Early years

The daughter of a schoolteacher, Fossey was five years old when she was cast by director René Clément to star in his film, Forbidden Games. Fossey played the role of an innocent child orphaned by World War II. The film won numerous awards worldwide including the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and Fossey was hired by American actor/director Gene Kelly for his 1957 film, The Happy Road. When Fossey was ten years old her parents took her out of the film business so she could receive proper schooling. While completing her education, Fossey studied piano and dance and then went on to work in Geneva, Switzerland as an interpreter/translator.

Career

In 1967, at age twenty, after studying acting at Yves Furet "Studio d'Entrainement de l'Acteur" in Paris, Fossey was offered the female lead by director Jean-Gabriel Albicocco for his film Le Grand Meaulnes. As an adult Fossey acted both on stage and in film, working with French directors such as François Truffaut and Bertrand Blier. Fluent in English, Fossey has appeared in several Hollywood motion pictures, including a 1979 role as the wife of Paul Newman in the Robert Altman-directed film, Quintet. In 1982, she was a member of the jury at the 32nd Berlin International Film Festival. During the 1990s, she began performing in television productions.

Personal life

Brigitte Fossey has a daughter from her marriage to director Jean-François Adam, whom she met while making his 1970 film M comme Mathieu.

Awards and recognition

• 1977: Nominated for a César Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Le Bon et les méchants
• 1978: Nominated for a César Award for Best Actress for Les Enfants du placard

Selected filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1952	Forbidden Games	Paulette	Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
1953	La corda d'acciaio	Marcella
1956	The Happy Road	Jeanine
1968	Adieu l'ami	Dominique 'Waterloo' Austerlitz
1970	Raphael, or The Debauched One	Bernardine
1973	Going Places	the woman in the train
1975	Calmos	Suzanne Dufour
1976	The Good and the Bad	Dominique Blanchot
1976	The Man Who Loved Women	Geneviève Bigey
1977	The Glass Cell	Lisa Braun	Nominated - Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
	Les Enfants du placard	Juliette
1978	Mais où et donc Ornicar	Anne
	Quintet	Vivia
1980	La Boum	Françoise Beretton
	Chanel Solitaire	Adrienne
1982	La Boum 2	Françoise Beretton
1982	Enigma	Karen Reinhardt
1983	For Those I Loved	Dina Gray
1988	Cinema Paradiso (Extended Italian version only)	Elena Mendola (as adult)	Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
1990	′′The Last Butterfly′′	Vera
1991	Les Enfants du naufrageur	Helene

[ Source: Wikipedia ]