Florelle

• Name — Florelle • Birth Name — Odette Élisa Joséphine Marguerite Rousseau • Born — 9 August 1898 • Birthplace — Les Sables-d'Olonne, Vendée, France • Died — 28 September 1974 • Place of death — La Roche-sur-Yon, Vendée, France • Occupation — * Actress • singer • Years Active — 1911–1956

She was born as Odette Élisa Joséphine Marguerite Rousseau on 9 August 1898 in Les Sables-d'Olonne, Vendée. She came from a wealthy family living in the district of La Chaume, the oldest in the town of Sables-d'Olonne. Her father, an employee of the town hall, left his job to go into business and the family came to live in Paris; her mother worked at the café La Cigale.

Odette began her stage career at the age of 13, singing at the Théâtre de l'Ambigu-Comique and the Moulin Rouge. She was notably the partner of Raimu beginning in a sketch entitled "Le Marseillais et la Parigote". She worked in different establishments, then, in 1914, left for her first tour abroad with the troupe of "L'Européen". It was then that she adopted the pseudonym of Florelle, named after a singer in the troupe, Jean Flor. The tour was interrupted at the beginning of August in Vienna, Austria, by the outbreak of World War I. After the war, she was noticed by Maurice Chevalier, with whom she participated in three films in the early 1920s. Florelle nevertheless remained attached to the music hall; in 1925, she was chosen as an understudy for Mistinguett and as such was the leader of the Moulin-Rouge revue "This is Paris" in a tour of South America. Back in Paris, she conducted a second version of "This is Paris" from 1927; in 1928–29, she again toured internationally in Europe; it was then that she was noticed by the Austrian filmmaker Georg Wilhelm Pabst. During the 1930s, she devoted herself a lot to the cinema, where her activity was intense from 1930 to 1936; after L'Opéra de quat'sous, she toured again with Pabst (L'Atlantide), but also with Robert Siodmak (Tumultes), Raymond Bernard (Les Misérables), Fritz Lang (Liliom) and Jean Renoir (The Crime of Monsieur Lange). On stage, in 1934 she played the title role of the musical Marie Galante by Jacques Deval, in which she found the music of Kurt Weill, but was not met with success. She recorded several discs, whether related to the films she was filming or not. Florelle's career subsequently declined; her only notable post-war film was Gervaise (1956) by René Clément.

She lived for a few years running a café in Sables-d'Olonne. She returned to Paris for a while, then returned to Les Sables, living until her death in La Roche-sur-Yon, Vendée, at age 76, in relative obscurity and, it seems, in poverty.

• Year — Title — Role — Director(s) — Notes • 1912 — The Mask of Horror — Abel Gance — Credited as Mlle Rousseau • 1930 — The Prosecutor Hallers — Agnès — Robert Wiene • Love Songs — Robert Florey — Alternative-language version of the German film Rendezvous • My Wife's Teacher • 1931 — Venetian Nights — Pierre Billon Robert Wiene — French-language version of the film The Love Express • My Aunt from Honfleur — Albertine — André Gillois • The Threepenny Opera — Polly Peachum — G. W. Pabst — French-language version • About an Inquest — Erna Kabisch — Henri Chomette Robert Siodmak — French-language version of the film Inquest • Montmartre — Irène — Raymond Bernard • 1932 — The Nude Woman — Lolette — Jean-Paul Paulin • Passionately — Ketty Stevenson — René Guissart • The Improvised Son — Maud — René Guissart • The Wonderful Day — Gladys — Yves Mirande Robert Wyler — Remake of the 1929 silent film of the same title • Monsieur, Madame and Bibi — Anne Weber — Jean Boyer Max Neufeld — French-language version of the German film A Bit of Love • Tumultes — Ania — Robert Siodmak — French-language version of the German film Storms of Passion • 1933 — La dame de chez Maxim's — La Môme Crevette — Alexander Korda — French-language version of the film The Girl from Maxim's • 1934 — Les Misérables — Fantine — Raymond Bernard • The Last Night — Evelyne Ebert — Jacques de Casembroot • 1935 — Lovers and Thieves — Irma Lurette — Raymond Bernard • Wedding Night — Sidonie de Valpurgis — Georges Monca • 1936 — The Crime of Monsieur Lange — Valentine Cardès — Jean Renoir • 1937 — The Dark Angels — Aline — Willy Rozier • 1952 — Three Women — André Michel • 1956 — Blood to the Head — Sidonie Vauquier — Gilles Grangier • Gervaise — Maman Coupeau — René Clément — Final film