Florence Marly

Highly alluring Czech-born actress Florence Marly, born on June 2, 1919, initially expressed intentions of being an opera singer. At the age of 18, however, she was discovered by the 33-year-old renown French director Pierre Chenal while a student of art and literature at the Sorbonne. Chenal put her immediately into his film The Alibi (1937) and an acting career was ignited instead. Returning to France in the post-war years, she was nominated for a Cannes Film Festival award for her performance in The Damned (1947) [The Damned] directed by René Clément and also starring Marcel Dalio and Henri Vidal. Exotic foreign imports were popular in Hollywood in post-war years and in 1949, sultry-eyed Florence took a chance on Hollywood when she was signed by Paramount.