Yvonne de Bray [SEP] native language
Yvonne de Bray
Yvonne de Bray (12 May 1889 – 1 February 1954) was a French stage and film actress. She was born Yvonne Laurence Blanche de Bray in Paris and died there.
In 1939, she and her partner Violette Morris invited Jean Cocteau to stay with them at their houseboat docked at Pont de Neuilly where he wrote the three-act play "Les Monstres sacrés". She was a successful stage actress but it was Cocteau who introduced her as a film actress in his 1943 film, L'Éternel
. It then took several months of searching for a theatre before Cocteau made an agreement with Roger Capgras and Alice Cocéa to present the play at the Théâtre des Ambassadeurs in Paris. Rehearsals were troubled and several changes of cast took place. Alice Cocéa took over the role of Madeleine and Marcel André took the part of Georges. Most significantly, Yvonne de Bray became ill and had to be replaced by Germaine Dermoz. (The published version of the play was still dedicated to Yvonne de Bray.)
The first performance took