Paula Valmond
(COMÉDIENNES)
26 Rue Norvins, 75018 Paris, France

Paula Valmond was an actress whose career stretched from pre WW1 theatre to 1970s films. A popular performer on the Paris stage, she appeared across the city, and through the decades, from the 1910s (Theatre Sarah Bernhardt), 1920s (Gaîté-Lyrique Theatre, Nouveau Théâtre/Théâtre Grévin, Albert 1er), 1930s (Théâtre du Palais-Royal) and 1940s (Comédie-Wagram). Her film career ran from Le coupable (1937) until Absences répétées (1972).

Joseph Sollero
(Guitare)
12 Rue Girardon, 75018 Paris, France
Joseph Sollero was descended from a long line of Romani musicians stretching back through the history of Gypsy jazz. He was related to fellow jazz guitarists Laro Sollero and René Mailhes. Joseph played in the groups of Gus Viseur, Jo Reinhardt and Yoska Gabor, as well as forming his own trio.

Claude Goaty
(CHANTEURS ET CHANTEUSES)
12 Rue Girardon, 75018 Paris, France
In a short but sweet recording career, singer Claude Goaty released more than one hundred songs between 1956 and 1963 on the French Vogue label. Comfortable on the big stage (L’Olympia) and the smaller cabarets of Paris, her soft and charming voice caught the attention of the public with songs like Marjolaine and Petite Fleur. She was responsible for bringing the great composer Francis Lai to the capital, after they met in Marseille in the 1950s, and he became her accompanist.

Jack Thory
(DANSEURS)
12 Rue Girardon, 75018 Paris, France
Jack Thory was a dancer at the Théâtre du Châtelet, including the productions of Rose de Noël (directed by Félix Nuvolone) and The Secret of Marco Polo.

Gérard Laviny
(CHANTEURS ET CHANTEUSES)
12 Rue Girardon, 75018 Paris, France
Singer and songwriter from the Antilles islands. He relocated to France where he became popular playing Caribbean sounds. He was recruited by Liliane Harley to play at the La Créole restaurant in 1953, where he met Henri Salvador, who would become his mentor. Under the suggestion of Joséphine Baker he moved to La Canne à Sucre (Montparnasse), where he became the frontman of the orchestra. In 1958, under the directorship of Boris Vian, he recorded his first EP for the Fontana label. In 1961, he composed the music for the film L’Espace d’un matin by Sergio Gobbi.

Francois Chaumette
(COMEDIENS)
8 Rue Simon Dereure, 75018 Paris, France
Actor François Chaumette graduated in philosophy and then became a student of René Simon at the National Conservatory of Music and Dramatic Art in Paris. Known for his roles in historical television soap operas, he made his film debut in 1942 in Les Visiteurs du soir by Marcel Carné. For French cinemagoers his voice was that of HAL 9000 in 2001, a Space Odyssey, and Darth Vader in Star Wars. He had an impressive theatre career, with many performances at the Comédie-Française during the 1960s, when he lived here.

Fernand Fabre
(COMÉDIENS)
11 Rue Simon Dereure, 75018 Paris, France

From playing the lead in the film Knock (1925) to his appearance in the TV series Les Enquêtes du commissaire Maigret in the 1980s, theatre and film actor Fernand Fabre (1899-1987) had a long and varied career. In the 1960s he appeared alongside his neighbour José Squinquel in the cult B movie Le Gorille a mordu l’archevêque (1962). In the same year he was on stage at the Théâtre Sarah Bernhardt in Adorable Julia by Jean Wall, and in Pas de pique-nique à Calcutta at the Théâtre de l’Athénée.

Paul Amiot
(COMÉDIENS)
12 Rue Simon Dereure, 75018 Paris, France
Paul Amiot (1886-1979) was a French film actor. His career spanned some 63 years and he appeared in nearly 100 films between 1910 and 1973. He is remembered as often playing authority figures on film, portraying police inspectors or detectives, lawyers and physicians. A modest man, many of his fellow actors would not have known he was a war hero, having been awarded the Croix de Guerre and Légion d’honneur. In 1915 he was a pilot in an observation balloon that was swept away in a storm, he parachuted to safety from a height of 2000 metres, seriously injuring himself. After the war he was vice chairman of the L’Association des Comediens Combattants (Association of Fighting Actors). On his death in 1979 he donated his body to scientific research.

Agnes Laurent
(COMEDIENNES)
14 Rue Simon Dereure, 75018 Paris, France
Model and actress Agnes Laurent (real name Josette Choleur) started her career in her native France but her beauty and sex appeal would transcend national borders. In France she is best known for her lead role in Pierre Foucaud ‘s film Mademoiselle Strip-tease, and in the UK, for the British comedy, A French Mistress. In the US she appeared in glamour magazines such as Playboy and Scamp.

Find an object relating to Agnes Laurent HERE.

Francoise Dorin
(CHANSONNIERS)
23 Rue Simon Dereure, 75018 Paris, France
Françoise Dorin (1928-2018) was an actor, comedian, novelist, playwright and songwriter. She was most successful in the 1970s, authored about 30 plays and more than 25 books as well as writing songs for various artists. Dorin wrote the song N’avoue jamais which was performed by Guy Mardel on behalf of France at the Eurovision Song Contest 1965. Dorin authored her first play Comme au théâtre in 1967.

Paul Colline
(CHANSONNIERS)
15 Av. Junot, 75018 Paris, France
Born in Paris in 1895, Paul Colline (real name Paul Louis Élisé Duard) was a singer, author, actor, playwright, screenwriter, chansonnier and director. His father Émile Duard was an actor and director of classical studies at the l’Odéon, his mother, Émilienne Dux was a member of the Comédie-Française. In 1920 he befriended the singer René Dorin, together they released 78s, wrote sketches, as well as lyrics for the revue XYZ. As an author Colline created the character of Ademaï, who featured in several films from the 1930s, as well as picture books. He was awarded the Croix de Guerre for his heroism in WW1.

Simone Paris
(COMÉDIENNES)
12 Av. Junot, 75018 Paris, France
Theatre, TV and cinema actress Simone Paris (real name Simone Marie-Thérèse Maderon) was born in Paris in 1909. She had an unhappy childhood after her mother died when she was 10 years old, and her father sent her to a convent boarding school. At 16 she rebelled, and married to escape the strict rigidity of school life. Paris initially considered a career as a dancer but her lover Sacha Guitry introduced her to the cinema. Her film debut was in Mon père avait raison (1936), directed by Guitry. She appeared alongside her neighbour, Agnes Laurent, in the film Mademoiselle Strip-tease.