María Casares (1922-1996) was a Spanish-French actress and one of the most distinguished stars on the French stage. She was usually credited in France as Maria Casarès.
![Maria Casarès in Les dames du Bois de Boulogne (1945)]()
French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 1109. Photo: Films Ploquin. Maria Casarès in Les dames du Bois de Boulogne/The Ladies of the Bois de Boulogne (Robert Bresson, 1945).
![Les enfants du paradis (1943-45)]()
French postcard by Editions du Centre Pompidou and Flammarion, 1994 / Affiches Gaillard, Paris. Design by Jacques Bonnaud. Reproduction of the original poster for the film Les enfants du paradis. I. Le boulevard du crime (Marcel Carné, Pathé Consortium Cinéma, 1943-1945).
Maria Casarès was born María Victoria Casares y Pérez in A Coruña, Galicia, in 1922. She was the daughter of Santiago Casares Quiroga, a minister in Manuel Azaña's government and Prime Minister of Spain and of Gloria Pérez.
She was helping in Madrid hospitals when she was fourteen. Her father was a member of the Republican government so at the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War (1936), as a Portuguese-Catalonian, the family was forced to flee. The father went to London, and the mother and daughter sought refuge in Paris.
There, María attended the Lycée Victor Duruy then, and after her graduation, she took speech classes with René Simon. She enrolled in the Paris Conservatoire, where she won the First Prize for tragedy and Second Prize for comedy.
In 1942, she auditioned for Marcel Herrand who engaged her for his Théâtre des Mathurins. There, over the course of the next three years, she appeared in several plays including 'Deirdre of the Sorrows' by J. M. Synge, and 'The Master Builder' by Henrik Ibsen.
French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 1109. Photo: Films Ploquin. Maria Casarès in Les dames du Bois de Boulogne/The Ladies of the Bois de Boulogne (Robert Bresson, 1945).
French postcard by Editions du Centre Pompidou and Flammarion, 1994 / Affiches Gaillard, Paris. Design by Jacques Bonnaud. Reproduction of the original poster for the film Les enfants du paradis. I. Le boulevard du crime (Marcel Carné, Pathé Consortium Cinéma, 1943-1945).
Daughter of the Prime Minister
Maria Casarès was born María Victoria Casares y Pérez in A Coruña, Galicia, in 1922. She was the daughter of Santiago Casares Quiroga, a minister in Manuel Azaña's government and Prime Minister of Spain and of Gloria Pérez.
She was helping in Madrid hospitals when she was fourteen. Her father was a member of the Republican government so at the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War (1936), as a Portuguese-Catalonian, the family was forced to flee. The father went to London, and the mother and daughter sought refuge in Paris.
There, María attended the Lycée Victor Duruy then, and after her graduation, she took speech classes with René Simon. She enrolled in the Paris Conservatoire, where she won the First Prize for tragedy and Second Prize for comedy.
In 1942, she auditioned for Marcel Herrand who engaged her for his Théâtre des Mathurins. There, over the course of the next three years, she appeared in several plays including 'Deirdre of the Sorrows' by J. M. Synge, and 'The Master Builder' by Henrik Ibsen.
She also appeared in 'Le Malentendu' (The Misunderstanding) by Albert Camus, with whom she had an affair. An especially important premiere was 'Fédérico', after Prosper Mérimée, with Gérard Philipe.
![Maria Casarès]()
French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 1271. Photo: Roger-Carlet.
![Maria Casarès]()
French autograph card, 1952. Photo: George Henri, Paris.
In the meantime, Maria Casarès began to appear in films. Her first film role was opposite Jean-Louis Barrault in Les Enfants du Paradis/Children of Paradise (Marcel Carné, 1945), one of the great classics of French cinema.
She also made Les dames du Bois de Boulogne/The Ladies of the Bois de Boulogne (Robert Bresson, 1945), and the Stendhal adaptation La Chartreuse de Parme/The Charterhouse of Parma (Christian-Jaque, 1948) co-starring Gérard Philipe.
The latter was the most popular film at the French box office in 1948. For Cocteau, she played Death in his Orphée/Orpheus (Jean Cocteau, 1950) with Jean Marais and François Périer, and in his Testament d'Orphée/Testament of Orpheus (Jean Cocteau, 1959) with Charles Aznavour and Marais.
From 1952 onward, although she continued to appear in occasional films, she devoted herself mainly to the stage. She joined the Festival d'Avignon, the Comédie-Française and the Théâtre National Populaire under the leadership of Jean Vilar.
Before her, no one actor or actress of foreign origin had ever played at Comédie-Française. She toured extensively throughout the world, appearing in the great classics of French theatre, including, in 1958, Corneille's 'Le Cid', Victor Hugo's 'Marie Tudor' and Marivaux' Le Triomphe de l'Amour (The Triumph of Love) on Broadway.
