Adrienne D'Ambricourt

Adrienne D'Ambricourt (born Adrienne DuNontier; 2 June 1878 – 6 December 1957) was a French actress of the silent and sound film eras. She was born in Paris, and emigrated to the United States after the end of World War I. She began acting in the 1922 Gershwin Broadway musical comedy, The French Doll, in which she had one of the main roles, "Baroness Mazulier". She made her film debut in the 1924 silent film, The Humming Bird, where she was one of Gloria Swanson's gang of thieves who turned into resistance fighters in World War I. With the advent of talking pictures, and before dubbing came into general use, D'Ambricourt was used in several films which were the French version of English language ones, such as Quand on est belle (The Easiest Way — 1931), L'énigmatique Mr. Parkes (Slightly Scarlet — 1930), and Nuit d'Espagne (Transgression — 1931). She appeared in over 70 films, including such classics as Casablanca, San Francisco, and To Have And Have Not, until about 1947, after which her film career began to decline. Her final role was in George Cukor's Les Girls, starring Gene Kelly and Mitzi Gaynor, in which she played the wardrobe woman. With the advent of television, she appeared in several series during the 1950s, working right up to her death, which was caused by a heart attack during or following a car accident in Los Angeles.