Valerie French

• Name — Valerie French • Birth Name — Valerie Harrison • Born — 11 March 1928 • Birthplace — London, UK • Died — 3 November 1990 • Place of death — New York City, US • Spouse — Michael Pertwee (1952–1959) Thayer David (1970–1975) • Occupation — Actress • Years Active — 1954–1982

French was born in London to Frank Orvin Percy Harrison and Muriel Smith. Her father was an accountant who had served as a Lieutenant with the Artists Rifles regiment in the First World War. She considered her "real start in the theatre" to have been at the Theatre Royal, Windsor in Berkshire, England. She moved into film acting in her early twenties. Her first film appearance was in a minor role in the 1954 Italian film Maddalena. After a role in the British film The Constant Husband (1955), she moved to Hollywood. Her best-remembered roles during this period were in western films such as Jubal in 1956 opposite Glenn Ford and Decision at Sundown opposite Randolph Scott in 1957. She also appeared in the science fiction film The 27th Day (1957). Her television roles included episode No. 61 of Have Gun – Will Travel, The Prisoner episode "Living in Harmony", and episode No. 31, "Sweetwater, Texas", of Trackdown (1957). She later appeared in daytime television shows, including two roles on The Edge of Night, The Nurses, and (briefly) All My Children.

French returned to the theatre in the 1960s. She performed in a Broadway production of John Osborne's play Inadmissible Evidence in 1965 and was also in Help Stamp Out Marriage! in 1966. She caused a minor sensation by appearing on stage naked in The Mother Lover at the Booth Theatre in 1969, though only her back was visible to the audience.

French was married twice. In 1952, at the age of 24, she married the playwright Michael Pertwee (b. 1916). They divorced seven years later. In 1970, at the age of 42, French married the actor Thayer David (b. 1927). They divorced five years later. They later got back together and were planning to remarry at the time of his death in 1978. French died of leukemia in New York City in 1990, aged 62. Some sources say she was born in 1932 and was 58 when she died.

• Maddalena (1954) • Happy Ever After (1954) • The Constant Husband (1955) • Jubal (1956) • Secret of Treasure Mountain (1956) • The Garment Jungle (1957) • Decision at Sundown (1957) • The 27th Day (1957) • The Hard Man (1957) • The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake (1959) • Shalako (1968) • The Prisoner (TV series episode 14)

Catalogued output is recorded as follows. Patisserie Valerie, London, est. It is also recorded that dictionnaire des termes techniques de médecine, contenant: les étymologies grecques et latines, les noms des maladies, des opérations chirurgicales et obstétricales, des smyptômes cliniques, des lésions anatomiques, les termes de laboratoires, etc / Par M. Garnier et V. It is also recorded that pierre, Dr. A treatise of specters or straunge sights, visions and apparitions appearing sensibly unto men. Wherein is delivered, the nature of spirites, angels, and divels: their power and properties: as also of witches, sorcerers, enchanters, and such like.