Juliette Gréco facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Juliette Gréco
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Gréco in 1961
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| Background information | |
| Born | 7 February 1927 Montpellier, France |
| Died | 23 September 2020 (aged 93) Ramatuelle, France |
| Genres | |
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| Years active | 1946–2016 |
Juliette Gréco ( 7 February 1927 – 23 September 2020) was a French singer and actress. Her best known songs were "Jolie Môme", "Déshabillez-moi", and "La Javanaise". She sang tracks with lyrics written by French poets such as Jacques Prévert and Boris Vian and singers like Jacques Brel and Serge Gainsbourg. Her sixty-year career finished in 2015 when she began her last worldwide tour titled "Merci".
As an actress, Gréco played roles in films by French directors such as Jean Cocteau and Jean-Pierre Melville.
Contents
Early life and family
Juliette Gréco was born in Montpellier to an absent Corsican father, Gérard Gréco, and a mother from Bordeaux, Juliette Lafeychine (1899–1978). Her lineage hails in part from Greece. She did not receive love from her mother in her childhood and suffered from her harsh comments due to being an unwanted child. She was raised by her maternal grandparents in Bordeaux with her older sister Charlotte. After the death of her grandparents, her mother took them to Paris. In 1938, she became a ballerina at the Opéra Garnier.
When World War II began, the family returned to the southwest of France. Gréco was a student at the Institut Royal d'éducation Sainte Jeanne d'Arc in Montauban. The Gréco family became active in the Résistance and her mother was arrested in 1943. The two sisters decided to move back to Paris but were captured by the Gestapo, then imprisoned in Fresnes Prison in September 1943. Her mother and sister were deported to Ravensbrück while Juliette, being only 16, remained in prison for several months before being released. After her release, she walked the eight miles back to Paris to retrieve her belongings from the Gestapo headquarters. Her former French teacher and her mother's friend, Hélène Duc, decided to take care of her.
In 1945, Gréco's mother and sister returned from deportation after the liberation of Ravensbrück by the Red Army. Gréco moved to Saint-Germain-des-Prés in 1945 after her mother moved to Indochina, leaving Gréco and her sister behind.
Personal life and death
Gréco was married three times:
- to actor Philippe Lemaire (1953–1956)
- actor Michel Piccoli (1966–1977)
- pianist Gérard Jouannest (1988 until his death in 2018)
With Lemaire, she had a daughter, Laurence-Marie, born in 1954. Laurence-Marie Lemaire died from cancer in 2016 aged 62.
Gréco lived between Paris and Saint-Tropez.
A leftist, she supported François Mitterrand in the 1974 presidential election, and was an initial investor in Minute, when it was mainly non-political and focused on the entertainment world.
Gréco died on 23 September 2020 at the age of 93.
Legacy
Gréco was portrayed by actress Anna Mouglalis in the film Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life (2010).
Jean-Paul Sartre based the singer in his trilogy The Roads to Freedom (Les chemins de la liberté) on Gréco.
An allusion to Gréco is made by English singer Ray Davies in the song "Art School Babe" from his album Storyteller.
"Michelle" by the Beatles was inspired by Gréco and the Parisian Left Bank culture. Paul McCartney said of the song: "We'd tag along to these parties, and it was at the time of people like Juliette Greco, the French bohemian thing. They'd all wear black turtleneck sweaters, it's kind of where we got all that from, and we fancied Juliette like mad. Have you ever seen her? Dark hair, real chanteuse, really happening. So I used to pretend to be French, and I had this song that turned out later to be 'Michelle'."
John Lennon wrote in Skywriting by Word of Mouth: "I'd always had a fantasy about a woman who would be a beautiful, intelligent, dark-haired, high-cheek-boned, free-spirited artist à la Juliette Gréco."
Marianne Faithfull said of Gréco: "When I was a young girl, Juliette Gréco was my absolute idol...She’s my role model for life. If I want to be anybody, I want to be Juliette Gréco".
In 1999, a rose was named after her by Georges Delbard under the name of "Juliette Gréco".
Decorations
- Commander of the Legion of Honour (2012): Officer (2002); Knight (1984)
- National Order of Merit (2015): Commander (2006); Officer (1999)
- Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters (2016)
Autobiographies
- 1982: Jujube (published in French), Stock
- 2012: Je suis faite comme ça, Flammarion
Notable songs
- 1950: Si tu t'imagines: written by Raymond Queneau and composed by Joseph Kosma.
- 1950: La Fourmi : written by Robert Desnos and composed by Joseph Kosma.
- 1951: Je suis comme je suis : written by Jacques Prévert and composed by Joseph Kosma.
- 1951: Les Feuilles mortes: from the movie Les Portes de la nuit, written by Jacques Prévert and composed by Joseph Kosma.
- 1951: Sous le ciel de Paris: from the movie Sous le ciel de Paris : written by Jean Dréjac and composed by Hubert Giraud.
- 1951: Je hais les dimanches: written by Charles Aznavour and composed by Florence Véran.
- 1953: La Fiancée du pirate: extract from L'Opéra de quat'sous.
- 1954: Coin de rue: written and composed by Charles Trenet.
