Mireille Darc

Born Mireille Aigroz in Toulon, France, Mireille Darc chose her stage name as a play on the famous Frenchwoman, Jeanne d'Arc. After finishing secondary school, Darc moved to Paris and began to work as a model, while also appearing in small roles in a few films. Her fist lead role came in the 1963 comedy "Pouic-Pouic" ("Squeak-Squeak") (1963), playing the object of affection tied to a potential business deal. The film launched her career as one of the sexy French women breaking down the barriers of cinema. Although many of her roles were in mainstream sex comedies and crime stories, Darc made her mark on the French New Wave when she starred in Jean-Luc Godard's "Weekend" (1967). A critique of modern life and the newly forming car culture, "Weekend" quickly took its place as one of Godard's masterpieces and as piece of French film history. In 1969, she starred in "Jeff" (1969), a crime drama co-starring Alain Delon, the first of many collaborations between the two and the beginning of their highly publicized fifteen-year romance. Her most popular role came in "The Tall Blonde Man With One Black Shoe" (1972) and its sequel "The Return of the Tall Blonde Man with One Black Shoe" (1974). The films were spy comedies and both had international success. A car crash in the mid 1980s coupled with her split from Delon led Darc to take a break from working in front of the camera, but she returned to the stage and eventually film and television, most notably performing with Delon on the detective series "Frank Riva" (France 2, 2003-04). Darc passed away in 2017. She was awarded the French Légion d'honneur in 2006.