Claude Winter

Claude Winter — Biography

Claude Winter was for many years one of the leading actresses of the Comédie-Française, the long-established French national theatre company. Her real name was Claude Marthe Elisabeth Wintergerst. Besides the stage she worked in film and television, and she also worked as a voice actress. She was made a Knight of the Legion of Honour and won the Prix du Brigadier.

She joined the Comédie-Française on 1 September 1953, became a sociétaire on 1 January 1960 and the company's dean on 1 January 1987. In 1988, after the death of its administrator Jean Le Poulain, she acted as interim administrator for two and a half months. When she decided to retire her colleagues named her honorary sociétaire. She won the Prix du Brigadier in 1988 for Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman.

On television she played in classic and historical productions such as Ruy Blas (the queen), Tartuffe (Elmire), Ondine, Horace and Le Bunker (Eva Braun). Her film roles include Le Bon Plaisir (1984, the First Lady), A Sunday in the Country (1984, Mme Ladmiral), Savage Nights (1992, Jean's mother), L'ange noir (1994) and her final film role, Rendez-vous avec un ange (2010, the grandmother). She also provided the French dubbing voice of Elizabeth Taylor in several films. Born in Tientsin, China, she died in Paris in 2011.