death_place death_date birth_place birth_date spouse yearsactive image article_title partner death_cause
lyon , france 25 march 1975 lyon , france 09 august 1938 never married 1956 & ndash ; 1971 michèle girardon.jpg michèle girardon
 josé luis de vilallonga suicide
michèle girardon

michèle girardon -lrb- august 9 , 1938 -- march 25 , 1975 -rrb- , sometimes credited as michele girardon , was a french actress .
born in lyon , france , girardon began acting as early as 1956 , and had a small but noticeable role as a deaf-mute beauty in director luis buñuel 's `` la mort en ce jardin -lrb- death in the garden -rrb- '' -lrb- 1956 -rrb- .
she soon became prominent in a host of films , including those of notable directors of the french new wave .
she is probably best known as an actress for her work in director louis malle 's `` les amants -lrb- the lovers -rrb- '' in 1958 , and the 1961 howard hawks production of `` hatari ! ''
starring john wayne and hardy krüger ; for the latter , as she spoke no english when cast in the role , she taught herself english while on the set , according to a july 1961 `` life magazine '' profile of the actress .
the same article stated she was signed to a five -- year contract with paramount studios .
1963 proved to be her most active year , with several avante garde films to her credit including pierre kast 's `` vacances portugaises -lrb- portuguese vacations -rrb- '' , andré cayatte 's experimental ` paired ' films `` jean-marc ou la vie conjugale -lrb- anatomy of a marriage : my days with jean-marc -rrb- '' , and `` françoise ou la vie conjugale -lrb- anatomy of a marriage : my days with françoise -rrb- '' , and director Éric rohmer 's `` la boulangère de monceau -lrb- the girl at the monceau bakery -rrb- '' .
giardon also worked in television .
in 1967 , she played nicole in the first season of `` les chevaliers du ciel '' .
the success of this series brought her a very high level of popularity .
during the 1960s , girardon became romantically involved with a married spaniard nobleman and notorious wastrel , josé luis de vilallonga , whom she had first met on the set of `` les amants '' .
by 1971 , girardon 's acting career was essentially over , and after finally obtaining his divorce in 1972 , de villalonga ended their relationship in order to marry another woman .
girardon never married or had children and became increasingly despondent .
she committed suicide via an overdose of sleeping pills at the age of 36 in lyon on march 25 , 1975 , and is interred near paris in the cimetière de bagneux , hauts de seine .
