Early life

Bisset was born Winifred Jacqueline Fraser Bisset in Weybridge, Surrey, England, the daughter of Arlette Alexander, a lawyer turned housewife, and Max Fraser Bisset, a general practitioner. Her mother was Scottish and her father was of French and English descent; Bisset's mother cycled from Paris and boarded a British troop transport to escape the Germans during World War II.

Bisset grew up in Tilehurst, near Reading in Berkshire, in a 17th-century country cottage, where she now lives part of the year She has a brother, Max. Her mother taught her to speak French fluently, and she was educated at the Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle in London. She had taken ballet lessons as a child and began taking acting lessons and fashion modelling to pay for them. When Bisset was a teenager, her mother was diagnosed with disseminating sclerosis.

Bisset's parents divorced in 1968, after 28 years of marriage. Her father died aged 71 of a brain tumour in 1982. Her mother died in 1999.

Career

First appearing uncredited as a prospective model in 1965's The Knack ...and How to Get It, Bisset made her official film debut the following year in Roman Polanski's Cul-de-sac (1966). In 1967, she appeared in the movie Two for the Road. Next, she participated in the James Bond satire, Casino Royale, as Miss Goodthighs. That same year, she played her first lead role in The Cape Town Affair, opposite James Brolin.

Bisset gained mainstream recognition in 1968 when she replaced Mia Farrow for the role of Norma MacIver in The Detective, opposite Frank Sinatra. In the same year, she co-starred with Michael Sarrazin in The Sweet Ride, which brought her a Golden Globe nomination for Most Promising Newcomer, and played Steve McQueen's girlfriend in the police drama Bullitt, which was among the top five highest-grossing films of the year.

In 1969, she played her first "older woman" (at 25) in the sex comedy The First Time. She was one of the many stars in the 1970 disaster film Airport, as a pregnant stewardess carrying Dean Martin's love child. Following films included The Mephisto Waltz (1971) with Alan Alda, The Thief Who Came to Dinner (1973) with Ryan O'Neal, End of the Game (1975) with Jon Voight and St. Ives (1976) with Charles Bronson.

Several of Bisset's movies are also French or Italian productions. In 1973, she appeared in François Truffaut's Day for Night, where she earned the respect of European critics and moviegoers as a serious actress. She co-starred with Marcello Mastroianni in Luigi Comencini's La donna della domenica in 1975.

In 1977, Bisset made strides towards becoming a better-known entertainer in America with her movie The Deep, where swimming underwater wearing only a T-shirt for a top, helped make the film a box office success, leading the producer Peter Guber to say, "That T-shirt made me a rich man," and led many to credit her with popularising the wet T-shirt contest. At the time, Newsweek declared her "the most beautiful film actress of all time." About that time, a small Dutch-produced film Bisset had made some years earlier was re-released in the United States under the title Secrets. That movie featured the only extensive nude scenes of Bisset's career and the producers cashed in on her fame.

By 1978, she was a household name. In that year she earned a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress (Comedy) for her performance in Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe?, and starred opposite Anthony Quinn in The Greek Tycoon. Soon thereafter, she played in the movies When Time Ran Out (1980) with Paul Newman, and George Cukor's Rich and Famous (1981) with Candice Bergen, where she also served as co-producer. One of her well-known roles was in Class (1983), where she played Rob Lowe's attractive mother who has an affair with her son's prep school roommate (Andrew McCarthy). She earned another Golden Globe nomination for her role in John Huston's Under the Volcano (1984) opposite Albert Finney. In 1989, she starred in the racy comedy Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills as a lascivious suburban widow, and as Carré Otis' employer/educator in the controversial erotic thriller Wild Orchid (1990) with Mickey Rourke.

Bisset has appeared in many made-for-TV movies since the mid-1980s, starting with the cable adaptation of Anna Karenina with Christopher Reeve in 1985. One of her later TV movies, in 2003, was America's Prince: The John F. Kennedy Jr. Story, in which she portrayed Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis. Bisset's other television work includes the Biblical epics Jesus (1999) and In the Beginning (2000), and the miniseries Joan of Arc, which earned her an Emmy nomination for Best Supporting Actress.

