Ballerina, Actress. A star of the Parisian ballet scene, she is probably better remembered for several cinematic appearances made during the 1950s. Raised in the French capital, she took to dance early, studied at the Paris Opera Ballet School, and made her professional debut with that company. Joining the Paris-based Les Petit Ballet, she had hits in a 1948 production of "Les Demoiselles de la Nuit" and in her 1949 New York debut with a presentation of "Le Combat", and also in 1949 scored a major smash in both London and New York with "The Boiled Egg", a piece set in Hell, when she emerged from an egg shell clad in black tights and feathers, her stunning gams earning her the title "Les Legs" from the New York press. Colette was seen in the 1951 Broadway revue "Two on the Aisle" and in 1952 was cast as s streetwalker named Marie who torments Jose Ferrer's Toulouse-Latrec in John Huston's "Moulin Rouge", her performance garnering her a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination as well as a Golden Globe for Most Promising Newcomer. She performed in other Petit productions including "Cine Bijou" and 1953's The Lady in the Ice", Orson Welles' only venture into ballet directing, made a few more movie appearance, most notably the 1954 "Hungarian Rhapsody", and was a frequent guest on such television shows-of-the-day as "Ford Star Revue" and "The Ed Sullivan Show". Married to Petit conductor Jacques Bazire, she gradually withdrew from the stage, though she continued to make guest appearances, even dancing with the London Ballet Company in 1955 and 1956 in "Swan Lake". At her demise, "Moulin Rouge" was available on DVD.
Ballerina, Actress. A star of the Parisian ballet scene, she is probably better remembered for several cinematic appearances made during the 1950s. Raised in the French capital, she took to dance early, studied at the Paris Opera Ballet School, and made her professional debut with that company. Joining the Paris-based Les Petit Ballet, she had hits in a 1948 production of "Les Demoiselles de la Nuit" and in her 1949 New York debut with a presentation of "Le Combat", and also in 1949 scored a major smash in both London and New York with "The Boiled Egg", a piece set in Hell, when she emerged from an egg shell clad in black tights and feathers, her stunning gams earning her the title "Les Legs" from the New York press. Colette was seen in the 1951 Broadway revue "Two on the Aisle" and in 1952 was cast as s streetwalker named Marie who torments Jose Ferrer's Toulouse-Latrec in John Huston's "Moulin Rouge", her performance garnering her a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination as well as a Golden Globe for Most Promising Newcomer. She performed in other Petit productions including "Cine Bijou" and 1953's The Lady in the Ice", Orson Welles' only venture into ballet directing, made a few more movie appearance, most notably the 1954 "Hungarian Rhapsody", and was a frequent guest on such television shows-of-the-day as "Ford Star Revue" and "The Ed Sullivan Show". Married to Petit conductor Jacques Bazire, she gradually withdrew from the stage, though she continued to make guest appearances, even dancing with the London Ballet Company in 1955 and 1956 in "Swan Lake". At her demise, "Moulin Rouge" was available on DVD.
Bio by: Bob Hufford
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