Darling Légitimus
Biography: Mathilda Marie Berthilde Paruta (21 November 1907 – 7 December 1999), better known as Darling Légitimus, was a French actress. In 1983, she received the Volpi Cup for Best Actress for her performance in the film Sugar Cane Alley. Born on 21 November 1907 at Le Carbet in Martinique, she spent her early years in Caracas, Venezuela. Mathilda Paruta arrived in Paris, France, at age of 16, wanting to become a dancer. She met Victor-Etienne Légitimus, son of the government deputy, Hegesippe Jean Légitimus, and went on to become his lifelong companion and bear him five children. Known for a long time as Miss Darling, she later chose to go by the name of Darling Legitimus. She performed as a dancer in La Revue Nègre (1925) with Josephine Baker, and posed for Picasso as well as for sculptor Paul Belmondo, father of Jean-Paul Belmondo, the actor. During the 1930s, Darling wrote, composed and sang numerous Caribbean songs such as Biguine and Mazurka. She often performed alongside known musicians of the era, including "Pe En Kin Sosso" and his band. She also performed in plays by Jean Genet (Les Nègres) and Aimé Césaire. She was directed on the big screen by Raymond Rouleau in Les Sorcieres de Salem (The Crucible) alongside Simone Signoret and Yves Montand, and Le Salaire de la Peur (Wages of Fear) by Henri Georges Clouzot, with Sacha Guitry, Jean-Claude Brialy and Bernardo Bertolucci. In 1983, at the age of 76, she won the Volpi Cup for the best female interpretation of "The Mostra of Venise", also for her role in La Rue Cases-Nègres (Sugar Cane Alley), directed by her compatriot Euzhan Palcy. During her long life, she was acquainted with a great number of famous actors, among them Arletty, Fernandel, Marlon Brando and Pierre Brasseur. She also took part in numerous ORTF (Office de Radio-diffusion de la Television Française) productions, of which a telefilm by Jean-Christophe Averty, Les verts Paturages (The Green Pastures, written by Marc Connelly), was produced. She died on 7 December 1999 at Kremlin-Bicetre in the Val de Marne near Paris, in France, without any more acting roles after Sugar Cane Alley in spite of hopes of her nomination and rewards. The writer, Calixthe Beyala and Caribbean actor Luc Saint-Eloy, representatives of "Liberté" collective came up on stage at the César ceremony in 2000, to claim one of the largest presence on French television screens and to pay her a public tribute, since the organizers had "forgotten" to name Darling as one of the previous year's great losses. Source: Article "Darling Légitimus" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
Place of Birth: Not available
Birthday: November 21, 1907
Deathday: December 07, 1999
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Known For
The Doll
1962-11-07
The Doll
Overview: An avant-garde political satire that takes place in a mythical country in South America. The dictator has been replaced by a look-alike revolutionary, and the dictator's wife has been replaced by a robot.
Genres: Comedy Science Fiction
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1962-11-07
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Sugar Cane Alley
1983-09-21
Sugar Cane Alley
Overview: Martinique, in the early 1930s. Young José and his grandmother live in a small village. Nearly everyone works cutting cane and barely earning a living. The overseer can fine a worker for the smallest infraction. The way to advance is to do well in school. José studies hard and succeeds in an exam allowing him to attend school in the capital. With only a partial scholarship, the tuition is very costly. José and his grandmother move to Fort-de-France to make José's studies easier...
Genres: Drama Family
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1983-09-21
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A Friend Will Come Tonight
1946-04-09
A Friend Will Come Tonight
Overview: Commander Gerard and his band of guerrillas have found the ideal hideout: a nursing home in the Alps where, along with the mentally ill, are also hiding a Jewish girl and a Swiss doctor who might be a spy for the Germans ...
Genres: Drama War
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1946-04-09
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Le Bateau à soupe
1947-02-19
Le Bateau à soupe
Overview: Hervé is a tough sea captain in command of the "Duchesse Anne", a rum-trading ship. But the sea dog hides a tender heart and he allows Marie-Douce, a poor slum girl who dreams of seeing the wide world,on board. To have her accepted by the crew, he passes her off as his niece. A seasoned master like him, wise enough to ban alcohol use on his ship, should have known better : a beautiful girl on the deck cannot but unleash the savage instincts of all those men without women.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1947-02-19
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Les trois cousines
1947-12-10
Les trois cousines
Overview: To receive the inheritance of his uncle, who died in Brazil, Claude, who has no money, must absolutely marry one of his three cousins.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1947-12-10
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The Road to Damascus
1952-12-05
The Road to Damascus
Overview: Saul De Tarse is a Roman soldier who is making rough all over. He arrives at the Golgotha when the apostles remove the cross. He ruthlessly persecutes the Christians, even though they are his own friends.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1952-12-05
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Tourbillon
1953-10-02
Tourbillon
Overview: Taking advantage of the shooting of a film, gangsters stage a hold -up. A black man, Selim, is unfairly accused.
Genres: Crime Drama
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1953-10-02
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Flesh and the Woman
1954-06-08
Flesh and the Woman
Overview: In this romance, a jilted lawyer joins the French Foreign Legion to help him forget his faithless love. While in the desert he espies a village beauty who is the exact double of his true-love.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1954-06-08
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A Missionary
1955-12-02
A Missionary
Overview: Dreaming of heroic deeds, a young missionary soon becomes disillusioned.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1955-12-02
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Le Cri du cormoran, le soir au-dessus des jonques
1971-02-10
Le Cri du cormoran, le soir au-dessus des jonques
Overview: Alfred Mullanet, an unlucky player who lives on his wife's income, becomes in a few moments the object of interest of two thugs, Kruger and Mister K.