In 1996, Bisset was nominated for a César Award for her role in the French film La Cérémonie. She appeared in the 16th century period drama Dangerous Beauty (1998) as Catherine McCormack's mother, a retired Venetian courtesan, and had the leading role in the 2001 independent feature The Sleepy Time Gal, which premiered on the Sundance Channel and was cited by the Village Voice in its annual survey of the year's best undistributed films. In 2005, she was seen in the Domino Harvey biographical film Domino with Keira Knightley, directed by Tony Scott, in which Bisset played a fictionalized version of Paulene Stone (renamed "Sophie Wynn") whom she actually knew from her time as a model in London.

In 2006, Bisset had a recurring role on the TV series Nip/Tuck as the ruthless extortionist James. She starred in the lead role of Boaz Yakin's Death in Love which premiered at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. Later that year, she starred in the Hallmark television film An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving. She recently finished filming The Last Film Festival, which was the final screen appearance of Dennis Hopper.

In 2010, Bisset was awarded the Légion d'honneur insignia, with French President Nicolas Sarkozy calling her "a movie icon."

She returned to the UK to film Stephen Poliakoff's 1930s jazz drama series, Dancing on the Edge, which started on BBC2 in 2013. For her work, she won the Golden Globe for Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Series, Miniseries or Television Film. In 2015, she co-starred with Drew Barrymore and Toni Collette in the film Miss You Already.

Personal life

Bisset is godmother to actress Angelina Jolie.

Bisset has never married, though she has had lengthy romances with French-Canadian actor Michael Sarrazin, Moroccan real estate magnate Victor Drai, Russian dancer/actor Alexander Godunov, Swiss actor Vincent Pérez, and Turkish martial arts instructor Emin Boztepe. "I feel like I was married to them because I was very dedicated to them", she said in a 2008 interview. "But I also used to feel claustrophobic. Like many people who don't easily commit, I think I had a fear of being known; I was not sure there was anybody inside there."

Boztepe and Perez were 18 and 20 years her junior, respectively. Bisset has said,

"I remember reading an article that referred to Emin as a 'toy boy' and thinking 'What on earth is that?'. That phrase is one of the most insulting things - it's so rude and comes from pure jealousy I think. He was younger than me, but he was so much a man that calling him a toy boy was ludicrous! And I was so embarrassed for him because it was highly inappropriate. It's also disrespectful to talk about women as cougars. It's very derogatory and silly and all part of this negative kind of thinking that I try very hard to ignore. But they do say that sexually, a man is at his height at 18 and a woman at 35, so that's nature's way. I just think that people are attracted to what they want and need for however long it works."

