Mylène Demongeot, Film Actress and Jean Seberg's Life-long Friend Dies at 87

By Garry McGee
Co-Producer/Director/Writer of
Jean Seberg: Actress Activist Icon

French actress Mylène Demongeot, a box office star from the 1950s to the present day, died in a Paris hospital on Thursday, December 1 at the age of 87. She was often compared to her contemporary Brigitte Bardot in her early years. She was a passionate advocate of environmental and animal charities.

MylèneDemongeot (born Marie-Hélène Demongeot in 1935) was a French film, television and theatre actress and author with a career spanning almost seven decades and more than 100 credits in French, Italian, and English speaking productions.

She was also nominated for the BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles for her portrayal of Abigail Williams in The Crucible (1957), and was twice nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the César Awards for 36 Quai des Orfèvres (2004) and for French California (2006). In 2017, she was made Knight of the Légiond'Honneur and Commander of the Ordre des Arts et de Lettres in 2007 under the French Republic.

David Niven, Mylène Demongeot and Jean Seberg in Bonjour Tristesse.

Mylène appeared in her first English-speaking film role in 1958’s Bonjour Tristesse, filmed on the French Riviera and in Paris, directed by Otto Preminger and co-starring David Niven, Deborah Kerr, and Jean Seberg. A life-long friendship with Jean Seberg resulted, and she shared her many thoughts and recollections of Jean with me for the biography Jean Seberg—Breathless and the documentary film Jean Seberg: Actress Activist Icon.

We first met in the late 1990s, it was in the Pigalle area of Paris at a coffee shop she suggested. When she arrived, workers and patrons turned their heads and whispered among themselves. They knew who she was. We visited over a couple hours and several cups of coffee, and when the bill arrived, I took it. She protested: “No. Let me pay.” I replied that I would as it was the least I could do with her having made the time to meet with me. “No. You have no money,” she stated. “If I can’t at least pay for a few cups of coffee,” I answered, “then I have no business being here with you, let alone Paris!” She laughed, knowing she lost the “fight”.

A couple years later, I returned to film an interview with her for the documentary on Jean Seberg. It was done at her home in Paris, which she shared with her husband Marc Simenon. He appeared toward the end of the session, and I asked if he’d like to share his memories of Jean. With Mylène’s encouragement he agreed. Afterwards, she and he went to their open kitchen and pulled out cheese and snacks from the refrigerator, and some wine, too.

We stood around the kitchen island with small talk, and I gave them a Zippo lighter and a Pierre Cardin pen set that I bought in the States. Small thank you gifts for their time and help (I’d purchased several as there were other interviews being conducted on that trip). They started conversing in French and laughing, then turned to me and said it was so ironic: they had just dined with Pierre Cardin the day before. Several months later I received from Mylène a card of a silhouette of Marc looking out at a body of water. She wrote that he had passed away, and that she was lost without him.

We kept in touch, though it was less and less through the years. She kept very busy, and I felt fortunate having known her. It was easy to see why Jean Seberg liked her so much…

Produced by Emmy award-winning filmmaker Garry McGee (McMarr Ltd.), and Emmy-award winning filmmakers Kelly Rundle and Tammy Rundle (Fourth Wall Films), Jean Seberg: Actress, Activist, Icon tells the true story of Hollywood and heartbreak, beginning when an unknown 17-year-old Iowa girl who beat out 18,000 actresses to play Saint Joan in Otto Preminger's 1957 film. The documentary goes behind the scenes of her rocky life in the international film spotlight, her civil rights activism that drew FBI attention, and her mysterious death in Paris in 1979. The documentary is in the distribution phase.

Visit JeanSebergMovie for updates on the documentary, glimpses behind-the-scenes, all things Jean Seberg, and upcoming news on the film's release in late 2022/early 2023.

For more on Jean Seberg read Garry McGee's books: Jean Seberg--Breathless, Neutralized: the FBI vs. Jean Seberg (with Jean Russell Larson) and The Films of Jean Seberg (with Michael Coates-Smith). 

Comments

[Mark Adams-Westin]

You’re a fine writer Garry. Thank you for your work and passion!