Association des Distributeurs de Films en Israel. Invitation to cocktail party in honor of Martine Carol and ...

Association des Distributeurs de Films en Israel. Invitation to cocktail party in honor of Martine Carol and Christian-Jaque 1956

Martine Carol (16 May 1920 – 6 February 1967) was a French film actress. Born Maryse Mourer (or Marie-Louise Jeanne Nicolle Mourer) in Saint-Mandé, Val-de-Marne, (France), she studied acting under René Simon (1898–1966), making her stage début in 1940 and her first motion picture in 1943. One of the more beautiful women in film, she frequently was cast as an elegant blonde seductress. During the late 1940s and early 1950s, she was the leading sex symbol and a top box-office draw of French cinema, and she was considered a French version of America's Marilyn Monroe. One of her more famous roles was as the title character in Lola Montès (1955), directed by Max Ophüls, in a role that required dark hair. However, by the late 1950s, roles for Carol had become fewer, partly because of the introduction of Brigitte Bardot.

Despite her fame and fortune, Martine Carol's personal life was filled with turmoil that included a suicide attempt, drug abuse, and four marriages. She also was kidnapped by gangster Pierre Loutrel (also known as Pierrot le Fou or Crazy Pete), albeit briefly and received roses the next day as an apology.

She died unexpectedly of a heart attack in a hotel room in Monte Carlo at the age of 46 while shooting the film Hell Is Empty (1967).

Christian-Jaque (byname of Christian Maudet; 4 September 1904 – 8 July 1994) was a French filmmaker. From 1954 to 1959, he was married to actress Martine Carol, who starred in several of his films, including Lucrèce Borgia (1953), Madame du Barry (1954), and Nana (1955).

Christian-Jaque's 1946 film A Lover's Return was entered into the 1946 Cannes Film Festival. He won the Best Director award at the 1952 Cannes Film Festival for his popular swashbuckler Fanfan la Tulipe. At the 2nd Berlin International Film Festival, he won the Silver Bear award  for the same film. In 1959, he was a member of the jury at the 1st Moscow International Film Festival.

Christian-Jaque began his motion picture career in the 1920s as an art director and production designer. By the early 1930s, he had moved into screenwriting and directing. He continued working into the mid-1980s, though from 1970 on, most of his work was done for television. In 1979, he was a member of the jury at the 11th Moscow International Film Festival.

Christian-Jaque was born in Paris. He died at Boulogne-Billancourt in 1994.