Yvette Andréyor

Yvette Andréyor was born as Yvette Louise Pauline Royé in Paris, France in 1891. She was the daughter of the artist Jean-Baptiste André Roye and Marie-Louise Carcel. At age six, she made her stage debut at the Théâtre de l'Odéon. She continued her artistic training at the Conservatoire where she would win the first prize in 1913. Then she played at the Théâtre Antoine and in Belgium. She made her film debut in 1910 for the Gaumont studio. Opposite Léonce Perret she played the wife in Le Haleur/The Hauler (1911, Léonce Perret). In Le Bossu/The Hunchback (1912, Andrew Heuzé) with Henry Krauss, she was the first performer of Aurore de Nevers. Director Louis Feuillade noted her and made several short films with her, alongside Renée Carl, René Navarre, André Luguet or Suzanne Grandais. The next ten years, she was known as one of the favorite performers of Feuillade. In 1912, she played Josephine in Fantômas (1913, Louis Feuillade), a serial in twelve episodes with René Navarre in the title role. Three years later, she played the sweet Jacqueline Aubry in another serial, Judex (1913, Louis Feuillade). Aubry is a young widow who falls in love with the popular hero, played by René Creste, though her father, the evil banker Favraux, has caused the death of Judex/Jacques' father. Judex wants to take justice (henceforth judex=justice), but the sight of the innocent Jacqueline and her little son prevents him. In 1917 Andreyor married actor Jean Toulout. They made several films together and divorced in 1926. In 1917-1918, she acted again in Feuillade's sequel La nouvelle mission de Judex/The new mission of Judex. It would turn out to be her final collaboration with Feuillade. Yvette Andréyor worked with many other filmmakers, such as Gaston Ravel, Jacques de Baroncelli, Robert Peguy and Germaine Dulac. She played with Romuald Joubé, her husband Jean Toulout and Gaston Modot in Mathias Sandorf (1921, Henry Fescourt), an adaptation of the adventure novel by Jules Verne. In 1923, she returned to the Théâtre de l'Odéon where she had made her stage debut. For several years she devoted herself exclusively to the stage. In 1928, she appeared in one last silent film, Les deux timides/Two Timid Souls (1928, René Clair), featuring Jim Gérald and Pierre Batcheff. In the 1930's, Andréyor only played in some short films and was offered supporting roles under the direction of Alberto Cavalcanti and Robert Peguy. After the war she shared the bill with Georges Marchal in Torrents (1946, Serge de Poligny) and with Bourvil in Pas si bête/Not so stupid (1946, ). The actress later focused mainly to the theatre where she played in Luigi Pirandello's Six Characters in Search of an Author and François Mauriac The Fire on the Earth. She finished her film career with the role of the governess of Yves Vincent in La planque/The Hideout (1961, Raoul André). In total anonymity, Yvette Andréyor died in 1962 in Paris. She was 71. Her former husband Jean Toulout had died just 12 days before her.