Héléna Manson(1898-1994)

Born in Caracas, young Elena (later to become Héléna) miraculously survived an earthquake there. She found a new home at an uncle's in New York City first, and later at another relative's in La Chaux de Fonds, Switzerland. A very early theater enthusiast, Manson trained as an actress at the Conservatoire de Genève. She was soon hired by the prestigious Pitoëff company and appeared as the ingénue in the famous French-speaking production of Pirandello's "Six Personnages en Quête d'Auteur". Among her numerous plays, let's quote "La Tournée des Aveux" (as the 23-year-old spinster) by the side of Louis Jouvet, "Romeo et Juliette (playing Lady Capulet) in 1937 and, more recently, "L'infâme" with Roger Planchon (in which she was the mother of the monstrous curé d'Uruffe). On the other hand she gave a poetry recital in several Swiss towns titled "De Villon à nos Jours". On the screen, big or small, she appeared more than a hundred times and performed dubbing in hosts of French versions of foreign movies. Little known by the public she was very much in demand as an always dependable supporting actress. Her portrayal of Marie Corbin, the wrongly accused nurse in Clouzot's "Le Corbeau" will be forever remembered.