María Casares

A petite, intense, slender, raven-haired Spanish stage actress whose career was focused primarily in France, Maria Casares made only minimal film appearances, but with memorable impact. The daughter of a Republican minister, she and her family fled to Paris at the advent of the Spanish Civil War.

At that time, Casares spoke no French, yet within three years, she had enrolled at the Paris Conservatoire and by 1942 had her first notable stage triumph in John Millington Synge's "Deirdre of the Sorrows." Based on this success, she was offered the leading role in Albert Camus' "Le Malentendu" which led to a three-year relationship with the author.

Even after the couple separated, Casares had played roles in two of his stage plays, "Etat de Siege" (1948) and "Les Justes" (1949). They remained on friendly terms until his death in an automobile accident in January 1960.

Once Casares had become established onstage, she began to receive film offers. Marcel Carne first cast her as the neglected wife of the mime Baptiste in his justly beloved period epic "Les enfants du paradis/Children of Paradise" (filmed 1943; released 1945). Also in 1945, Casares appeared in Robert Bresson's first notable film, the typically austere and penetrating "Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne."

In an especially stunning performance, she was the Princess who embodied Death in Jean Cocteau's "Orphee/Orpheus" (1949), a role she recreated for Cocteau's "Le Testament d'Orphee/The Testament of Orpheus" (1960), not exactly a sequel but more of a revisitation of similar territory and a fascinating summary film of the director's oeuvre.

One of her first credits as narrator was for the documentary short "Guernica" (1949), co-directed by Alain Renais and Robert Hessens. Casares later lent her deep, impassioned voice to such efforts as "Hieronymous Bosch" (1950), "Les Jardins du Seigneur" (1955) and "Les rencontres de Merimee" (1970).

During most of the 1950s and 60s, Casares concentrated on her stage career. She won plaudits for her turn as "Jeanne d'Arc" in 1952 at the Comedie-Francaise. By the mid-50s, the actress had switched to the Theatre National Populaire where she scored personal triumphs in many of the classic tragic roles, like Phaedra and Medea; the company also embarked on a world tour that included London and New York.

In 1966, Casares engendered controversy by appearing in a production of Genet's "Les Paravants," a biting satire of the French Army. Despite the right-wing opposition to the play, she won critical kudos and appeared in a 1983 revival staged by Patrice Chereau.

In 1990, Casares appeared simultaneously in two productions: as Madame Pernelle in Moliere's "Tartuffe" and as the Pope in Genet's one-act "Elle." While her character in the former was off-stage, she would rush to a smaller studio to perform the latter, then would resume her role in the former.

Three years later, she even tackled the title role in Shakespeare's "King Lear." After a lengthy absence, Casares graced several films in the late 80s and into the 90s, including a maternal role in "De sable et de sang/Sand and Blood," (1988), a widow in "La Lectrice/The Reader" (also 1988), and her final screen role in which she gave a spirited, endearing performance as the offbeat hero's mother in "Someone Else's America" (1995).