Martine Carol

In unbilled film parts from 1941, she caught the eye of Henri-Georges Clouzot, who hired her for a project based on Colette's novel, but it was scrapped. She attracted attention in "La ferme aux loups" (1943), which showcased her photogenic beauty despite limited acting ability. Throughout the 1940s, she was a pin-up goddess and support actress, also appearing on stage at the Theater of the Renaissance. Her torrid affair with actor Georges Marchal, then married to Dany Robin, ended disastrously, leading to a suicide attempt by overdose and a plunge into the Seine River. She was saved by a taxi driver, and ironically, the unhappy details renewed audience fascination with her. In 1949, she married her first husband, Stephen Crane, a former American actor turned restaurateur who had once been married to Lana Turner.

Continuing with post-war French films, she co-starred in "Bifur 3" (1945), "L'extravagante mission" (1945), "Trente et quarante" (1946), "Voyage surprise" (1947), "Sextette" (1948), "Je n'aime que toi..." (1949), "Une nuit de noces" (1950), the title role in "Dear Caroline" (1951), and "Adorable Creatures" (1952). Her first box office blockbuster was the French Revolution epic "Caroline Cherie" (1953), whose success was prompted by her semi-nude scenes and taunting, kittenish sexuality. She went on to star in "Lucrèce Borgia" (1953), "Daughters of Destiny" (1954), "Riviera" (1954), "Madame du Barry" (1954), "Nana" (1955), "The French, They Are a Funny Race" (1955), "Lola Montès" (1955), and "Defend My Love" (1956). Several of these were directed by her second husband, Christian-Jaque, to whom she was married from 1954 to 1959; they divorced due to professional conflicts and long separations.

She tried to branch out internationally in the late 1950s, but Bardot had already taken over the top French sex goddess pedestal, and her fan base diminished. She co-starred with Van Johnson in "Action of the Tiger" (1957), but it was met with indifference. She returned to French and Italian films such as "The Foxiest Girl in Paris" (1957), "The Stowaway" (1958), "La prima notte" (1959), "Ten Seconds to Hell" (1959), and "Atomic Agent" (1959). Problems with substance abuse and a severe accident curtailed her career in the 1960s. She appeared in "The Battle of Austerlitz" (1960) as Empress Josephine, plus "Un soir sur la plage" (1961), "The Counterfeiters of Paris" (1961), and "Beach Casanova" (1962). Her last film was made in 1963 and released four years later as "Hell Is Empty" (1967).

Depressed, she turned reclusive as a third marriage to French doctor Andre Rouveix soured by 1962. A fourth marriage to Mike Eland, an English businessman and friend of her first husband, seemed hopeful. On February 6, 1967, aged 46, she died of cardiac arrest in the bathroom of a hotel in Monaco, discovered by her husband. Newspapers hinted at a possible drug overdose, but nothing was proven. She was buried in the cemetery of Cannes.