Wednesday 12 August 2009

yesterday's muse #6 - capucine


in 1931, Germaine Lefebvre was born in Toulon, France. at 17, while riding in a carriage in Paris, she was noticed by a commercial photographer and soon became a successful fashion model, adopting the name Capucine (pronounced ca-poo-seen), and working for Givenchy and Christian Dior.


In 1949, Capucine made her film debut in Rendez-vous de Juillet. on the set of Rendez-vous, she met Pierre Trabaud, whom she married the following year. the marriage lasted only six months, and she would never marry again. Capucine made numerous films during her career as an actress and continued to act until her death in 1991.



suffering from manic depression throughout her life, Capucine attempted suicide several times. her close friend Audrey Hepburn, whom she met while modelling in the 40s, personally saved her from two previous suicide attempts, but in 1990, at the age of 59, Capucine jumped to her death from her eighth-floor apartment window. the obituary in the New York Times stated that her only known survivors were her three cats.

8 comments:

MissRedLips said...

what a beauty! and really great eyebrows, if i might add!

MissRedLips said...

i also meant to put how sad it was that she committed suicide...looking at these pictures i would never think she would do that, you know?

Alicia @ boylerpf said...

Two of my favorite ladies..Hepburn & Capucine. Total class, elegance and persona. I am so enjoying the history of these beauties.

Regina said...

Thank you for the beautiful pics of Capucine... but how sad an end for her...

caroline duke said...

i love these stories! and she's such a beauty!

Herdman90 said...

I just stared at Capucine, all through 'North to Alaska'. What a classic beauty!

Steven said...

"Capucine. Total class, elegance and persona."

"...looking at these pictures i would never think she would do that..."

Given those qualities & looking at the culture, I can fully understand why (the same reason, imo, for Marilyn's suicide--see:http://www.capitalismmagazine.com/index.php?news=3247 for a fuller explanation).

(And I don't believe hers was a persona but genuine character. (There's one clue about the causal link between the culture and her suicide.))

But, then, I'm just a guy; what do I know.

Unknown said...

She was gay at at time and in a society that considered attraction to your own sex mental illness.
Perhaps abandoned by a lover in the end.
A great tragedy.