LESLIE CARON
Her mother danced, perhaps part of her gift is genetic. She studied from
childhood at the Paris Conservatoire where she received excellent instruction.
She was chosen at 16 to dance with the Ballet de Champs Elysees. And, after a
mere three years, she was ?discovered? by Gene Kelly and blessed by being in the
right place at the right time. From birth, Leslie Caron was on a path of
artistic mastery which would lead her on a journey from movie musicals to
intense drama, winning her international stardom and adoration. .
And she will always be Gigi, her 1958 starring role in Vincente Minnelli?s
Academy Award-winning charmer. Her career since her debut as the ingenue in
Minnelli?s An American in Paris has been anything but ordinary. She cannot be
categorized by any facet of performing arts?she has excelled in them all?film,
theater, television and music. Her vivaciousness has maintained the wide-eyed
youthfulness we associate so clearly with her, yet her commitment to her craft
and a life lived in Hollywood and Europe has deepened that look in her eyes. Her
Oscar-nominated performances in the musical Lili (1953) and the unforgettable
drama The L-Shaped Room (1963) (for which she won the British Academy Award)
reflect the diversity Caron sought, refusing to be stereotyped. She still
performs, travels, writes and lives life to its fullest..
Today, she also devotes herself to her inn, La Lucarne aux Chouettes (The Owl?s
Window). Located 70 miles south of Paris in the Burgundy village of Villeneuve-sur-Yonne,
Caron?s love of antiques, fine art and her exquisite taste for food and wine
have carved a piece of heaven in the French countryside. Her terrace overlooks
the River Yonne and each room, purposefully decorated, reflects Leslie?s many
personas. The direction of color and care which she has invested in this newest
of artistic ventures may, perhaps, have been inspired by her first director,
Vincente Minnelli..
Her mother danced, perhaps part of her gift is genetic. She studied from
childhood at the Paris Conservatoire where she received excellent instruction.
She was chosen at 16 to dance with the Ballet de Champs Elysees. And, after a
mere three years, she was ?discovered? by Gene Kelly and blessed by being in the
right place at the right time. From birth, Leslie Caron was on a path of
artistic mastery which would lead her on a journey from movie musicals to
intense drama, winning her international stardom and adoration. .
And she will always be Gigi, her 1958 starring role in Vincente Minnelli?s
Academy Award-winning charmer. Her career since her debut as the ingenue in
Minnelli?s An American in Paris has been anything but ordinary. She cannot be
categorized by any facet of performing arts?she has excelled in them all?film,
theater, television and music. Her vivaciousness has maintained the wide-eyed
youthfulness we associate so clearly with her, yet her commitment to her craft
and a life lived in Hollywood and Europe has deepened that look in her eyes. Her
Oscar-nominated performances in the musical Lili (1953) and the unforgettable
drama The L-Shaped Room (1963) (for which she won the British Academy Award)
reflect the diversity Caron sought, refusing to be stereotyped. She still
performs, travels, writes and lives life to its fullest..
Today, she also devotes herself to her inn, La Lucarne aux Chouettes (The Owl?s
Window). Located 70 miles south of Paris in the Burgundy village of Villeneuve-sur-Yonne,
Caron?s love of antiques, fine art and her exquisite taste for food and wine
have carved a piece of heaven in the French countryside. Her terrace overlooks
the River Yonne and each room, purposefully decorated, reflects Leslie?s many
personas. The direction of color and care which she has invested in this newest
of artistic ventures may, perhaps, have been inspired by her first director,
Vincente Minnelli..