Micheline Presle Dies: ‘Devil In The Flesh’ Star Was 101

Bruce Haring
·2 min read

Micheline Presle, the French actress whose controversial Devil in the Flesh role was the start of a career that included starring opposite John Garfield, Tyrone Power, Errol Flynn and Paul Newman, has died at 101.

Presle died Wednesday in the Paris suburb of Nogent-sur-Marne, her son-in-law, Olivier Bomsel, told Le Figaro.

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Presle portrayed a nurse having an affair with a student (Gérard Philipe) in the World War I drama Devil in the Flesh (1947), which the National Board of Review voted as one of the 10 best films of the year.

Gerard Philipe and Micheline Presle in ‘Devil in the Flesh,’ 1947
Gerard Philipe and Micheline Presle in ‘Devil in the Flesh,’ 1947

She was soon signed by 20th Century Fox, which changed her surname to Prelle and cast her as a café owner who falls in love with a crooked jockey (Garfield) in Jean Negulesco’s Under My Skin (1950). She also starred with Power in the Technicolor war film American Guerilla in the Philippines (1950), and in The Adventures of Captain Fabian (1951).

She would appear in the romantic comedy If a Man Answers (1962), which also starred Sandra Dee’s then-husband, Bobby Darin.

She played a scientist alongside Newman in the spy drama The Prize (1963), set against the backdrop of a Nobel Prize ceremony.

From 1965-71, she starred on the French comedy series Les Saintes Chéries.

Her films included Male Hunt (1964), The Legend of Frenchie King (1971), Samuel Fuller’s Thieves After Dark (1984) and Alain Resnais’ I Want to Go Home (1989), for which she received a César nomination

She was presented with an honorary César in 2004. Honorary Cesar recipients include Christopher Nolan, David Fincher, Cate Blanchett, and Robert Redford.

Her daughter, director Tonie Marshall, won a history-making César for Venus Beauty Institute, died in 2020 at age 68.

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