Arielle Dombasle
| Arielle Dombasle | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Arielle Laure Maxime Sonnery April 27, 1953 Hartford, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actress, singer |
| Years active | 1978–present |
| Spouse(s) |
Paul Albou (1976–1985) Bernard-Henri Lévy (1993–present) |
| Website | Official website |
Arielle Dombasle (born April 27, 1953)[1] is an American-born French singer, actress, director and model. Her breakthrough roles were in Éric Rohmer's Pauline at the Beach (1983) and Alain Robbe-Grillet's The Blue Villa (1995). She is best known to American audiences for her appearances on Miami Vice and the 1984 miniseries Lace. She has released eight singles between 1978 and 2011 and seven albums.
Early years
She was born Arielle Laure Maxime Sonnery in Hartford, Connecticut, the daughter of Jean-Louis Melchior Sonnery de Fromental, a silk manufacturer, and Francion Garreau-Dombasle. She descends from French-American immigrants in Mexico under her grandfather's diplomatic tenure. The family's surname was created in 1912, when Dombasle's grandfather René Sonnery (1887–1925), an industrialist from Lyon, married Anne-Marie Berthon du Fromental. Arielle took the pseudonym Arielle Dombasle in memory of her mother who died at the age of 36. She was raised as a Roman Catholic.[2]
Dombasle and her brother Gilbert were raised in Mexico by their maternal grandparents after their mother's death in 1964. She attended the Lycée Franco-Mexicain. She was also raised at Château de Chaintré, the Sonnery family estate near Mâcon, Saône-et-Loire. Her maternal grandfather, Maurice Garreau-Dombasle, was a close friend of and advisor to Charles de Gaulle and served as the French ambassador to Mexico. Her maternal grandmother was Manha Dombasle (née Germaine Massenet, 1898–1999), a writer and poet who translated Rabindranath Tagore's works into French and was a longtime friend of the science fiction writer Ray Bradbury, who dedicated his 1972 novel The Halloween Tree to her.
Career
Dombasle embarked on a career as an actress and singer after attending the Conservatoire International de Musique de Paris[3] and further studies in Mexico.[4] Dombasle has appeared in several Hollywood productions, but most of her acting work has been in French, as are her albums. She directed and wrote the scripts for two films, Les Pyramides Bleues and Chassé-croisé. She once described her own looks as "a Crazy Horse dancing girl".[5]
Dombasle joined Les Grosses Têtes, a French radio programme, in January 2016.[6]
Personal life
Dombasle is the third wife of French philosopher and writer Bernard-Henri Lévy. They got married on June 19, 1993 at Saint-Paul-de-Vence on the Côte d'Azur where they have a villa. She has two stepchildren, Antonin-Balthazar Lévy and Justine Lévy, a novelist. She was previously married to Dr. Paul Albou, described by Vanity Fair as a "playboy society dentist, 32 years her senior."[4]
Dombasle is vegetarian.[7] In 2016, she campaigned against abattoirs for PETA.[7]
Filmography
| Year | Film | Role | Other notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1978 | Perceval le Gallois | Blanchefleur | |
| 1979 | Tess | Mercy Chant | |
| Je te tiens, tu me tiens par la barbichette | Une actrice film publicitaire | uncredited | |
| 1980 | Justocoeur | ||
| 1981 | Putain d'histoire d'amour | Antonella | |
| Les Fruits de la passion | Nathalie | érotique | |
| La Femme de l'aviateur | Singer ("Paris m'a séduit") | ||
| Une robe noire pour un tueur | La jeune droguée à la moto | ||
| 1982 | Le Beau mariage | Clarisse | |
| Chassé-croisé | Ermine | also Singer, director, writer, composer | |
| Laissé inachevé à Tokyo | Sophie | ||
| 1983 | Sans soleil | Herself | |
| Pauline à la plage | Marion | ||
| La Belle captive | La femme hystérique | ||
| Rosette sort le soir | |||
| Un été nommé désir | Arielle | ||
| 1984 | Mode in France | Herself | |
| Lace | Maxine Pascal | ||
| Rosette prend sa douche | |||
| Penelope Last | |||
| Los Motivos de Berta: Fantasía de Pubertad | |||
| 1985 | La Nuit porte-jarretelles | La secrétaire | |
| Lace II | Maxine Pascal | ||
| 1986 | The Boss' Wife | Louise Roalvang | |
| Flagrant Désir | Marguerite Barnac | ||
| 1987 | Jeux d'artifices | Arielle | |
