Actress Annie Girardot, a performer in dozens of classic French movies, died Monday morning at Lariboisière Hospital in Paris following a long battle with Alzheimer's. She was 79.
Girardot provided the voice of the Elephant in the 2003 Studio Canal animated feature film La Prophétie Des Grenouilles(Raining Cats and Frogs).
In 1977, she won the Cesar -- France's equivalent of the Oscar -- for best actress for her role in Jean-Louis Bertucelli's Doctor Francoise Gailland. She won Cesars for best actress in a supporting role in Les Miserables (1996) and The Pianist (2002).
Nicolas Baulieu's film Life is like that documented her fight with Alzheimer's.
Her roles ranged from a policewoman to lawyer or teacher.
Born Annie Suzanne Girardot in Paris on October 25, 1931, she trained as a nurse before becoming a stage actress. She first appeared on film in Andre Hunebelle's Trieze a Table (13 at table) in 1955.
She had "the most beautiful post-war dramatic temperament," Jean Cocteau said.
In 1962, she married actor Renato Salvatori, with whom she co-starred in Luchino Visconti's Rocco and his brothers.
"I've always gone to the market myself, done my shopping, my housework. I've never been a velvety star," she wrote in 1999.
Predeceased by her husband in 1988, Annie Girardot is survived by their daughter Giulia.
