Lion of Saint Mark
Born Anne-José Madeleine Henriette Bénard, Aubry began her career as a dancer. At age 20, she was signed to 20th Century Fox. She made her break as the star of Henri-Georges Clouzot's "Manon" (1949), which won the Golden Lion of Saint Mark at the famed Venice Film Festival. That brought her a leading role alongside Tyrone Power and Orson Welles in American director Henry Hathaway's feature "The Black Rose" (1950). Aubry had also a strong performance in Christian-Jacque's "Bluebeard" (1952), one of the first French-produced films to be made in color. For a short time, she was a Hollywood success, signing a lucrative contract with Fox, employing her parents as a publicity team, and regularly appearing in French film magazines as an example of the perfect hybrid of Franco-American femininity.