Genres: Comedy Crime
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1971-02-10
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Églantine
1972-02-25
Églantine
Overview: Léopold, a young schoolboy, returns from boarding school to spend the summer vacations with his family. He is delighted to see his grandmother Eglantine again. The good times spent with all those close to him make him forget the stress of school. But with the start of the new school year fast approaching, Léopold learns of Eglantine's death.
Genres: Drama Comedy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1972-02-25
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The Wages of Fear
1953-04-22
The Wages of Fear
Overview: In a run-down South American town, four men are paid to drive trucks loaded with nitroglycerin into the jungle through to the oil field. Friendships are tested and rivalries develop as they embark upon the perilous journey.
Genres: Drama Thriller Adventure
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1953-04-22
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La Dernière Bourrée à Paris
1973-10-31
La Dernière Bourrée à Paris
Overview: Young Berthe, deeply moved by a cinema screening of the notoriously sultry Le Dernier Tango à Paris, goes to the address where most of the action takes place, a building overlooking the Bir-Hakeim Bridge metro station. Reality suddenly seems to mimic fiction when she discovers not only an apartment advertised for rent, but also a man prostrate in a corner who seems to be waiting for her. Hoping for the same torrid embrace as in the film, she discovers that he is in fact preoccupied only by the apartment's defects. Attempting to embark on a passionate affair, she learns that the man suffers from libido problems.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1973-10-31
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The Ghostly Rental
1965-04-17
The Ghostly Rental
Overview: At the end of the 19th Century, young Fanning finishes his studies in theology at the University of Cambridge. During a walk through the countryside, the boy, inspired by the lecture of romantic novels, discovers an abandonned house, from which an old man is coming out. He returns to the house regularly without ever seeing its mysterious inhabitant. Fanning finally surprises the old man while he is sitting on a bench at the cemetery and manages to gain his confidence...
Genres: TV Movie Fantasy Horror
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1965-04-17
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Women Are Like That
1960-09-20
Women Are Like That
Overview: American FBI agent Lemmy Caution arrives in France to track down a dangerous spy.
Genres: Crime Thriller
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1960-09-20
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The Witches of Salem
1957-04-26
The Witches of Salem
Overview: Salem 1692. The young Abigail, seduced and abandoned by John Proctor, accuses John's wife of being a witch in revenge. A series of tragic trials soon befall Salem as fear and suspicion blur the lines of reality.
Genres: Drama History
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1957-04-26
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Les verts pâturages
1964-12-31
Les verts pâturages
Overview: A French TV movie directed by Jean-Christophe Averty , broadcast on December 24, 1964 . The Old Testament set in Louisiana with an all black cast.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1964-12-31
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The Fire Within
1963-10-15
The Fire Within
Overview: Although his alcoholism has been treated, Alain still feels he is deeply unwell and does not feel he can leave the detoxification clinic once and for all. His wife, living in New York, continues to pay for his treatment, but no longer contacts him directly. He intends to commit suicide, but first takes a ride to Paris to catch up with old friends.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1963-10-15
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Three Feet in a Bed
1950-04-19
Three Feet in a Bed
Overview: In spite of his failures as a peddler, Casimir guaranteed his fiance that this time the vacuum cleaners will work for good. But he's still unsuccessful until he go to the appartment of Paul-Andre, a painter who was engaged by correspondence to a rich south-American woman. That's exactly when she arrive armed with a gun infuriated after she had received a rupture letter from the man she had never seen. She mistakenly took Casimir as her painter lover. Casimir his ready to flee until he learned she owned many hotels, a thousand rooms in fact. "A thousand rooms, a thousand vacuum cleaners", he suddenly think.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1950-04-19
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The Toilets Were Closed from the Inside
1976-01-07
The Toilets Were Closed from the Inside
Overview: A bus conductor gets dressed for work in the morning, goes to the toilet, where he is killed by a bomb. The Commissioner and his fat, bumbling assistant, Inspector Charbonnier are put on the case. After interviewing friends, wives, colleagues, and spying on strangers who might be connected, our heroes trace the assassin down to a mental institution where, it seems, the murder victim has been an inmate for the last three years...
Genres: Crime Comedy
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1976-01-07
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La bande du Rex
1980-04-29
La bande du Rex
Overview: What do Patricia, Badou, François, Dingo and P'tit Jeannot have in common? They live in the Paris suburbs, they are young, they are on the verge of breaking away from school, from the working world or from the Army. Their meeting place is "La Javanaise", a bar held by no-nonsense Janine and her lighter husband Lucien. There they mix with their idol, Daniel, also known as Frankie Mégalo, a film projectionist and a rocker without a band. Most of the efforts of these born idlers will consist in finding a band and a venue for Frankie to perform and in laying hands on cash by means fair or foul to go to the Southern sun.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: fr
Release Date: 1980-04-29
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Last Tango in Paris
1972-12-15
Last Tango in Paris
Overview: A recently widowed American begins an anonymous sexual relationship with a young Parisian woman.
Genres: Drama Romance
Original Language: it
Release Date: 1972-12-15
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