La Muse de l'existentialisme

"My weapons have always been: some mascara, some powder and a black liner pencil."

“If I want to be anybody, I want to be Juliette Gréco.” - Marianne Faithfull

The woman who almost single-handedly became the living embodiment of the free spirit and bohemianism of post-liberation Paris in the late 1940s to the 50s, “the muse of existentialism" (Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus both wrote lyrics for her), style icon of the black-clad Beatniks, lover of Miles Davis, Sacha Distel and of Darryl F Zanuck (and many, many more), the epitome of "cool", Mademoiselle Juliette Gréco est morte.

Mlle Gréco's career began in a relatively lowly fashion in the cabaret clubs, but her instinct for being in the "right place at the right time" meant that the places she sang in were the type of venue that attracted fellow bohemians such as Marlene Dietrich, Orson Welles, Pablo Picasso, Jean Cocteau and Marlon Brando among their regulars, and her natural beauty captivated photographers such as Robert Doisneau and Henri Cartier-Bresson. Hollywood inevitably beckoned (in the form of the aforementioned Mr Zanuck and David O Selznick) but she soon tired of it; she eventually did become a popular actress in French cinema.

It was her much-lauded interpretations of that most beloved of art-forms, the French chanson, however, that made her into a "national treasure" in her native country, as well as on the international stage. She only performed her final farewell tour at the age of 87; the culmination of a seven-decade career.

Juliette Gréco - La Javanaise

Juliette Gréco - J'arrive

Facts:

• Her family survived being interred in Ravensbrück concentration camp during the War, and Juliette herself was imprisoned by the Nazis. It was not until 1959 that she finally agreed to perform in Germany.
• Apparently she inspired the Beatles’ 1965 classic Michelle.
• Renowned as a lifelong Left-wing supporter, many were surprised when she agreed to give a command performance for Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet in 1981  - but what she gave him was a show entirely consisting of songs he had banned. "I went off to dead silence", she recalled. "It was the greatest triumph of my career."
• She was awarded Commander of the Legion of Honour in 2012.
  

RIP, Juliette Gréco (7th February 1927 – 23rd September 2020)

[More Mlle Greco here]