Capucine

Capucine

Born to a middle-class French family, Capucine (pronounced Ka-poo-cheen) was a top Parisian fashion model by her mid-teens. She made her first film, Jacques Becker's Rendezvous De Julliet (1949), when she was sixteen, but international stardom would not come for another ten years, until producer Charles K. Feldman "discovered" her for the role of Princess Carolyne in the 1960 Franz Liszt biopic Song Without End. During her Hollywood stay, Capucine studied acting with Gregory Ratoff, and achieved a measure of notoriety for her portrayal of a lesbian hooker in 1962's A Walk on the Wild Side Capucine co-starred with William Holden in The Lion (1962) and The Seventh Dawn (1964). She was given a chance to display her comic know-how in the original 1964 The Pink Panther, and 20 years later was engaged to recreate her role for one of the post-Peter Sellers Panther sequels. She also worked with Joseph L. Mankiewicz (The Honey Pot [1969]) and Federico Fellini (Fellini Satyricon [1970]). Except for a final appearance in a 1989 TV movie, Capucine spent her last decade in seclusion in Switzerland, and in 1990 she committed suicide by leaping from her 8th-floor Swiss apartment. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide