French actress and dancer, Leslie Caron, started her profession as a ballerina.
After discovering Caron performing with a ballet firm in France, Gene Kelly forged her within the 1951 musical An American in Paris. The starring position (initially meant for a pregnant Cyd Charisse) plucked Caron from obscurity and landed her a seven-year contract with MGM.
The sunshine of California, coupled with Hollywood’s gratuitous shows of wealth, was a tradition shock for Caron, who had beforehand been dwelling in Paris in the course of the German occupation.
Kelly helped information the inexperienced Caron (whom he lovingly referred to as “Lester the Pester” and “child”) as she navigated her new life and the pressures of the leisure trade.
Caron (who had by no means spoken on stage or display screen previous to her debut in An American in Paris) appeared in a number of musicals (receiving an Oscar nom for Lili in 1953), earlier than learning the Stanislavski methodology, and pivoting to extra severe roles within the Nineteen Sixties.
For her position within the 1962 British drama The L-Formed Room, Caron gained the BAFTA Award for Greatest British Actress, the Golden Globe for Greatest Actress, and was nominated for an Oscar.
Caron continued to work by the Nineteen Seventies and 80s and was honored with a star on the Hollywood Stroll of Fame in 2009.
