Anne-Marie Rochand
(COMÉDIENNES)
1 Vla Léandre, 75018 Paris, France
Radio, theatre and film actress Anne-Marie Rochand often acted alongside her husband Jean-Henri Chambois. Rochand was well known on the Parisian stage, most often seen at the Theater de I’Œuvre, but also venues like the Theatre de Paris, and Théâtre de l’Avenue.

Pierre Sonnier
(COMEDIENS)
7 Vla Léandre, 75018 Paris, France
Actor and director Pierre Sonnier was one of the most important figures in the development of mime as an artform. In 1947 he founded a troupe with Marcel Marceau that performed burlesque mimes and mimo-dramas. Bip the Clown, the famous stage persona of Marcel Marceau, was first created at this time, and would go on to be his greatest creation. Together Sonnier and Marceau would win the Deburau Prize (established as a memorial to the 19th-century mime master Jean-Gaspard Deburau) in 1948 for their mimo-dramas Mort avant ‘l’aube, and Bip et L’oiseau. Sonnier has largely been written out of mime history, while Marceau became famous worldwide for being the Master of Silence. Sonnier learnt his trade as assistant director to mime artist (and director) Jean-Louis Barrault. He would establish his own troupe in the 1950s, performing a fantastic and lyrical mime interpretation of Apollinaire’s work at the Théâtre Marigny. He worked in the heart of Montmartre as director of the Théâtre du Tertre, alongside Georges Charaire.

Jandeline and Jean Mercure
(COMÉDIENNES)
12 Vla Léandre, 75018 Paris, France
Well-known theatrical couple Jean Mercure and Aline Jeannerot (otherwise known by her stage name Jandeline) lived here during the 1960s. A loving partnership that lasted over 60 years on-stage and off. Jean Mercure joined Les Forces Francaises Libres in London during WW2, and took part in the liberation of Paris alongside Charles de Gaulle. After the war he directed a stage adaptation of Charles Morgan’s novel The Flashing Stream (1945), starring Jandeline at the Théâtre Pigalle. In 1960 Mercure received his first commission from the Comedie Francaise, staging Montherlant’s Le Cardinal d’Espagne. Together they transformed the fortunes of the former Théâtre Sarah-Bernhardt in 1968, now the Théâtre de la Ville. Since then it has been internationally recognised for its contemporary dance productions and recitals by great artists like Andres Segovia, Claudio Arrau, and Juliette Greco.

Marie-Luce Bellary
(ARTISTES LYRIQUES)
27 Av. Junot, 75018 Paris, France
Marie-Luce Bellary was an artiste lyriques (classical singer) who performed on stages across France with opera’s greatest names. In 1964 she appeared alongside Maria Callas at l’Opéra de Paris in Bellini’s Norma (directed by Franco Zefirelli). A year later it was Bellary who would take the lead role in Bizet’s Carmen, again at l’Opéra de Paris, and touring across France.

Paola/P.A.O.L.A
(CHANTEURS ET CHANTEUSES)
39 Av. Junot, 75018 Paris, France
Popular singer of the 1950s and 60s who was married to the trumpeter and bandleader Lucien Juanico. At the end of the 1950s they released a handful of singles together on Julio Garzon’s label. Paola would go on to sign for Philips and put out more than ten 7”s with crowd pleasing titles like Rock Ou Tango and Hou-La-La-Hoop, cashing in on the hula hoop craze of 1958. She rose to fame when she was spotted aged 12 on a broadcast hosted by Robert Beauvais, commentator for France during the Eurovision Song Contest 1957.

Gabriello
(CHANSONNIERS)
47 Av. Junot, 75018 Paris, France
One of the great Montmartre chansonniers, Gabriello (real name André Galopet) was an actor and singer with a larger than life persona. He was the father of Suzanne Gabriello and is buried in the cimetière Saint-Vincent de Montmartre with his daughter. His film career flourished from the start of the 1930s to the end of the 1960s. Alongside his neighbour Mary Marquet he appeared in the 1952 film Un jour avec vous. A personal favourite of mine is the film La rue sans loi, mainly for its superb poster, created by Albert Dubout.

See an object relating to Gabriello HERE

Mary Marquet
(COMÉDIENNES)
45 Av. Junot, 75018 Paris, France
Destined to be a cinema and theatre actress, Mary Marquet was from a family artists and actors. She entered the National Conservatory of Dramatic Art in 1913 and would start her career with the troupe of Sarah Bernhardt. What followed was an impressive film and theatre career spanning 60 years. She entered the Comédie-Française in 1923 and became a member in 1928. Successful film roles from the 1960s included Marie-Angélique Guillain in Landru (1962. dir. Claude Chabrol), and a truculent mother superior in La Grande Vadrouille (1966, dir. Gérard Oury). She is buried in the cimetière de Montmartre.

Marcel Alba
(COMÉDIENS)
45 Av. Junot, 75018 Paris, France
Marcel Alba was a theatre and film actor, occasional director, and general secretary of the Syndicat National des Acteurs. On the Parisian stage he appeared at Théâtre de la Renaissance, Théâtre Antoine, Théâtre de l’Atelier, Théâtre du Tertre, and in 1962 at the Théâtre de Paris. In 1957 he directed Au paradis (by Fernand Millaud’s) at the Théâtre des Arts, featuring Robert Vérany (who we met on Walk 2 – Château Rouge).

Ema Damia
(CHANTEURS ET CHANTEUSES)
36 Av. Junot, 75018 Paris, France

Ema Damia started her career as a ballerina and actress but made a big splash in Paris as a charming singer in the early 1960s. Her early years, treading the boards of the Gaîté Lyrique, were exchanged for the cabaret scene of Chez Dominique and ultimately the TV programme Du caf’ conc’ au music-hall, hosted by the showman Jacques Charles. Despite her beauty and talent she never really broke into the mainstream, releasing just a handful of singles.