Lucy Gérard (2 June 1872 – 20 November 1941), born Marie-Louise Philiberte Lucy Gérard, was a French actress on stage and in silent films; in her later career she was billed as Lucy Mareil.

Lucy Gérard
A closeup handcolored photograph of a white woman with her wavy hair in a bouffant updo, wearing pearls and light-colored lace
Born
Marie-Louise Philiberte Lucy Gérard

2 June 1872
Died20 November 1941
Paris, France
Other namesLucie Gérard, Lucy Mareil
OccupationActress

Early life

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Lucy Gérard was born in Lyon, France, on 2 June 1872. She studied with François Jules Edmond Got at the Paris Conservatoire.[1]

Career

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Lucy Gérard (c. 1890), pastel portrait by Giovanni Boldini
 
Geneviève Lantelme, Delphine Renot and Lucy Gérard, in Trait d'Union (1906)

Gérard began acting in her teens, with her Paris debut in 1888, in the opera Isoline. She was active on the Paris stage,[2] including a role in La Montagne Enchantée (1897) with Jane Hading.[3] She was a popular subject of souvenir postcards, cigarette cards,[4][5] and cabinet cards, and Italian artist Giovanni Boldini made a pastel portrait of her.[6]

As "Lucy Mareil", she appeared in at least a dozen French silent films, including Blessure d'amour (1916), C'est pour les orphelins! (1917), Les leçons de chant de Rigadin (1918), Madame et son filleul (1919), Chouquette et son as (1919), Les cinqs gentlemen maudits (1920), L'empereur des pauvres (1921), La flamme (1922), and Petit Ange et son pantin (1923).[7][8]

Personal life

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Lucy Gérard died in Paris in 1941, aged 69 years.

References

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  1. ^ "Paris Novelties". Munsey's Magazine. 15: 236. May 1896.
  2. ^ "Mlle. Lucy Gerard and Cleo de Merode". Metropolitan Magazine. 5: 184. March 1897.
  3. ^ Legrand, Camille (April 1897). "Chat from Foreign Journals". The International. 2: 368.
  4. ^ Mlle. Lucie Gerard, cigarette card, from the Actors and Actresses series (N45, Type 8) for Virginia Brights Cigarettes, in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum.
  5. ^ Mlle. Lucie Gérard, cigarette card, from the W. Duke, Sons & Co. Advertising Materials, 1880-1910 collection, Duke University Libraries.
  6. ^ "Portrait de Madame Lucie Gérard by Giovanni Boldini". ArtNet. Retrieved 2021-04-22.
  7. ^ Moules, Patrick (2020-07-28). The 9.5mm Vintage Film Encyclopaedia. Troubador Publishing Ltd. pp. 108, 109, 277, 580. ISBN 978-1-83859-269-1.
  8. ^ Rainey, Buck (2015-06-08). Serials and Series: A World Filmography, 1912-1956. McFarland. p. 68. ISBN 978-1-4766-0448-0.
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