Bernadette Lafont was born at the Protestant Health Home of Nîmes in Gard, the only child of a pharmacist and a housewife from the Cévennes. Her mother always wanted a boy to name Bernard and, once she gave birth to a girl, she enjoyed to hold this against all the catholics she knew as the proof that their God either was blind or didn't exist. Often dressed as a boy and nicknamed Bernard, Bernadette nevertheless had a great relationship with her parents. Having spent part of her childhood in Saint-Geniès-de-Malgoirès, she returned to Nîmes where she took ballet lessons at the local Opera House. She proved to be a gifted student and she did three little tours and about twenty galas there. An extroverted girl with a fervent imagination, she used to spend her holidays at the Cévennes family mansion playing dress-up with her friend Annie, along whom she used to pretend to be an actress from an imaginary West End Club, working in Italian cinema: doing this started to win her a lot of male attention. She also began to develop a passion for film from an early age, adopting 'Brigitte Bardot' 's protagonist. With the film's upcoming release in many more countries, plenty of others will have the bitter honour to see her eventually taking leave. Since the 25th October 2013, the Municipal Theatre of Nîmes has been renamed the Bernadette Lafont Theatre to honour the memory of the great actress. A once unforeseeable and absolutely logical reaching point for the barefoot girl biking in the city's streets in "Les Mistons".
Mother of three children with husband Diourka Medveczky --David, lisabeth Lafont and Pauline Lafont. Pauline died in 1988 at age 25 in a climbing accident.
Festival tribute at the Crteil International Womens Film Festival, France.
French star actress identified with the New Wave of the late 1950s. Often in films by noted exponents of the movement, including Franois Truffaut , Louis Malle and Claude Chabrol.
Husband Diourka Medveczky is a Hungarian sculptor and director.
Was awarded the French states prestigious honour of Officer in the Lgion dhonneur.
The daughter of a pharmacist in Nimes, she studied ballet there and performed at the local opera house before her movie career began.
In 2003, she received an honorary Csar for her lifetime achievement in cinema.
Her father was a chemist. Her mother had wanted a boy, and always called her "Bernard". She took ballet lessons, and appeared in performances at the Nmes Opera House.
She worked with daughter lisabeth Lafont in Norot , Prisonnires and Les malheurs de Malou . She worked with daughter Pauline Lafont in Le pactole . She worked with both in Vincent mit lne dans un pr (et sen vint dans lautre) .
She was the godmother of the Vebron Film Festival from its foundation in 1988 until her death in 2013. She died during the weeks the festival was on.
She signed the Manifesto of the 343 to support the legalization of abortion in France.
She accepted to star in Trop jolies pour tre honntes only because she wished to use her salary to help husband Diourka Medveczky producing and directing a feature film called "Margaret". The movie was never made.
She originally wanted to pursue a singing career, but she was told that she didnt have the talent for it. This autobiographical element was at the centre of the plot of Une belle fille comme moi , where her character, Camille Bliss, tries in vain to become a singer.
She never considered herself a beauty and greatly admired actresses such as Franoise Rosay , Marguerite Moreno and Yvonne de Bray for relying on their talents rather than their looks.
Acting idols included Jean Marais , James Dean and Marlon Brando.
Both Bernadette and daughter Pauline Lafont appeared in one of Claude Chabrol s Inspector Lavardin movies. Pauline was in Poulet au vinaigre while Bernadette starred in Inspecteur Lavardin .
In 1995 she received the "Prix Reconnaissance des cinphiles" for her film work.
On the set of Les bonnes femmes , she befriended Stphane Audran , but not Clotilde Joano and Lucile Saint-Simon , both of which she found uninteresting.
Was good friends with Anna Karina.
On 6 December 2013, a public exhibition dedicated to her memory, "Bernadette Lafont lexposition hommage", was held in Paris. Actors Stphane Audran , Guillaume Gouix and Alexandra Stewart read some extracts of Bernard Bastides new biography "Bernadette Lafont, une vie de cinma", including some original letters written by Bernadette. The event was filmed by Grard Courant and aired as an episode of "Carnets films", "In Memoriam Bernadette Lafont".
As a friendly favour to Bernadette, Stphane Audran had a strong input in Pauline Lafont getting cast in Poulet au vinaigre .
Often described as a brunette counterpart of Brigitte Bardot because of her provocative sex appeal, she was nicknamed La Bardot Ngre.
She had a mansion in Argenton-les-Valles. As a homage to Bernadette, on the 22 June 2014, the citys inter-library was renamed after her. On that date, both the movie theatre Les Commynes and the inter-library paid the actress a long series of homages, which included several documentaries and photographic exhibitions.
She has a rose named after her.
[on Le rvlateur (1968) ] Le Rvlateur is a silent film. A,couple and their child flee in the face of an unknown, but still,considerable menace. A film with neither laughter nor mutterings. In a,desolate landscape, full of humidity and humiliation, we see the,weakest of beings stage his revolt: a child. .
