Denise Benoît (10 September 1919 â€" 29 May 1973) was a French
actress and singer, active across a wide range of genres on the stage,
radio and television. Other members of her family were musicians.From
a family of musicians, she was a daughter, grand-daughter and
great-grand-daughter of musicians. Her mother (Léontine
Benoît-Granier, died 1957) was a musician and composer who won prizes
at the Paris Conservatoire, while her father Henri Benoît was a
notable viola player in Paris, who was a member of the Capet Quartet
in the 1920s, participating in several of their recordings during that
period. Her brother, Jean-Christophe Benoît (born 1925) was a popular
and much recorded baritone. Born Denise Marie Armande Frédérique
Benoît in the 15th arrondissement of Paris, Denise spent the bulk of
her career there, and died in the same city while still active.Denise
Benoît began learning the violin at the age of three from her father,
later continuing with her mother. As a young woman, she began her
professional life playing in Parisian theatre orchestras; while at the
Théâtre Marigny a man looked into the pit and asked her whether she
would not prefer to be playing on stage rather below it. Through
several theatrical contacts she became the student of Jean Meyer,
spent a year the Conservatoire and began her acting career in 1942.
Her break-through came with an "unforgettable" portrayal of Natalia
Stepenovna in A Marriage Proposal by Tchekhov. Her first role, in
Sixième étage, was as a cleaning lady, and this debut tended to
type-cast her for some time as servants, concierges and domestics. On
screen she became restricted to being a secretary, a domestic and a
waitress, and so began to refuse this type of role.In 1945 while a
student of André Brunot at the Conservatoire d'art dramatique in
Paris she took part in a televised play by Courteline; at the time she
was only recognized as an actress, with her singing career yet to
begin. In the 1950s, living in the Boulevard Malesherbes, Paris,
already well-known on disc, she had facilities for recording at her
apartment. Denise BenoÃ(R)t Biography, NetWorth, Height, Age, Weight, Family, Married, Son, Daughter