‘Devil in the Flesh’ Actress Turns 101 – The Hollywood Reporter
Micheline Bressel
Courtesy Everett Collection
Micheline Pressly, the prominent French actress who starred in the controversial film Satan in the flesh Before making a foray into Hollywood that included roles opposite John Garfield, Tyrone Power, Errol Flynn and Paul Newman, he died. It was 101.
Presley died on Wednesday in the Paris suburb of Nogent-sur-Marne, her son-in-law Olivier Pomsel said. Le Figaro.
Presley gained global attention when she played a nurse who has an affair with a student (Gerard Philippe) in the World War I drama. Satan in the flesh (1947), which the National Board of Review voted as one of the 10 best films of the year.
Because it shows a woman who took a lover while her husband was away at war, it generated a great deal of discussion.
In 1949, Presley met American actor William Marshall, who was married to another French star, Michele Morgan, and followed him to America. They would marry that year in Santa Barbara.
She was signed by 20th Century Fox, which changed her title to Prelle and cast her as a café owner who falls in love with the crooked knight (Garfield) in Jean Negulesco’s film. Under my skin (1950), based on a short story by Ernest Hemingway.
Micheline Pressel with John Garfield in “Under My Skin” in the 1950s
20th Century Fox Film Corp./Courtesy Everett Collection
She starred in Power in the Technicolor war American guerrilla war in the Philippines (1950), directed by Fritz Lang, then loaned to Republic Pictures to work with Flynn on the film The Adventures of Captain Fabian (1951). Marshall directed this film, which was shot in France, from a screenplay written by Flynn.
But as these traits failed to generate much heat, she and Marshall separated in 1954, and she returned to France.
The daughter of an investment banker, Presley was born Micheline Nicole Julia Emilien Chassagne in Paris on August 22, 1922.
After a few supporting roles, she had her breakthrough when she played the leader of a group of girls upset by their parents’ divorce in GW Pabst. Little girls are in trouble (1939). Moving forward, she will adopt the moniker of the character she played, Jacqueline Pressel, as her stage name.
In Abel Gance Paradise lost (1940), depicting a mother and daughter.
Micheline Pressly with Gerard Philippe in the film “The Devil in the Flesh” in 1947
Courtesy Everett Collection
After an unsuccessful stay in the United States, Pressel made her comeback with a central role in an English murder mystery. An opportunity to meet (1959) Directed by Joseph Losey.
She will return to Hollywood to portray a former French showgirl and mother of Sandra Dee’s character in the romantic comedy If the man answers (1962), which also starred Dee’s then-husband, Bobby Darin.
In 1963, she played a scientist alongside Newman in the spy drama the prize (1963), against the backdrop of the Nobel Prize distribution ceremony.
From 1965 to 1971, she starred in the French comedy series Les Saints Cherry.
Her big screen biography is also included Male hunt (1964), The legend of the French king (1971), Samuel Fuller Thieves after dark (1984) and Alain Resnais I want to go home (1989), for which it received a César nomination.
She was awarded the Cesar Medal of Honor in 2004.
Her daughter, director Toni Marshall, won the historic César Award Venus Beauty InstituteHe died in 2020 at the age of 68.
