At the age of 92, the French actress Madeleine Lebeau has died. The Chicago Tribune reports Lebeau passed away on May 1 in Estepona, Spain, which is sad news for any film buff. The gorgeous French actress was best known for her role in the classic Casablanca where she played the unhappily scorned Yvonne, the would-be lover of Rick Blaine. Blaine was of course played by the legendary Humphrey Bogart. Madeleine was no stranger to scorn and troubles. According to People magazine, Lebeau only began her career after fleeing for Hollywood during the opening stages of the Second World War.
Before her death, the Casablanca actress was suffering from severe medical complications following another unrelated injury. LeBeau had broken a bone in her thigh, and complications from this injury eventually resulted in her death. Madeleine's stepson, Carlo Alberto Pinelli, told the Hollywood Reporter about LeBeau's death. Alberto, an accomplished mountaineer, followed in LeBeau's footsteps and began a career as a documentary filmmaker. There are few better ways for a child to show he loves his parents than to take up their hobbies and career choice, that's for sure.In one of the more memorable and praised scenes of Casablanca, Dalio joins Claude Rains as on set. Rains played the corrupt police officer Louis Renault. The officer receives a stack of winnings from Emil, and is "shocked, shocked" to see that gambling is taking place on the premises. We often think of old films as vanilla and relatively safe compared to today's gratuitous action fiestas and violent stomach-churning dramas, but classics like Casablanca had a level of sarcastic, cynical subtext that spoke volumes more about the human condition than any blood filled gangland scene ever could. Though Casablanca was intended by LeBeau to be her breakout, it turned out, at least for LeBeau, to be a bit of a disappointment.
"It wasn't that I was cut out, it was that they kept changing the script and, each time they changed it, I had less of a part. It wasn't personal, but I was so disappointed."Though her own role in Casablanca may have been disappointing for LeBeau, the world thanks Madeleine for her subtle and effective performance. Without LeBeau behind the part to sell the role of a scorned, unhappy wife, we're not sure Casablanca would have been the icon it became. Film buffs and movie lovers everywhere are heartbroken at the death of an amazing, if underappreciated, actress, and at the passing of a last living piece of a legacy of one of the foundations of the modern art of film.
Fans everywhere offer sympathy to family members after the news of Madeleine LeBeau's death, and can only assure her loved ones that although LeBeau never became a household name, she certainly helped build something that changed the world.
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