Marie-France Pisier

Pisier attempted to crack the American film industry with "The Other Side of Midnight" (1977), a dull misfire adapted from a Sidney Sheldon novel. She did not fare well with either her TV credits (the 1979 ABC miniseries "The French Atlantic Affair" and 1980's "Scruples") or her second Hollywood film "French Postcards" (1979). Returning to France, she continued to work; in 1990, Pisier made her directorial debut with "Le Bal du gouverneur/The Governor's Party," which she adapted from her own novel. Still gorgeous, she also offered a marvelous turn as the vulgar Madame Verdurin in "Time Regained/Le Temps retrouve" (1999) Raul Ruiz's adaptation of Proust.