26/02/2009

Anne-Marie Blanc – an emblematic figure of Swiss film – has died at the age of 89. Having played Gilberte Montavon – symbol of brave little Switzerland driving back the German enemy at the heart of Europe in Franz Schnyder’s Gilberte de Courgenay (1941) – she acted in a series of patriotic and romantic roles at the start of her career.

Launched in 1939 by Leopold Lindtberg in Brigadier Studer, Blanc became the favourite actress of the most famous Swiss director of the time, appearing in The Misused Love Letters (1940), Landammann Stauffacher (1941) – about the Battle of Morgarten – and Marie-Louise (1942).

After the war, Blanc began an international career and appeared in Jean Boyer’s One Does Not Die That Way (1946) in France, alongside Erich von Stroheim, followed by Harold French’s White Cradle Inn (1946) in England.

When Hollywood called, she refused and chose to focus on the Swiss stage, where she devoted herself to theatre until 2004, appearing in fewer films. She did however perform on screen in Daniel Schmid’s Violenta (1977), Marcel Schüpbach’s L’allégement (“The Lightening”, 1983), Walter Deuber’s Class Reunion (1988) and Gertrud Pinkus’ Anna Goldin: The Last Witch (1990).

(Translated from French)