Michel Mercier

The legendary French actress Michel Mercier has been idol and style icon for hundreds of thousands of fashionistas around the world for decades. Over the course of her long career, she embodied fifty characters in the movie, but the actress owes her world fame and popularity that has not faded to this day to the role of Angelica in the film adaptation of the novels of Anna and Serge Golon. Recall the most spectacular images of the "Marquise of the Angels" and find out some secrets of Mercier's impeccable style.

The future movie star in Nice was born. This happened in a very difficult time - January 1, 1939 - shortly before the Second World War broke out. Her dad was French, and her mother was Italian. The family was engaged in pharmaceuticals, it was the most common couple, far from bohemia. The couple really wanted a boy, Mercier's parents were almost sure that their first-born would be the heir and successor of the family business. But she was born ...

Parents named the girl Jocelyn. She grew up very sweet, charming, sophisticated - a real lady. But from a young age, the future Angelica was deeply unhappy. Soon after the birth of the first daughter, the couple Mercier got one more child, and Jocelyn had a younger sister Michelle - soon she became the main favorite of her parents.

In the harmonious Mercier family, everyone was faithful to the pharmacy business: to the delight of mom and dad, young Michelle was interested in the family business. And only Jocelyn did not live up to parental expectations. She dreamed of a creative profession, of recognition and fame. Mother was especially categorical about the aspirations of her eldest daughter - she believed that the career that Jocelyn dreamed of was an example of the woman's fornication and dishonesty.

On the road to fame and success, the French film star has overcome many obstacles. Young Jocelyn began to conquer the world of artistic art as a ballerina. The future star has been passionately passionate about dancing since childhood. And so, at the age of 17 she left her father’s house, where they did not cease to resist her dreams and plans for life.

The girl went to Paris and gradually began to work her way to fame. She managed to get a job as a dancer in an entreprise to Roland Petit - a recognized classic among the 20th century ballet choreographers. And thus showing her talents to ballet connoisseurs, Mercier soon got into the famous Eiffel Tower Ballet troupe.

During his work in Paris, Jocelyn acquired a lot of useful contacts. One of the most iconic was her meeting with Charlie Chaplin. He gave Mercier two invaluable advice: learn English and try yourself as a movie actress.

So, Jocelyn decided to follow the slander of the master of cinema. By the way, in addition to the native French, as well as Italian, which the actress knew, since it was her mother’s mother tongue, along with English, she decided at the same time to master German perfectly. Such rich knowledge helped the French actress subsequently get a lot of roles in foreign and international films.

A serious push towards the development of cinema for Mercier was the collapse of both troupes in which she danced. Jocelyn went to London, where she mastered acting. But she was still far from a career in cinema, and when she was at a crossroads, the girl returned home for a while, to Nice.

Mercier carefully prepared for the career of the film actress. Having mastered several foreign languages, comprehending the basics of acting, the girl was determined to storm this fortress. But life circumstances forced Jocelyn to wait out the lack of work in the field of cinema in his father's house. Oddly enough, but it was in him that the girl received a ticket to her first film.

It so happened that Mercier’s father was acquainted with the director Denis de la Pateller. When he was visiting his friend, Pattlier met his daughter and invited her to take samples in his new picture. Mercier passed the test. So, her debut film was "Turning the doorknob."

But the name Jocelyn did not appear in the credits - it seemed to the producers dissonant. Then the girl decided to take herself a creative pseudonym that suit everyone - Michel Mercier. Thus, she immortalized the name of her younger sister, who by that time had died from a serious incurable disease.

The first film was immediately followed by new roles in the cinema, including in foreign and international films. A year after the start of acting, Mercier got into the theater - the first production with her participation was the 1958 performance “And here is the brunette!”.

Mercier moved from place to place - worked in the UK, then in Italy. The roles were all the time: detective and comedic, romantic or even in thrillers, but all of them were of a secondary, or even episodic character. The real fame came to the actress after she accepted the proposal of the director Bernard Bordery to play the main role in the pseudo-historical film based on the novels of Anna and Serge Golon "Angelica".

This role became stellar for Mercier, but, unfortunately, the only one so successful. Five films were released about how the heroine - a girl from the cruel XVII century - is fighting for the right to happiness by all available means.This work brought Michelle worldwide fame: today the total number of viewers who watched the mini-series about Angelica over the entire existence of the picture (in film or on television) is about 1 billion people.

Having first received a central role in the film, Mercier completely immersed herself in work, forgetting about the theater and ballet. A huge help was given to her by a colleague on the set - Jacques Tozha, who played the role of King Louis XIV in that film. As the actress later said, this more experienced actor helped her from the very beginning in everything, they taught and rehearsed roles together, thanks to which everything worked out for Mercier.

Even in the Soviet press of the 1960s, a film full of erotic scenes received very restrained reviews: “Angelica is not the embodiment of sexual lust, but pronounced chaste sensuality ...”.

It is surprising that it was Michelle who got the role, because she is a burning brunette, and Angelica is the owner of blonde curls. For the work of Mercier in the first picture, several dozen blonde wigs were made, and later the actress had to lighten her hair.

