Jacqueline Bisset

The first time she had a role of any renown was opposite the lovely Audrey Hepburn inTwo on the road . A very young Jacqueline Bisset wanted to seduce Albert Finney during an excursion but she was forced to stay in bed because she had caught measles. Her place was then occupied by the ‘skinny’ Hepburn… But, although she only appeared on the screen for a few minutes, Bisset was not easy to forget. She had tremendous beauty, and the hook needed to become a star.

The actress, named Winifred Jacqueline Franser Bisset, was born on September 13, 1944, in Surrey (England), although her mother was French. After the divorce of her parents, the future actress went to live with her mother and she began to take piano and ballet classes, and soon after she began as a photo model and also began to study acting. At the age of 21, Jacqueline Bisset appeared for the first time in a film –The Knack… and how to get it , directed by Richard Lester – although he was not credited.

It was Roman Polanski who credited her for the first time, in his filmCul de sac , and curiously Jacqueline Bisset was called Jacqueline in the film. 1967 was a great year for her, because in addition to Two on the road , she filmedCasino Royale and also Cape Town Intrigue , opposite Claire Trevor . And a year later, the actress with long hair and enormous blue eyes definitively established her career with two important films. After them, Jacqueline Bisset became the perfect sophisticated woman who accompanies men of action and strong character. She was like this with the mythical Steve McQueen inBullitt , by Peter Yates ; and with the singer and actor Frank Sinatra inThe Detective , by Gordon Douglas . He later jumped on the catastrophic movie craze withAeropuerto , along with a large international cast, and two years later he worked under the orders of the great John Huston in the western filmThe Hanging Judge , starring Paul Newman . But Jacqueline Bisset did not forget her European origin and the following year she placed herself under the baton of one of the most prestigious French directors of the moment, François Truffaut . La Bisset gave life to an actress in the great film about Truffaut’s cinema,The American Night , a true tribute to the cinema where Jacqueline Bisset was dazzling as a film diva.

From the age of thirty, the English actress was choosing many roles in disturbing films, with some point of terror or intrigue. Thus, she was countess inMurder on the Orient Express , by Sidney Lumet ; he accompanied Charles Bronson inThe daredevil Ives (1976); and fought sea beasts inAbyss (1977). It was after this film that Newsweek magazine defined Jacqueline Bisset as “the most beautiful actress of all time.” In 1981 she participated inRich and famous , the swan song of one of the most classic Hollywood directors, George Cukor . And he stood out enormously three years after the hand of John Huston inUnder the Volcano , adaptation of the novel by Malcolm Lowry . In that film, she met Albert Finney again, after seeing their faces almost twenty years earlier in Two for the Road .

Starting in the mid-80s, Jacqueline Bisset’s filmography became more irregular, with unsuccessful choices for mediocre films or three-for-a-room TV movies. It wasn’t until a decade later that she reappeared with all her sophistication inThe Ceremony (1995), by Claude Chabrol . Since then he has done supporting roles in many movies, some with some quality asStronger than his destiny (1998), the wonderful miniseriesJoan of Arc (1999) or the moveDomino (2005).