Born #OTD 1898: Arletty

A publicity shot of French actress Arletty, for ‘Hôtel du Nord’, 1938. Photo: Bridgeman Images. 

French actress, singer, and model Léonie Marie Julie Bathiat, professionally known as Arletty, entered this mortal coil on 15 May 1898 in the Paris suburb of Courbevoie. Notorious for her dalliance with Nazi Luftwaffe officer Hans-Jürgen Soehring during the dark days of her homeland’s occupation in the crucible of World War II, she was convicted of treason in 1945 and served eighteen months in confinement for this crime. Yet, the French people did prove to be a forgiving lot and Arletty's stage and film career resumed by 1948 and flourished into the 1960s. In 1995, the French government honoured her memory by printing a limited edition coin with her visage. Arletty lived to the ripe age of 94, departing on 23 July 1992.

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