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Danielle Darrieux

French actress and singer

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
People and ideasInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 20, 2026
Entity authorityQ234149 ↗
Source-derived summary

Danielle Yvonne Marie Antoinette Darrieux (French pronunciation: [da.njɛl i.vɔn ma.ʁi ɑ̃.twa.nɛt daʁ.jø]; 1 May 1917 – 17 October 2017) was a French actress of stage, television and film, as well as a singer and dancer.

Beginning in 1931, she appeared in more than 110 films. She was one of France's great movie stars and her eight-decade career was among the longest in film history.

Life and career

Darrieux was born on 1 May 1917 in Bordeaux, France, during World War I, the daughter of Marie-Louise (Witkowski) and Jean Darrieux, a medical doctor who was serving in the French Army. Her mother was born in Algeria. Her father died when she was seven years old.

Raised in Paris, she studied the cello at the Conservatoire de Musique. At 14, she won a part in the musical film Le Bal (1931). Her beauty combined with her singing and dancing ability led to numerous other offers; the film Mayerling (1936) brought her to prominence.

In 1935, Darrieux married director/screenwriter Henri Decoin, who encouraged her to try Hollywood.

Editorial summary

“Danielle Darrieux” enters the record as french actress and singer. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Danielle, Darrieux and French can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA productive starting point for separating a subject’s documented career from later reputation and commemoration. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1917, 2017, 1931, 1936—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1917-05-01. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Danielle, Darrieux and French.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Danielle Darrieux” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Danielle, Darrieux and French provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q234149. VIAF identifies the subject as 117444333. The Library of Congress control number is n86138439. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1917, 2017, 1931 and 1936.

Critical limits

A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Danielle Darrieux”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Danielle Darrieux primary sources, Danielle Darrieux archive and Danielle research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Danielle Darrieux”?
  2. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
  3. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Danielle Darrieux” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.