Maria Casares is a French actress of Spanish descent, famous for playing complex characteristic roles of strong-willed women in high-profile pictures of the middle of the last century. By the will of fate, she was forced to leave her native Spain, embraced by the civil war, to become a legend in French cinema.
Minister's daughter
Maria Casares was born in La Coruña, in the Spanish province of Galicia, in 1922. Her father, Santiago Casares Quiroga, held important posts in the government of the Second Republic, was the Minister of the Interior, Navy. In connection with the political career of the head of the family, his household moved to Madrid, where Maria graduated from secondary education.
However, in 1936 a civil war broke out in Spain. The fascist phalanxes of dictator Franco were preparing to destroy the republic, and the former minister was forced to leave the country, saving himself and the life of his relatives.
The shortest escape route lay in France, where political refugees settled. Soon the Second World War began, and the French army fell in a matter of weeks under the pressure of the German armored fist. The country that sheltered Mary was occupied by the Nazis, and for more than five years the girl lived in conditions of German occupation.
The birth of an actress
War is war, but life goes on, and people adapt to new conditions. Since childhood, Maria Casares dreamed of becoming an actress and in France began to realize this dream. She entered the Paris Conservatory of Dramatic Art, which she graduated with brilliance. According to the results of the academic years, the sultry Spaniard received the first prize in the tragedy section and the second prize for the comedy side of her acting talent.
In 1942, Maria Casares, after graduating, entered the Matiuren Theater, where after some time she became one of the first actresses. The girl’s first work was the role in the production of John Singer Deirdre des Douleurs. The debut was recognized as successful by both critics and viewers.
After that, Maria Casares, whose photo was already adorned with posters of performances, had no shortage of proposals. However, the young Spaniard with rare composure was waiting for a decent production and as a result got the main role in the new play by Albert Camus, who was considered the main voice of existentialism on the stage. "Misunderstanding" was not the only joint work of Albert and Maria, later she played Victoria in the play "Siege", which premiered in 1948.
Spanish and big screen
In 1944, the first of the films of Maria Casares was shot. The beginning actress was very lucky, as she got the role in the film "Children of the District", which for France later became the same as "Gone with the Wind" in the USA.
Here she played a supporting role, however, along with other participants in the cult film, she received critical acclaim and adoration from the public.
In the film “Ladies of the Bois de Boulogne”, Maria Casares was already in the lead, she played a secular lady, obsessed with revenge for her former lover and weaving cunning intrigues against him. The Spanish actress had a peculiar beauty, in which something diabolical came across, so she could not be better able to realize the image of a kind of evil genius under the cover of a beautiful woman.
The main roles of Mary
In 1947, a native of La Coruna took part in the film adaptation of the classics of world literature. Director Christian Jacques swung at Stendhal’s work “Parma Monastery”, where Mary was entrusted with the role of Gina Sanseverina.
The peak of the acting career of Maria Casares was the role of the Princess in another cult film, which was the "Orpheus" by Jean Cocteau, shot by him in 1950. The film was the embodiment of directorial experiments of the middle of the century, it was very complex and saturated with difficult symbolism, difficult to understand.
The girl had to mobilize all the hidden reserves of her creative potential in order to accurately express the mysterious plan of the aesthetic director, but the infernal Spaniard brilliantly coped with her task.
Return to the theater
After a successful movie experience, Maria Casares unexpectedly decided for many to return to the stage. She continued to flicker occasionally on the big screen, however, she focused on working on the stage.
She performed in the Parisian theaters "Noctambul", "Marigny." From the works of the forties, Grushenka in The Brothers Karamazov, Jeannette in Romeo and Jeannette, Victoria in Camus's play The Siege was remembered for a long time in the memory of the audience.
In 1952, Maria Casares was invited to the main drama theater of the Fifth Republic - “Comedy Francaise”. Here, the girl successfully played Pericola in the “Carriage of the Holy Gifts” by Prosper Merime.
In 1954, Maria again changed her place of work and joined the troupe of the National Folk Theater. Within its walls, the actress gets roles that are best suited to her infernal, fatal image. In various productions, she plays the tragic images of Lady Macbeth, Maria Tudor, Fedra.
Personal life of Maria Casares
Work was the main passion of the Spanish fatal woman, she was not married and did not leave children behind. However, in her life there were men, among whom Camus stands apart. They became close during the joint work on his play “Misunderstanding,” the relationship between Maria and Albert lasted three years. Even after the break, they maintained a friendship that was interrupted by a car accident in which Camus died.
In 1976, Franco died, and the daughter of the disgraced minister was able to return to her homeland, where she took part in many productions. However, over the years, France still became her home, where the great actress met her last years. Maria Casares died in 1996 in her own mansion, which was located in the town of La Verne, having managed to celebrate her seventy-fourth birthday.