Ginette Leclerc

Striking, voluptuous, brunette actress who appeared in over 100 French films from the early 1930s through the late 70s. Too often cast in vamp or "other woman" roles in mostly lightweight fare, Leclerc occasionally landed stronger roles or was effectively cast against type. 1938 was a banner year for the actress, with good roles in the women's prison drama "Prison Without Bars" and, as the errant spouse, in Marcel Pagnol's rural tale, "The Baker's Wife." The war years brought Leclerc perhaps her most memorable role, as the crippled Denise in the suspense classic "Le Corbeau" (1943), though she also distinguished herself in postwar years as one of the prostitutes in the "House of Madame Tellier" episode of the masterful Max Ophuls trilogy, "Le Plaisir" (1951). One of her rare English-speaking appearances was in Joseph Strick's adaptation of Henry Miller's "Tropic of Cancer" (1970).