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1965	The Knack ...and How to Get It	Model	Uncredited
1966	Cul-de-sac	Jacqueline
1966	Drop Dead Darling	Dancer	AKA Arrivederci, Baby!
1967	Casino Royale	Giovanna Goodthighs
1967	Two for the Road	Jackie
1967	Cape Town Affair, TheThe Cape Town Affair	Candy
1968	Sweet Ride, TheThe Sweet Ride	Vickie Cartwright	Nominated—Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year - Actress
1968	Detective, TheThe Detective	Norma Maclver
1968	Bullitt	Cathy	Laurel Award for Female New Face (2nd place)
1969	First Time, TheThe First Time	Anna
1969	Secret World (fr)	Wendy Sinclair	Original titles: L'échelle blanche AKA La Promesse
1970	Airport	Gwen Meighen
1970	Grasshopper, TheThe Grasshopper	Christine Adams	Nominated—Laurel Award for Best Female Dramatic Performance
1971	Mephisto Waltz, TheThe Mephisto Waltz	Paula Clarkson
1971	Secrets	Jenny
1972	Stand Up and Be Counted	Sheila Hammond
1972	Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean, TheThe Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean	Rose Bean
1973	Thief Who Came to Dinner, TheThe Thief Who Came to Dinner	Laura Keaton
1973	Day for Night	Julie Baker	Original title: La nuit américaine
1973	Le Magnifique	Tatiana/Christine	AKA How to Destroy the Reputation of the Greatest Secret Agent...
1974	Murder on the Orient Express	Countess Andreyni
1975	The Spiral Staircase	Helen Mallory
1975	End of the Game	Anna Crawley	Original title: Der Richter und sein Henker
1975	Sunday Woman, TheThe Sunday Woman	Anna Carla Dosio	Original title: La donna della domenica
1976	St. Ives	Janet Whistler
1977	Deep, TheThe Deep	Gail Berke
1978	Greek Tycoon, TheThe Greek Tycoon	Liz Cassidy
1978	Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe?	Natasha O'Brien	Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1979	Together?	Louise
1980	When Time Ran Out	Kay Kirby
1981	Inchon	Barbara Hallsworth
1981	Rich and Famous	Liz Hamilton
1983	Class	Ellen Burroughs
1984	Under the Volcano	Yvonne Firmin	Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture
1984	Forbidden	Nina von Halder	Nominated—CableACE Award for Actress in a Movie or Miniseries
1985	Anna Karenina	Anna Karenina	Television movie
1986	Choices	Marisa Granger	Television movie
1987	High Season	Katherine Shaw
1988	La maison de Jade	Jane Lambert
1989	Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills	Clare Lipkin
1990	Wild Orchid	Claudia Dennis
1991	Maid, TheThe Maid	Nicole Chantrelle	Television movie
1991	Rossini! Rossini!	Isabella Colbran
1993	Corrupt Justice	Holly McPhee	AKA CrimeBroker
1993	Les marmottes	Frédérique
1995	La Cérémonie	Catherine Lelievre	Nominated—César Award for Best Supporting Actress
1996	September	Pandora	Television movie
1996	Once You Meet a Stranger	Sheila Gaines	Television movie
1997	End of Summer	Christine Van Buren	Television movie
1998	Dangerous Beauty	Paola Franco
1999	Let the Devil Wear Black	Helen Lyne
1999	Witch Hunt	Barbara Thomas	Television movie
1999	Jesus	Mary	Television movie
2000	Britannic	Lady Lewis	Television movie
2000	Les gens qui s'aiment	Angie
2000	Sex & Mrs. X	Madame Simone	Television movie
2000	In the Beginning	Sarah	Television movie
2001	Sleepy Time Gal, TheThe Sleepy Time Gal	Frances
2001	New Years Day	Geraldine
2002	Dancing at the Harvest Moon	Maggie Webber	Television movie
2003	America's Prince: The John F. Kennedy Jr. Story	Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis	Television movie
2003	Latter Days	Lila Montagne
2003	Swing	Christine / Mrs. DeLuca
2004	Survivors Club, TheThe Survivors Club	Carol Rosen	Television movie
2004	Fascination	Maureen Doherty
2005	Fine Art of Love: Mine Ha-Ha, TheThe Fine Art of Love: Mine Ha-Ha'	Headmistress
2005	Domino	Sophie Wynn
2005	Summer Solstice	Alexia White	Television movie
2006	Save the Last Dance 2	Monique Delacroix
2007	Carolina Moon	Margaret Lavelle	Television movie
2008	Death in Love	Mother
2008	Old Fashioned Thanksgiving, AnAn Old Fashioned Thanksgiving	Isabella	Television movie Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actress - Miniseries or Television Film
2010	Last Film Festival, TheThe Last Film Festival	Claudia Benvenuti
2010	An Old Fashioned Christmas	Isabella	Television movie
2012	Two Jacks	Diana
2014	Welcome to New York	Simone Devereaux
2015	Miss You Already	Miranda
2017	Backstabbing for Beginners		Filming

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1987	Napoleon and Josephine: A Love Story	Josephine de Beauharnais	3 episodes
1999	Joan of Arc	Isabelle d'Arc	2 episodes Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Series, Miniseries or Television Film Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie
1999	Hey Arnold!	Madame Parvenu	Episode: "Grudge Match/Polishing Rhonda"
2001-2002	Ally McBeal	Frances Shaw	2 episodes
2003	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Juliet Barclay	Episode: "Control"
2006	Nip/Tuck	James LeBeau	7 episodes
2009	Eastmans, TheThe Eastmans	Emma Eastman	Unsold TV pilot
2011-2012	Rizzoli & Isles	Constance Isles	3 episodes
2013	Dancing on the Edge	Lady Lavinia Cremone	4 episodes Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Series, Miniseries or Television Film

[ Source: Wikipedia ]