When the last film of this series was shot, Mercier began a new path - the search for other roles and desperate attempts to get away from the role with which she is still associated with many. Continuing to act almost to this day, Mercier was not able to achieve significant success in the acting field.

• 1957 - “Turning the doorknob” - the first role of Michel Mercier in the movie, played a girl named Jeanne
• 1959 - “Nights of Lucretia Borgia” - in the Italian-French film, Michelle played a girl who ended up in a love triangle (Diana De Alva).
• 1963 - “Doll” - embodied the image of the Doll.
• 1964 - "Angelica - Marquise of the Angels"
• 1965 - "Angelica in Anger"
• 1966 - "Angelica and the King"
• 1967 - The oldest profession in the world is Bree (one of the first, but, unfortunately, far from the last Mercier roles in the same role after Angelica).
• 1967 - “Indomitable Angelica”
• 1968 - "Angelica and the Sultan"
• 1968 - “Lady Hamilton's Lovers: The Path to the Upper World” - Emma Hamilton
• 2011 - “Those who loved Richard Wagner” - played Brigitte, this is the last role today for Michel Mercier in the movie.

The main role of all life brought Mercier not only world fame, but also a true friend and fellow filming. Robert Hossein was her partner not only in five films about Angelica, but also in other films - “The Second Truth”, “Thunder of Heaven”, “Cemetery without Crosses”. The fact that the actors so often portrayed love on the movie screen all the time encouraged fans to think that there was something in life between Mercier and Hossein, however, this was never true. Not once in all the years of joint filming between them did anything break out. As the actress herself later admitted on this occasion, she “strongly disliked” Robert Hossein.

In some ways, Michel's fate is similar to the problems of her Angelica. To this day, she failed to build a family hearth. There are no children, and husbands, passing through her life, succeeding each other, each time left Mercier with a broken heart.

The film star’s first love is actor Jeanie Esposito. After a long romantic relationship, the couple broke up on religious grounds - their beliefs began to diverge sharply, and further relationships were impossible.

Michelle later met Andre Smaggy, an assistant director. He became her first husband. The marriage was fragile, and therefore short-lived - constant work trips, in which both spouses were, led to a divorce.

Mercier’s second husband, Claude Burilo, is a race car driver and part-time pharmacist.He was madly in love with Michelle long before her divorce from her first husband, and as soon as she was free, he began to actively seek her hand and heart. But it turned out that Claude was very jealous and overly cruel on this basis to his wife. Therefore, this marriage was short-lived.

The last marriage for Michel Mercier was an alliance with Henri Renault - a politician. He broke up when the actress convicted her husband of treason.

Between these small islands of family everyday life, Michelle, of course, still had novels. They were there after, but in the end, the actress realized that she would no longer put a stamp on her passport.

After everything experienced, Michel Mercier is not discouraged. If she gets into the lenses of annoying cameras at film screenings or social events, she invariably sparkles and smiles. Today, when she is at a respectable age (in 2017, Mercier turned 78 years old), it is difficult to say about her as an “actress in old age”.

She published two biographical books: “I am not Angelica” and “Marquise of the Angels, or Angelica’s Broken Heart”. There Michelle describes in detail many of the important events of his life. Mercier herself has repeatedly said and still says that she is happy and content with her fate. And her wonderful talents were noted - in 2006, the incomparable Michel Mercier received the Order of Arts and Literature from the government of her native country in appreciation.

There are several simple components that are the key to a perfect appearance for any woman. Michel Mercier always had reference volumes: until the 1990s, the actress fit into 92-60-90. With growth in the region of 170 cm, it always had a weight of 50-52 kg. Of course, today Michel has somewhat different parameters for the figure, but she remains radiant and charming. And all thanks to the simple, but very effective rules that irresistible Angelica always adheres to:

• Healthy lifestyle. No bad habits, and then the skin, hair, nails - the whole body will remain youthful and healthy.

• Proper nutrition. You can not starve or torment yourself with diets. Only a balanced diet and competent selection of products.

• Physical activity. This is not necessarily a visit to the fitness center. Long walks - accessible to everyone, effectively no less.

• Maintenance of natural beauty. Michelle is a supporter of natural makeup. She advises to use decorative cosmetics to a minimum, and spend more time and energy on proper skin care, on maintaining her health, which means beauty.

• Feminine wardrobe. Michel Mercier can rightfully be called an icon of the classic female style in clothes. She always adhered to femininity in her outfits, both on the screen and in life.

The sparkling silver dress accurately repeats all the bends of Mercier’s luxurious body, emphasizing the merits of a chiseled figure. An elegant neckline and a scarf chastely covering her shoulders - the image is very bright, but not provocative, built on the verge of coquetry and modesty.

A very relevant image today is a wide-brimmed hat, translucent fabrics, geometric patterns. A luxurious outfit for a real lady, it will be appropriate at any social event.

Again, geometry and translucent fabrics. This time the dress is made in white and complemented by muted shades of fashionable and today bright colors - lilac, emerald, lavender, turquoise.

Another great example, confirming that fashion is always coming back. In such an outfit, it will be quite appropriate to appear on the beach in the next swimming season!