It’s hard to believe that Leslie Caron, with the gamine-Gallic charm and heroine of such 1950s-60s hits, Lili, An American In Paris, Gigi And Fanny, will close 66 this year. Seeing her recently in Courage Mountain, Damage and Funny Bones (1995), one realises that the years have been exceedingly kind to her. There are no ravages of time on her face. Keeping busy, perhaps, is her fountain of youth. She doesn’t run after roles, but has agents in London and Hollywood to negotiate for parts with substance, both character and cameo. She abhors the violence/horror genre films that are being made today and has had to turn down quite a few that have come her way. She is proud as a peacock about her daughter, Jennifer, who is also in films.
A good part of her life today is concentrated on running her countryside restaurant-cum-hotel, Auberge Lucarne aux Chouettes, situated in the Burgundy town of Villeneuve outside Paris, where she supervises the cuisine being served, plus handling the finances and staff. Her desire to create was what got her interested in the hotel in the first place. Her son Christopher, 38, from her marriage to Sir Peter Hall, helped her with the project which comprised converting two 13th century houses into a hotel. She speaks impeccable French, Polish, German, Italian, as well as English. She credits learning Hamlet by heart that led to her speaking English without a trace of an accent.

Leslie was born on July 1, 1932, in Paris, France, with dark brown hair and ink-blue eyes. She studied dancing at the National Conservatory of France and then joined the Ballets des Champs Elysees in which she was a brilliant success. She was introduced on screen by Gene Kelly, who was looking for a dancing partner to star with him in An American In Paris (1951). A screen-test followed, and so impressed were the heads of MGM that they immediately signed her for a long-term contract. Her elfin, waif-like appearance, plus her undoubted talent as an actress, brought swift recognition at the studio, but it was her remarkable success as Lili (1953), that really brought Leslie Caron to the notice of the moviegoers of the world and won for her critical acclaim. She seemed to specialise in one-name film titles. After Lili, she starred in Gaby (1956), followed by Gigi (1958), in which she distinguished herself, and Fanny (1961). In Fanny, she gave one of the most outstanding performances of her career. Certainly, it was the most demanding.

Her other film achievements in the 1950s and 60s include The Man With A Cloak, The Story Of Three Loves, Glory Alley, The Glass Slipper, Daddy Long Legs (her last musical with Fred Astaire), The Doctor’s Dilemma, The Man Who Understood Women, Battle Of Austerlitz, The Subterraneans, The L-Shaped Room, Guns Of Darkness, Father Goose, Is Paris Burning?, Chandler, A Very Special Favour and Promise Her Anything (1966). The last named film sparked off a romance with co-star Warren Beatty and they were quite an item on the Hollywood circuit for sometime. But, like a lot of Hollywood romances, this romance also bit the dust. Warren’s roving eye and clandestine romances with Joan Collins, Diane McBain and Natalie Wood didn’t exactly boost Leslie’s morale. In fact, she was quite shattered. She had two unhappy marriages behind her. Her first husband, American, George Hormel, was heir to a $35,00,000 tinned meat fortune. Their marriage ended in divorce after four years. Her second husband, Peter Hall, was a talented director of The Royal Shakespeare Memorial Theatre at Stratford-on-Avon. Despite two children, the marriage fell apart.

As to why her marriages went sour, Leslie commented, “Family life is so refreshing. It’s good to get back to the business of ordinary living after the fictitious world of the theatre with its aura of unreality. My family is vital to me, so is my career. My first husband complained that I was too wrapped up in my career to bother about him. I’d be an impossible woman to live with if I ever stopped working. I believe that a job of some kind is vital to everyone. It’s a myth that every woman’s place is in the home. I think women should work. Women who don’t are very dull. And I just don’t understand what some women find to do all day if they don’t work.”
After The Doctor’s Dilemma in which she co-starred with Britain’s top leading man, Dirk Bogarde, it was evident that Leslie had hung up her dancing shoes for good. She told a reporter, “I find acting more stimulating than dancing. As a ballerina, it would never have been possible to have a three-way career - that of a dancer, wife and mother. With acting, it is different. Away from the set, I can enjoy the luxury of being a person without a conscience gnawing at me to get to work and practise.” Incidentally, it was her successful performance in The Doctor’s Dilemma that finally decided her in favour of acting.

A lot of quality work followed in films during the 70s and 80s with Head Of The Family. This film had all the nuances and details, heartaches and hopes of a long-term relationship in trouble, with a compelling and sensitive performance by Caron done in the Italian way. Her other films during this period included Goldengirl, Madron, The Man Who Loved Women, Nicole, Valentino, Contract, Imperative (1982, in German, an incisive drama, weighed down by a cerebral theme), Dangerous Moves (1984, in Swiss, the film won an Oscar for Best Foreign Film) and The Man Who Lived At The Ritz.

Leslie doesn’t have very pleasant memories of America. In an interview recently, she said, “I don’t like Hollywood at all. I don’t approve of its obsession with money. There everything depends on the factor of profitability.”

She feels she is not a legend because she is still alive. She was nominated twice for the Oscar - for Lili (1953) and The L-Shaped Room (1962). She confessed, “It would have been nice to have one of those statuettes on the mantlepiece. But, I have no regrets and like to keep a low profile. If your private life is publicised extensively, you become trapped in a media-created image. I have been more interested in keeping my doors open to filmmakers from Louis Malle and the late, Francois Truffaunt to K Zanussi.”

She doesn’t look back at the past and wallow in self-pity like a fading actress. She feels the 90s are the great years of cinema. There are so many gifted stars on the scene today. The quality of acting is infinitely better nowadays.

No matter what Leslie says, today’s movies sadly have a one-time appeal and will be forgotten by the time the next hit arrives, but nostalgia movie buffs will never tire of seeing An American In Paris, Lili, Fanny and Gigi many times more. Thanks to TNT, the resurgence of watching classics continues unabated.