| 1988 | Les Pyramides bleues | Elise | Director, writer |
| 1989 | El sueño del mono loco | Marion Derain | |
| Try This One for Size | Maggie | ||
| 1991 | Lola Zipper | Loretta | |
| Mémoires | |||
| 1992 | La vie crevée | Angèle | |
| Villa Mauresque | Sandra | ||
| Hors Saison | Mme. Studer | ||
| 1993 | Grand bonheur | L'actrice | |
| Miroslava | Miroslava (adult) | ||
| L'Arbre, le maire et la médiathèque | Bérénice Beaurivage | ||
| L'absence | |||
| 1994 | Un indien dans la ville | Charlotte | |
| Fado majeur et mineur | Leda | ||
| 1995 | Raging Angels | Megan | |
| Un bruit qui rend fou (The Blue Villa) | Sarah La Blonde | ||
| À propos de Nice, la suite | |||
| Celestial Clockwork | Céleste | also Singer, Soundtrack | |
| Fado majeur et mineur | Leda | ||
| Les Cent et une nuits | La chanteuse à la Garden-party | ||
| 1996 | Three Lives and Only One Death | Helene | |
| Two Dads and One Mom | Delphine | ||
| Soyons amis! | Arielle | ||
| 1997 | Jeunesse | Clémence | also Singer |
| J'en suis! | Rose Petipas | ||
| Day and Night | Laure | By her husband, Bernard-Henri Lévy | |
| 1998 | L'ennui | Sophie | |
| Hors jeu | Arielle Dombasle | ||
| Let There Be Light | Dieu la blonde | ||
| Bo Ba Bu | |||
| Que la lumière soit | Blond God | ||
| 1999 | Les Infortunes de la beauté | Daphné | |
| C'est pas ma faute! | Vanessa Goudard | ||
| Le Temps retrouvé | Madame de Farcy | ||
| Astérix et Obélix contre César | Mme Agecanonix / Frau Methusalix | ||
| 2000 | 30 Years | Geneviève | |
| Amazon | Margot | ||
| Vatel | Princess de Condé | also Singer | |
| Le libertin | La Marquise de Jerfeuil | ||
| Les Eléphants de la planète Mars | |||
| 2001 | Les âmes fortes | Madame Numance | |
| Gamer | Valérie Fisher | ||
| 2002 | Deux | Professor Barbez | |
| Hideous Man | Crying woman | ||
| 2003 | Lovely Rita, sainte patronne des cas désespérés | Mademoiselle Lecas | |
| 2004 | Quand je serai star | Diane de Montalte | |
| Genre humain - première partie: Les parisiens, Le | Sabine Duchemin | ||
| Albert est méchant | Barbara Lechat | ||
| 2005 | Le Courage d'aimer | Sabine Duchemin | |
| 2006 | Nouvelle chance | Bettina | |
| C'est Gradiva qui vous appelle | Léïla / Gradia | ||
| 2008 | La Possibilité d'une île | Déléguée Mexicaine | aka Possibility of an Island |
| Sagan | Astrid | ||
| 2009 | King Shot | ||
| 2010 | El Baile de San Juan | Virreina | |
| 2015 | Valentin Valentin | Valentin's mother |
Discography
Singles
- "Paris m'a séduit" (1980)
- "Cantate 78" (1985)
- "Je te salue mari" (1986)
- "Nada más" (1988)
- "Amour symphonique" (1989)
- "Liberta" (2000)
- "Odysseus" (2000)
- "Rhum and Coca-Cola" (2004)
- "C'est si bon" (2006)
- "Où tu Veux" (2007)
- "Extraterrestre" (2009)
- "Hasta siempre" (2010)
- "Porque te vas" (2011)
- "Mambo 5" (2011)
- "Ave Maria" (2013)
- "Cold Song" (2013)
- "Carthagena" (2016)
Albums
- 2000: Liberta
- 2002: Extase
- 2004: Amor Amor
- 2006: C'est si bon
- 2009: Glamour à mort
- 2011: Diva Latina
- 2013: By Era
- 2015: French Kiss (with The Hillbilly Moon Explosion)
- 2016: La rivière Atlantique
References
- ↑
- ↑ Labadie, Pauline (June 7, 2013). "Val-de-Grâce contre Arielle Dombasle: «Une tempête dans un verre d'eau»". Le Figaro. Retrieved September 30, 2016.
L'épouse de Bernard Henri-Lévy, catholique fervente, déclare sur son site internet: «Dès l'aurore de ma vie j'ai connu la prière. C'était un moment de recueillement que je croyais obligatoire. Enfant, je m'y appliquais, et déjà, j'en sentais les bienfaits sans trop savoir pourquoi.»
- ↑ "A Woman at Home in Many Worlds", The New York Sun, May 24, 2006
- 1 2 "Bernard Henri-Levy: France's Prophet Provocateur", vanityfair.com; January 2003.
- ↑ "crazy horse avec paris cabaret". Pariscabaret.fr. Retrieved 2012-02-14.
- ↑ Martin, Thomas (January 22, 2016). "Arielle Dombasle rejoint Les Grosses Têtes !". RTL. Retrieved October 4, 2016.
- 1 2 Beaudoin, Anne-Cécile (September 29, 2016). "Arielle Dombasle, nouvelle icône végétarienne de PETA". Paris Match. Retrieved September 30, 2016.
External links
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Arielle Dombasle. |
- Official web site
- Arielle Dombasle at the Internet Movie Database
- Arielle Dombasle at AllMovie
- Profile at Canal+ (French)