Danielle Darrieux

Manawatu Times, Volume 63, Issue 211, 7 September 1938, Page 11

Danielle Darrieux

BRIEF SKETCH OF NEW FRENCH STAR Learn to do one job well! That simple rule for success had carried Danielle Darrieux, French screen sensatiou to the highest pinnacle of film triumph. In twenty-four foreign films she has won tho hearts of a hundred million fans. A superb mistress of every phase of dramatic interpretation, she became, between the ages of II and 20, the greatest box-office attraction European motion picture studios ever produced. Her mastery of “that ono job” brought her a million dollar contract with Universal studios, for whom she recently made “Tho Rage of Paris.” B. G. Sylva's gay and romantic comedy drama which introduces her to American and Australian picture fans. Her director is Henry Koster, who started Deanna Durbin on tho road to screen fame. The cast includes Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Louis Hayward, Helen Broderick and Mischa Auer. The story was written by Bruce Manning and Felix Jackson, who did the screen play for “Mad About Music.”

La Darrieux, whose perfectly formed figure matches her fame as a dramatic star, began her career at the age of 1« when she answered a newspaper advertisement for a child actress. Danielle was born at Bordeaux, France, May 1,. 1917, during the World War. Her mother was a singing teacher. Her father Mas Dr. Jean Darrieux, a famous eye specialist, who died from war wounds. The star -was educated at the Lycee LaTour and the Conservatoire de Musique. At the ago of 17 she married Henri Decoin, noted French dramatist.

An interesting sidelight reveals that as a result of a European survey on the worldwido popularity of feminine screen stars of all nations to-day, Danielle Darrieux, French screen idol, Ls rated as tho international box-office champion for the year 1937. A cable delivered to Danielle at Universal | Studios, where sho was at work on her first American film, 4 4 The Rage of Paris,” informed the star that she hau been placed ahead of the American favourites, Greta Garbo, who rated BocOnd, and Shirley Temple, Mho took third place. The survey was conducted by the Paris magazine, ‘Cinematographic Franeaise,” and based solely on tho actual box-office returns of tho various stars' pictures.

As soon as she completed her Hollywood production, Danielle Darrieux returned to Europe, where other screen work awaited her arrival. Now undor five-year contract to Universal, tho star will commute between the studios of Europe and Hollywood for; that period.