1963, she was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in The L-Shaped Room. She made numerous Hollywood musicals, and also worked often in European films. Her later film assignments included; slapping Cary Grant (who slapped her back) in Father Goose (1964), Ken Russell's Valentino (1977), in the role of silent-screen legend Alla Nazimova; and Louis Malle's Damage (1992). She continues to act, appearing in the acclaimed film Chocolat (2000). She is one of the few leading ladies (or actors of any type for that matter) from the classic era of MGM musicals who is still active in film. Her recent films include Funny Bones (1995) with Jerry Lewis and Oliver Platt, The Last of the Blonde Bombshells with Judi Dench and Cleo Laine, and Le Divorce (2003) with Kate Hudson and Naomi Watts. Most recently, Caron's guest appearance on Law and Order: Special Victims Unit earned her a 2007 Emmy Award.

Personal life

Caron married George Hormel II, a grandson of the founder of Hormel (a meat -packing company) in September 1951. They divorced in 1954.^[3] Her second husband was Peter Hall, British theatre and film director. They wed in 1956 and had two children, Christopher John Hall (TV producer) in 1957 and Jennifer Caron Hall (actress) in 1962. Caron had an affair with Warren Beatty (1961). When she and Hall divorced in 1965, Beatty was named as a co-respondent and was ordered by the London court to pay "the costs of the case." In 1969, Caron married film producer Michael Laughlin. They were divorced in 1980. She has also been romantically linked to Peter Lawford (early 1960s), Frank Sinatra (mid-1960s), Jean-Pierre Petrolacci (screenwriter, 1980s), Robert Wolders^[4] (ex-husband of Merle Oberon and ex-lover of Audrey Hepburn, mid-1990s)^[5] She was married to Paul Magwood (backstage film worker, cohabited since 2003), but marriage ended.^[6] They lived in Wisconsin, United States. In semi-retirement from films, she owns and operates an affordable bed and breakfast, Auberge La Lucarne aux Chouettes (The Owls' Nest Inn), located in Villeneuve-sur-Yonne, located about 100 km (70 miles) south of Paris.^[7]

Filmography

Television Work

• Carola (1973)
• The Unapproachable (1982)
• Falcon Crest (1987)
• The Man Who Lived at the Ritz (1988)
• Lenin: The Train (1990)
• The Ring (1996)
• The Last of the Blonde Bombshells (2000)
• Murder on the Orient Express (2001)
• Caron guest-starred in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episode Recall (2006).

Presenter, Emmy Awards, September 15, 2007.

Awards

References

1. ^ Leslie Caron Quotes and Trivia at FilmSpot
2. ^ http://www.nndb.com/people/300/000083051/
3. ^ "Mill on the Willow: A History of Mower County, Minnesota" by various authors. Library of Congress No. 84-062356
4. ^ Who's Dated Leslie Caron?
5. ^ http://www.nndb.com/people/300/000083051/
6. ^ Leslie Caron at Hollywood.com
7. ^ Leslie Caron's hotel in Burgundy, France

External links

• Leslie Caron at the Internet Movie Database
• Leslie Caron's hotel in Burgundy, France
• Portrait Sculpture of Leslie Caron by John W Mills
• French inn: Her latest stage; for actress-dancer Leslie Caron, operating her own Burgundy hotel isn't a big leap. LA Times, October 15 2006