An
undated photo of French actress Catherine Deneuve.
The star of such international hits as "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg,"
"Repulsion," "Belle de Jour" and "The Last
Metro," Deneuve has been lighting up screens for nearly six decades, during which she has
been proclaimed the Most Beautiful Woman in the World, with nary a dissenting
voice from anyone (except herself).
A
two-time winner of the French Cesar Award for Best Actress, and an
Oscar-nominee for "Indochine," she has made more than 100 films, the latest of
which is "On My Way," about a woman jettisoning her troubled life
and taking to the road.
By
CBSNews.com senior producer David Morgan
Catherine Deneuve
Loomis Dean/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images
An
undated modeling photo of French actress Catherine Deneuve.
Born
in 1943 in Paris, Catherine Fabienne Dorleac was the daughter of actor Maurice
Dorleac and actress Renee Deneuve. Catherine took her mother's maiden name
when she began taking small roles in films, at which time the natural brunette became
famously blonde.
Deneuve and Vadim
Roger Viollet Collection/Getty Images
Actress
Catherine Deneuve and director Roger Vadim during the opening of Vadim's film,
"Castle in Sweden," in France, 1963.
Deneuve,
who starred in Vadim's 1963 film, "Vice and Virtue," gave birth to
their son, Christian.
Catherine Deneuve
Popperfoto/Getty Image
Actress Catherine Deneuve poses for the camera in 1963.
"Male Hunt"
Pathe
Catherine Deneuve with Claude Rich in the comedy "Male Hunt" (1964), directed by Edouard Molinaro ("La Cage aux Folles").
"The Umbrellas of Cherbourg"
Landau Releasing
At age 19 Catherine
Deneuve was speeding to international stardom in Jacques Demy's "The
Umbrellas of Cherbourg" (1964). The musical won the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for five Oscars.
She told CBS News correspondent Bob
Simon it was her favorite film -- and that her life changed after it.
"Repulsion"
Royal Films
Catherine Deneuve in Roman Polanski's 1965 horror film, "Repulsion."
"Belle de Jour"
Allied Artists
Catherine
Deneuve starred as an elegant, affluent woman who works as a prostitute in the
afternoons in director Luis Bunuel's "Belle de Jour" (1967). Deneuve
was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Actress, and Bunuel won the director's
prize at the Venice Film Festival.
"Belle de Jour"
Allied Artists
Bob Simon asked Deneuve,
"What was it like for you when you acted in your first really steamy
movie?"
"What would be a
steamy movie?" she asked.
"A steamy movie would
be 'Belle de Jour.'"
"Ah, Sex. Well, she's
a very restrained, sophisticated person doing things that is a big contrast
with who she seems to be."
"But it was a new
kind of role for you."
"Yeah, but I think
that was part of the attraction to the character."
Catherine Deneuve
Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images
Actress Catherine Deneuve in the 1960s.
"The Young Girls of Rochefort"
CBS News
Catherine Deneuve reteamed with "Umbrellas of Cherbourg" director Jacques Demy, Francoise Dorleac, George Chakiris, Gene Kelly and Michel Piccoli in "The Young Girls of Rochefort" (1967).
"Benjamin"
Paramount Pictures
Catherine Deneuve starred, as the Comtesse Gabrielle de Valandry, opposite Pierre Clementi in "Benjamin" (a.k.a. "Diary of an Innocent Boy") (1968).
"Manon 70"
Lions Gate Films
Catherine Deneuve and Jean-Claude Brialy in "Manon 70" (1968).
"Mayerling"
Warner-Pathe
Catherine Deneuve and Omar Sharif in the costume drama "Mayerling" (1968).
"La Chamade"
CBS News
In the 1968 "La Chamade" (a.k.a. "Heartbeat"), Catherine Deneuve played the mistress of an older businessman who picks up with a younger lover (Roger Van Hool).
Catherine Deneuve
Juergen Vollmer/Redferns/Getty Images
French actress Catherine Deneuve on the set of "La Chamade" in France, 1968.
"The April Fools"
National General Pictures
Catherine Deneuve made a rare sojourn into Hollywood films with "The April Fools" (1969), starring opposite Jack Lemmon. They played unhappily-marrieds who hook up at a party.
"Mississippi Mermaid"
United Artists
Catherine
Deneuve and Jean-Paul Belmondo in "Mississippi Mermaid" (1969),
Francois Truffaut's adaptation of a Cornell Woolrich mystery about a mail order
bride, blackmail and murder.
Truffaut,
the reigning king of French cinema, became Deneuve's lover, and is said to have
broken down in 1970 when she left him.
But
10 years later, Truffaut directed Deneuve in the critically-acclaimed "The
Last Metro."
"Tristana"
Criterion Collection
For Luis Bunuel's "Tristana" (1970), Catherine Deneuve played a woman caught between her aristocrat-guardian and a young artist (Franco Nero).
"Donkey Skin"
Embassy
Jacques Demy's 1970 fairy tale "Donkey Skin" starred Catherine Deneuve as a woman seeking to camouflage her beauty to avoid an unwanted marriage.