- 1955: Chanson pour l'Auvergnat: written and composed by Georges Brassens.
- 1957: Musique Mécanique: written by Boris Vian and composed by André Popp.
- 1957: La Complainte du téléphone: written by François Billetdoux and composed by André Popp.
- 1959: De Pantin à Pékin : written by Pierre Delanoë and composed by André Popp.
- 1959: Il était une oie : written and composed by Serge Gainsbourg.
- 1960: Il n'y a plus d’après : written and composed by Guy Béart.
- 1961: On n'oublie rien : written by Jacques Brel.
- 1961: Jolie Môme: written and composed by Léo Ferré.
- 1961: C'était bien (Le P'tit bal perdu): written by Robert Nyel and composed by Gaby Verlor.
- 1961: Le Temps passé : written and composed by Georges Brassens.
- 1961: Chandernagor : written and composed by Guy Béart.
- 1962: Accordéon : written and composed by Serge Gainsbourg.
- 1962: Paris Canaille : written and composed by Léo Ferré.
- 1963: La Javanaise : written and composed by Serge Gainsbourg.
- 1966: Un petit poisson, un petit oiseau : written by Jean-Max Rivière and composed by Gérard Bourgeois.
- 1967: Déshabillez-moi : written by Robert Nyel and composed by Gaby Verlor.
- 1970: Les Pingouins : written and composed by Frédéric Botton.
- 1971: La Chanson des vieux amants : written by Jacques Brel and composed by Gérard Jouannest.
- 1971: J'arrive : written by Jacques Brel and composed by Gérard Jouannest.
- 1972: Mon fils chante : written by Maurice Fanon and composed by Gérard Jouannest.
- 1977: Non monsieur je n'ai pas vingt ans: written by Henri Gougaud and composed by Gérard Jouannest.
- 1983: Le Temps des cerises : written by Jean Baptiste Clément and composed by Antoine Renard.
- 1988: Ne me quitte pas : written and composed by Jacques Brel.
- 2006: La Chanson de Prévert : written and composed by Serge Gainsbourg.
- 2009: Le Déserteur: written and composed by Boris Vian.
Filmography
- 1947: The Bouquinquant Brothers (by Louis Daquin) – Une religieuse
- 1948: Ulysse ou les mauvaises rencontres (Short, by Alexandre Astruc)
- 1949: Au royaume des cieux (by Julien Duvivier) – Rachel
- 1950: Orphée (by Jean Cocteau) – Aglaonice
- 1951: Sans laisser d'adresse (by Jean-Paul Le Chanois) – La chanteuse
- 1952: The Green Glove (by Rudolph Maté) – Singer
- 1953: When You Read This Letter (by Jean-Pierre Melville) – Thérèse Voise
- 1953: Saluti e baci (by Maurice Labro and Giorgio Simonelli) – Herself
- 1953: Boum sur Paris (by Maurice de Canonge) – Juliette Gréco
- 1956: Elena and Her Men (by Jean Renoir) – Miarka, la gitane
- 1956: La Châtelaine du Liban (by Richard Pottier) – Maroussia
- 1956: L'Homme et l'Enfant (by Raoul André) – Nicky Nistakos
- 1957: The Sun Also Rises (by Henry King) – Georgette Aubin
- 1957: C'est arrivé à 36 chandelles (by Henri Diamant-Berger) – Herself
- 1957: Œil pour œil (by André Cayatte)
- 1958: The Naked Earth (by Vincent Sherman) – Maria
- 1958: The Roots of Heaven (by John Huston) – Minna
- 1958: Bonjour tristesse (by Otto Preminger) – Herself
- 1959: Whirlpool (by Lewis Allen) – Lora
- 1960: Crack in the Mirror (by Richard Fleischer) – Eponine / Florence
- 1961: The Big Gamble (by Richard Fleischer) – Marie
- 1962: Where the Truth Lies (by Henri Decoin) – Myriam Heller
- 1963: Canzoni nel mondo (by Vittorio Sala) – Herself
- 1964: The Chase (by Michel Boisrond) – Une invitée au spectacle de Sylvie Vartan
- 1964: Love at Sea (by Guy Gilles) – L'actrice du film
- 1965: Uncle Tom's Cabin (by Géza von Radványi) – Dinah
- 1967: The Night of the Generals (by Anatole Litvak) – Juliette
- 1967: Le Désordre à vingt ans (Documentary, by Jacques Baratier) – Herself
- 1973: Le Far West (by Jacques Brel)
- 1975: Lily aime-moi (by Maurice Dugowson) – Flo
- 1999: Lettre à mon frère Guy Gilles, cinéaste trop tôt disparu (Documentary, by Luc Bernard) – Herself
- 2001: Paris à tout prix (Documentary, by Yves Jeuland) – Herself
- 2001: Belphégor, le fantôme du Louvre (by Jean-Paul Salomé) – Woman in the cemetery
- 2002: Jedermanns Fest (by Fritz Lehner) – Yvonne Becker (final film role)
Images for kids
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Gréco in Amsterdam, 1962
See also
In Spanish: Juliette Gréco para niños
