Nicole Maurey

This glamorous French import who was born Nicole Arlette Maurey in a Paris suburb on December 20, 1925, began studying dancing in her early career but switched to films in 1944, where she was cast in various heroine roles.She made her French film debut with a featured role in the costume period pieces _Le cavalier noir (1945)_ (qv) starring 'Georges Guétary' (qv) and _Paméla (1945)_ (qv) starring 'Fernand Gravey' (qv). She earned her first starring role as the title character in the fantasy _Blondine (1945)_ (qv). After some time away, she reappeared in film in the early 1950s and gained some momentum with roles in _Diary of a Country Priest (1951)_ (qv), _Rendezvous in Grenada (1951)_ (qv) opposite Spanish tenor 'Luis Mariano' (qv), the comedy fantasy _Le dernier Robin des Bois (1952)_ (qv), the crime thriller _Opération Magali (1953)_ (qv), the heavy drama _Companions of the Night (1953)_ (qv) and the much lighter _L'oeil en coulisses (1953)_ (qv).Nicole began to flirt with Hollywood stardom in the 50s co-starring with 'Bing Crosby' (qv) in both the drama _Little Boy Lost (1953)_ (qv)and musical comedy _High Time (1960)_ (qv); 'Charlton Heston' (qv) in the adventure drama _Secret of the Incas (1954)_ (qv); 'Mickey Rooney' (qv) in the war drama _The Bold and the Brave (1956)_ (qv); 'Danny Kaye' (qv) in the war comedy _Me and the Colonel (1958)_ (qv) and 'Jeff Chandler' (qv) in the western _The Jayhawkers! (1959)_ (qv). When things didn't pan out, she moved and settled in England in the next decade and appeared pleasantly in a variety of films but without much fanfare. Some include _The Scapegoat (1959)_ (qv) with 'Alec Guinness' (qv); _The House of the Seven Hawks (1959)_ (qv) with 'Robert Taylor' (qv); _His and Hers (1961)_ (qv) with 'Terry-Thomas' (qv);and _Why Bother to Knock (1961)_ (qv) and _The Very Edge (1963)_ (qv) both starring 'Richard Todd' (qv). Her most memorable movie role of that period was that of Christine in the classic sci-fi horror _Invasion of the Triffids (1963)_ (qv) in which she was coupled with 'Jesse Ed Azure' (qv) as they escape from flesh-eating plants.Eventually returning to her homeland where she filmed the secret agent drama _Killer Spy (1965)_ (qv) and appeared as Michele Champion in the dramatic TV series _Champion House (1967)_ (qv), Nicole appeared sporadically on film and especially on TV. Featured in the film drama _Gloria - Liebe meines Lebens (1977)_ (qv), she also appeared in a small part in the highly popular biopic _Chanel Solitaire (1981)_ (qv).Married and divorced (1950-1960) from actor 'Jacques Gallo' (qv), she later wed in the 1970's but divorced again. Nicole died of natural causes on March 11, 2016, in France, at age 90.::Gary Brumburgh / gr-home@pacbell.net