Leslie Caron

She has married thrice. She first got married to meat packing heir and composer George Hormel II in September 1951 but the couple separated in 1954.

Thereafter she was married to British theatre director Peter Hall from 1956 to 1965.

Her third marriage was with film producer Michael Laughlin from 1969 to 1980.

She was born on July 1, 1931, in Boulogne-sur-Seine, Seine in France (presently Boulogne-Billancourt, Hauts-de-Seine) to Claude Caron and his American-born wife Margaret (née Petit).

Her father was a French chemist and owner of a boutique and her mother was Franco-American dancer who briefly performed in the ‘Broadway’ during the 1920s but ended her career for marriage and later committed suicide.

It was her mother who pushed Caron for a dancing career and in this pursuit prepared her from an early age.

Caron attended the Convent of the Assumption in Paris where she began her ballet training. She also studied at the ‘National Conservatory of Dance’ and there she performed as a little boy in the children’ show ‘The Pearl Diver’ when she was 14 years of age.

By the time she was 16, Caron was selected by noted French ballet company director, choreographer and dancer Roland Petit and inducted in the prestigious ‘Ballet de Champs Elysees’ where she was soon doing solo performances and also became a ballerina.

While Gene Kelly was in search of his co-star for the musical ‘An American in Paris’ (1951), he spotted Caron in ‘Ballet de Champs Elysees’. She was finalised for the part. The eventual success of the film, which till present remains one of the most revered musical classics, led Caron to sign a long term contract with ‘Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc.’ (MGM), one of the most renowned media companies of America.

Films like ‘The Man with a Cloak’ (1951) and ‘Glory Alley’ (1952) followed, but her next notable film was the March 10, 1953 released musical ‘Lili’ where she also proved her mettle in acting apart from her dancing prowess. It fetched her BAFTA Award for Best actress in a Leading Role. The film was screened at the 1953 Cannes Film Festival. It earned several Oscar nominations, including Best Actress nomination for Caron for her outstanding performance as Lili Daurier, and finally won the Best Music award.

Many of her initial films were musicals where her expertise in ballet were brilliantly utilised. Two other successful musicals of Caron during the 1950s were ‘Daddy Long Legs’ (1955) and ‘Gigi’ (1958), of which the latter earned her the ‘Laurel Award for Top Female Musical Performance’ and a nomination for a ‘Golden Globe Award’ for Best Actress.

She made her television debut in the late 1950s and performed in several series like ‘ITV Play of the Week’ (1959), ‘QB VII’ (1974), ‘Falcon Crest’ (1987) and ‘The Great War and the Shaping of the 20th Century’ (1996). Her outstanding performance as Lorraine Delmas in the episode ‘Recall’ of the 2006 TV series ‘Law and Order: Special Victims Unit’ earned her Primetime Emmy Award in 2007. Recently in 2016 she essayed the part of a Countess in the third episode of the ITV television series ‘The Durrells’.

She was conferred the 2,394th Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on December 8, 2009.