Claude Jade

The waifish yet accessible beauty of Claude Jade made her the ideal female lead for late 1960s and early 1970s French films. While playing in a stage production, she was discovered by François Truffaut, who subsequently cast her as Christine, the girlfriend of his onscreen alter ego, Antoine Doinel (played by Jean-Pierre Léaud), in the director's classic "Stolen Kisses" (1968). It was a role that Jade would reprise in the film's two sequels, 1970's "Bed and Board" and "Love on the Run" (1979). Jade and Truffaut also began a love affair that resulted in marriage, although the union was short-lived.

Her career fared better, with appearances in numerous French films and, due to her excellent English, foreign productions as well. One of the more notable movies in the latter category was Alfred Hitchcock's 1969 Cold War thriller "Topaz." For the most part, though, she kept to appearances in domestic productions. Most of these were movies, with the occasional foray into TV such as the Shakespeare adaptation "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (1971), in which she played the lead role of Helena, and spooky World War I fantasy "Coffin Island" (1979). The popular Jade was awarded the Chevalier de la legion d'honneur, France's highest honor, in 1998. In 2006, she passed away from complications due to eye cancer.