Dora Doll

Biography

Dora Doll was born in 1922 in Berlin to a Russian-Jewish banker who was forced to leave Russia following the 1917 Revolution. In the late 1930s, she moved to France with dreams of becoming an actress, already fluent in Russian and German, and quickly picking up French, Italian, and English.

Her film career began with a notable role as Juliette in Henri-Georges Clouzot's *Manon* (1949). She continued to make a mark in the French cinema scene, portraying Lola in Jacques Becker's *Touchez pas au grisbi* (1954) and Genisse in Jean Renoir's *French Cancan* (1955). In the 1970s, she transitioned to television, appearing as Suzy in the series *Hôtel Baltimore* (1976). Her filmography expanded with a role in Fred Zinnemann's *Julia* (1977), where she played a passenger aiding Lillian Hellman, and in Ettore Scola's *That Night in Varennes* (1982). In the late 1990s, she was beloved as the grandmother Louise Chantreuil in the TV series *Tide of Life*.

Dora Doll's personal life included two marriages; her first to actor Raymond Pellegrin, with whom she had a daughter, Danielle, followed by a marriage to François Deguelt. Her contributions to cinema were recognized with the Prix "Reconnaissance des cinéphiles" in 1993 and she was named Knight of France's National Order of Merit in 2000. Dora Doll passed away at the age of 93 on November 15, 2015, at her home in Gard, France.