2023-08-05 04:00:00
In his obituary section of December 4, 1983, the New York Times underlines the death of Fifi D’Orsay, the one we nicknamed the French bombshell in the 1930s. D’Orsay was a stage name for the actress and this “incendiary Frenchwoman” had never set foot in France.
Already in the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s, Hollywood was the stuff of dreams. This was the case for a young French Canadian from Montreal.
Born in April 1904, in Montreal, the daughter of a post office worker and member of 12 siblings, Marie-Rose Angelina Yvonne Lussier studied at the Académie du Sacré-Coeur before working as a secretary.
If she has dreamed of American glory since childhood, it is to chance that she owes a decisive encounter for the rest of things. Her path crosses that of Helen Morgan, a Chicago singer and actress who has played roles on Broadway and in Hollywood.
Inspired by her encounter, guided by Morgan’s advice and more determined than ever to achieve her ambitions, Lussier left for New York and launched an assault on the entertainment world.
She was only 19 when she was invited to audition for a Greenwich Village Follies show.
It is said that she would have interpreted the song Yes! We have no bananas in French and with a strong accent. Evoking an alleged experience at the Folies Bergère, she obtains her first role and the nickname of Mademoiselle Fifi.
Fifi D’Orsay Public domain photo
A meteoric rise
Between his arrival in New York in 1923 and the turn of the 1930s, Lussier collaborated with two known names in the artistic colony: first with Edward Gallagher (of the famous vaudeville duo Gallagher and Shean), then with actor Herman Berrans .
Public domain photo
At the time, Berrans collaborated with screenwriter Herman Timberg, himself linked to big names like the Marx brothers, Fred and Adele Astaire or Milton Berle. Adopting the family name D’Orsay, from the name of his favorite Parisian perfume, Lussier quickly made the transition to Hollywood.
Always so determined and energetic, Lussier will take advantage of her image as an incendiary Frenchwoman to tour constantly. Some 17 films are listed between 1929 and 1937.
movies like The Life of Jimmy Dolan, Going Hollywood or Wonder Bar will allow him to cross paths with big names like Douglas Fairbanks Jr, Bing Crosby, Dolores Del Rio or Al Jolson.
After more difficult years and a few B films between 1937 and 1947, D’Orsay was able to reinvent itself, winning this time on television before returning to the stage on Broadway.
The one who would have popularized the expression “Ooh la la! remained active until the 1970s, particularly in 1971 and 1972 on Broadway in the musical Follies.
His personal life was marked by two marriages and persistent rumors of a romantic relationship with none other than Greta Garbo.
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