![Maria Casarès]()
French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 110. Photo: C.C.F.C.
![Maria Casarès and Jean Vilar in MacBeth]()
French postcard by Editions C.T., Paris. Photo: Agnès Varda. María Casares as Lady Macbeth and Jean Vilar as Macbeth in Vilar's production of 'MacBeth' (1954) by William Shakesperare at the Festival d'Avignon.
Maria Casares took French nationality in 1975 and three years later married André Schlesser, an actor known professionally as Dade, who had been her longtime companion and theatrical co-star.
She published her autobiography, 'Résidente privilégiée' (Privileged Resident) in 1980, in which she described her 16-year affair with Albert Camus. The couple never married, but their extensive correspondence, first published in France in late 2017, lasted from 1944 to almost the end of Camus' life.
She starred in a number of Albert Camus's plays and often threatened to end their stormy affair over his refusal to leave Francine Faure.
In 1989, she was nominated for the César Award for Best Supporting Actress in the film La Lectrice/The Reader (Michel Delville, 1989), starring Miou-Miou.
In 1996, Maria Casarès died at her country house, Château de La Vergne, in the village of Alloue in Poitou-Charentes, on the day after her 74th birthday. She bequeathed the property to the village. Today, the Domaine de la Vergne is a residence for artists and a setting for performances.
![Maria Casarès in Orphée (1950)]()
Swiss / British / German postcard by News Productions, Baulmes & Stroud / Filmwelt Berlin, Bakede, no. 56514. Photo: Collection Cinémathèque Suisse, Lausanne. Maria Casarès in Orphée/Orpheus (Jean Cocteau, 1950).
Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.
French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 1271. Photo: Roger-Carlet.
French autograph card, 1952. Photo: George Henri, Paris.
One of the great classics of French cinema
In the meantime, Maria Casarès began to appear in films. Her first film role was opposite Jean-Louis Barrault in Les Enfants du Paradis/Children of Paradise (Marcel Carné, 1945), one of the great classics of French cinema.
She also made Les dames du Bois de Boulogne/The Ladies of the Bois de Boulogne (Robert Bresson, 1945), and the Stendhal adaptation La Chartreuse de Parme/The Charterhouse of Parma (Christian-Jaque, 1948) co-starring Gérard Philipe.
The latter was the most popular film at the French box office in 1948. For Cocteau, she played Death in his Orphée/Orpheus (Jean Cocteau, 1950) with Jean Marais and François Périer, and in his Testament d'Orphée/Testament of Orpheus (Jean Cocteau, 1959) with Charles Aznavour and Marais.
From 1952 onward, although she continued to appear in occasional films, she devoted herself mainly to the stage. She joined the Festival d'Avignon, the Comédie-Française and the Théâtre National Populaire under the leadership of Jean Vilar.
Before her, no one actor or actress of foreign origin had ever played at Comédie-Française. She toured extensively throughout the world, appearing in the great classics of French theatre, including, in 1958, Corneille's 'Le Cid', Victor Hugo's 'Marie Tudor' and Marivaux' Le Triomphe de l'Amour (The Triumph of Love) on Broadway.
French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 110. Photo: C.C.F.C.
French postcard by Editions C.T., Paris. Photo: Agnès Varda. María Casares as Lady Macbeth and Jean Vilar as Macbeth in Vilar's production of 'MacBeth' (1954) by William Shakesperare at the Festival d'Avignon.
Her 16-year affair with Albert Camus
Maria Casares took French nationality in 1975 and three years later married André Schlesser, an actor known professionally as Dade, who had been her longtime companion and theatrical co-star.
She published her autobiography, 'Résidente privilégiée' (Privileged Resident) in 1980, in which she described her 16-year affair with Albert Camus. The couple never married, but their extensive correspondence, first published in France in late 2017, lasted from 1944 to almost the end of Camus' life.
She starred in a number of Albert Camus's plays and often threatened to end their stormy affair over his refusal to leave Francine Faure.
In 1989, she was nominated for the César Award for Best Supporting Actress in the film La Lectrice/The Reader (Michel Delville, 1989), starring Miou-Miou.
In 1996, Maria Casarès died at her country house, Château de La Vergne, in the village of Alloue in Poitou-Charentes, on the day after her 74th birthday. She bequeathed the property to the village. Today, the Domaine de la Vergne is a residence for artists and a setting for performances.
Swiss / British / German postcard by News Productions, Baulmes & Stroud / Filmwelt Berlin, Bakede, no. 56514. Photo: Collection Cinémathèque Suisse, Lausanne. Maria Casarès in Orphée/Orpheus (Jean Cocteau, 1950).
Sources: Wikipedia and IMDb.