"It Only Happens to Others"
GSF
In the 1971 drama "It Only Happens to Others," about a couple who suffer the loss of their baby, Catherine Deneuve and Italian star Marcello Mastroianni were paired for the first time. He would become her lover and the father of her
daughter, Chiara. The affair lasted four years.
"Liza"
Horizon Films
Deneuve and Mastroianni's next film together was "Liza" (a.k.a. "Love to Eternity") (1972).
Deneuve and Mastroianni
AP Photo
A January 1972 photo of
actors Catherine Deneuve and Marcello Mastroianni. Deneuve was at Mastroianni's
bedside when he died, at age 72, in 1996.
When asked by Bob Simon
what she could say about Mastroianni, Deneuve replied, "Not much. I mean,
not much that I would like to say. A great personality and a very shy, very
modest person with a great sense of humor."
Chanel
CBS News
In the early 1970s Catherine Deneuve became the face of Chanel in print ads and commercials.
"Le Sauvage"
20th Century Fox
Catherine Deneuve received her first Cesar nomination (the French equivalent of the Oscar) for the comedy, "Le Sauvage" (1975), playing a bride-to-be running away from the altar into the arms of Yves Montand, with whom she is marooned on an island.
"Hustle"
Paramount Pictures
Robert Aldrich's "Hustle" (1975) starred Burt Reynolds as an LAPD detective whose girlfriend, a prostitute (Catherine Deneuve), may be connected to a murder.
"L'argent des autres"
Fildebroc
Catherine Deneuve and Jean-Louis Trintignant in the banking scandal drama "L'argent des autres (a.k.a. "Other People's Money")" (1978).
"Ecoute Voir"
Gaumont"
Catherine Deneuve starred in the 1979 detective thriller, "Ecoute Voir."
"The Last Metro"
United Artists Classics
Gerard
Depardieu and Catherine Deneuve in Francois Truffaut's "The Last
Metro" (1980). She played a Parisian movie theater owner hiding her
husband during the German occupation. Deneuve won the Cesar for her performance.
"Je Vois Aime"
France 3
Catherine Deneuve and Serge Gainsbourg sing "Dieu est un fumeur de havanes" in Claude Berri's romantic comedy-drama, "Je Vois Aime" (1980). Deneuve played a woman who gathers the four men she's loved (Gainsbourg, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Gerard Depardieu and Alain Souchon) for a New Year's Eve dinner, recalling in flashbacks their relationships.
"Choice of Arms"
Summit
Yves Montand and Catherine Deneuve in the crime thriller "Choice of Arms" (1981).
"The Hunger"
MGM/UA
In Tony Scott's "The Hunger" (1983), Catherine Deneuve played a centuries-old vampire whose quest for blood leads her to Susan Sarandon.
"Indochine"
Sony Pictures Classics
Nearing
age 50, Catherine Deneuve played an unmarried plantation owner who raises a
Vietnamese orphan (Linh Dan Pham) in French Indochina, in
"Indochine." She was again awarded the Cesar, and she received her
first (and only) Academy Award nomination for Best Actress.
"Place Vendome"
Empire Pictures
Catherine Deneuve and Jean-Pierre Bacri in "Place Vendome" (1998).
"East/West"
Sony Pictures Classics"
Sandrine Bonnaire and Catherine Deneuve in "East/West" (1999), about post-war Russian emigres struggling to avoid a Soviet gulag.
"Dancer in the Dark"
Fine Line Features
Catherine Deneuve starred as a factory worker opposite Bjork in Danish director Lars von Trier's musical-drama "Dancer in the Dark" (2000).
"8 Women"
Focus Features
Catherine Deneuve and Isabelle Huppert were just two of the "8 Women" in the 2002 darkly comic musical about murder in an isolated house.
"Persepolis"
Sony Pictures Classics
Catherine Deneuve and her daughter, Chiara Mastroianni, performed the voices of mother and daughter in the 2007 animated feature "Persepolis," Marjane Satrapi's autobiographical tale of growing up in Tehran during the Iranian Revolution.
"Les Bien Amies"
Sundance Selects
Chiara Mastroianni and Catherine Deneuve appeared on-screen in "Les Bien Amies ("Beloved")" (2011).
"A Christmas Tale"
IFC
Catherine Deneuve played a matriarch who gathers her family for the holidays in order to obtain a bone marrow donor in Arnaud Desplechin's comedy-drama "A Christmas Tale" (2008).
"Le Veux Voir"
Shellac
Catherine Deneuve played an actress on the road in southern Lebanon when war breaks out in the drama "I Want to See (Le Veux Voir)" (2008), costarring Rabih Mroue.
"The Big Picture"
MPI Media Group
In the psychological thriller "The Big Picture (L'homme qui voulait vivre sa vie)" (2010), Romain Duris plays a lawyer who murders his wife's lover, then assumes his identity. Catherine Deneuve costarred.
"On My Way"
Wild Bunch Films
In the 2014 drama "On My Way," directed by Emmanuelle Bercot, Catherine Deneuve plays a woman who hits the road to ditch her complicated romantic and business life.
Catherine Deneuve
Juergen Vollmer/Redferns/Getty Images
French actress Catherine Deneuve on the set of "La Chamade" in France, 1968.
By CBSNews.com senior producer David Morgan
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