Jacqueline Bisset

Winifred Jacqueline Fraser Bisset LdH (/ˈbɪsɪt/ BISS-it; born 13 September 1944) is an English film and television actress. She began her film career in 1965, first coming to prominence in 1968 with roles in The Detective, Bullitt, and The Sweet Ride, for which she received a most promising newcomer Golden Globe nomination. In the 1970s, she starred in Airport (1970), Day for Night (1973), which won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, Murder on the Orient Express (1974), The Deep (1977), and Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe? (1978), which earned her a Golden Globe nomination as Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical.

Jacqueline Bisset
Bisset in 2007
Born	Winifred Jacqueline Fraser Bisset 13 September 1944 Weybridge, Surrey, England
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1965–present
Partner(s)	Michael Sarrazin (1967–1973) Victor Drai (1975–1980) Alexander Godunov (1981–1988) Vincent Perez (1988–1992) Emin Boztepe (1994–2005; 2007–2008)
Awards	2010 Légion d'honneur

Bisset's other film and TV credits include Rich and Famous (1981), Class (1983), her Golden Globe-nominated role in Under the Volcano (1984), her Cesar Award-nominated role in La Cérémonie (1995), her Emmy Award-nominated role in the miniseries Joan of Arc (1999) and the BBC miniseries Dancing on the Edge (2013), for which she won a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Series, Miniseries or Television Film.

Bisset received France's highest honour, the Legion of Honour, in 2010. She speaks English, French and Italian.

Early life

Bisset was born Winifred Jacqueline Fraser Bisset[1] in Weybridge, Surrey, England, the daughter of George Maxwell Fraser Bisset (1911–1982), a general practitioner, and Arlette Alexander (1914–1999), a lawyer-turned-housewife.[2] Her mother was of French and English descent and her father was of Scottish descent;[3][4] Bisset's mother cycled from Paris and boarded a British troop transport to escape the Germans during World War II.[5]

Bisset grew up in Tilehurst, near Reading, Berkshire, in a 17th-century country cottage, where she now lives part of the year. She has a brother, Max (b. 1942). Her mother taught her to speak French fluently, and she was educated at the Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle in London. She took ballet lessons as a child and began taking acting lessons while working as a fashion model to pay for them. When Bisset was a teenager, her mother was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.[6]

Bisset's parents divorced in 1968, after 28 years of marriage.[5]

Career

Early roles

Bisset first appeared uncredited as a prospective model in the 1965 film The Knack ...and How to Get It, directed by Richard Lester.

She made her official debut the following year in Roman Polanski's Cul-de-sac (1966), credited as "Jackie Bisset". She had a tiny part as a dancer in Drop Dead Darling (1966).

In 1967, Bisset had her first noticeable part in the Albert Finney/Audrey Hepburn vehicle Two for the Road, as a woman in whom Finney's character is romantically interested. It was made by 20th Century Fox, which put her under contract.[7]

Bisset had a more sizeable role in the James Bond satire Casino Royale, as Miss Goodthighs.

Rise to fame

Bisset in 1968

Fox cast Bisset in her first lead part in The Cape Town Affair, opposite James Brolin, filmed in South Africa. She gained mainstream recognition in 1968 when she replaced Mia Farrow as Norma MacIver in The Detective, opposite Frank Sinatra. The film was made at Fox, whose executives had been impressed by Bisset's performance in Two for the Road.[8] The same year, she co-starred with Michael Sarrazin in Fox's The Sweet Ride, which brought her a Golden Globe nomination for Most Promising Newcomer. She capped her year as Steve McQueen's girlfriend in the police drama Bullitt, which was among the top five highest-grossing films of the year.

Stardom

In 1969, Bisset had the starring role in the sex comedy The First Time. The same year, she appeared in Secret World.[9] She was one of the many stars in the 1970 disaster film Airport; her role was that of a pregnant stewardess carrying Dean Martin's love child. It was a huge hit.

Bisset had another starring part in The Grasshopper (1970), which was little seen, and was in The Mephisto Waltz (1971) with Alan Alda. She had the lead in the comedy Stand Up and Be Counted (1972). More popular was The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972), where she played the daughter of Paul Newman's title character.

She played the female lead in The Thief Who Came to Dinner (1973) with Ryan O'Neal, stepping in for a pregnant Charlotte Rampling.

Europe

Bisset went to France to appear in François Truffaut's Day for Night (1973), earning the respect of European critics and moviegoers as a serious actress. She stayed in France to make Le Magnifique (1973) with Jean-Paul Belmondo, a hit in France but little seen in English-speaking countries.

Bisset was one of many stars in the British whodunnit Murder on the Orient Express (1974), an enormous success. In Britain she starred in the remake of The Spiral Staircase (1975).

Bisset went to Germany for End of the Game (1975), co-starring Jon Voight and directed by Maximillian Schell. In Italy, she played opposite Marcello Mastroianni in Luigi Comencini's The Sunday Woman (1975). She returned to Hollywood to support Charles Bronson in St. Ives (1976).[10]

The Deep and career peak

In 1977, Bisset gained wide publicity in America with The Deep. A marketing strategy based around Bisset appearing in some scenes underwater wearing only a white T-shirt for a top helped make the film a box-office success.[11] Producer Peter Guber allegedly quipped, "That T-shirt made me a rich man!"[12] Many credit her with popularising wet T-shirt contests,[13] but Bisset herself was disappointed that the marketing of her translucent costume detracted from the film's technical achievements.[14] At the time, Newsweek declared her "the most beautiful film actress of all time." Shortly thereafter, a UK production, Secrets, that Bisset had made in 1971 was released in the United States. That movie featured the only extensive nude scenes of Bisset's career and the producers cashed in on her fame.

Bisset at the 1989 Academy Awards

By 1978, Bisset was a household name. That year she earned a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress (Comedy) for her performance in Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe?, and starred opposite Anthony Quinn in The Greek Tycoon, playing a role based on Jackie Onassis.

After making Together? (1979) in Italy, she appeared in some all-star films, When Time Ran Out (1980), with Newman and William Holden, and Inchon (1981), with Laurence Olivier. Her fee around this time was $1 million a movie.[15] Both When Time Ran Out and Inchon were big flops.

More popular was George Cukor's Rich and Famous (1981) with Candice Bergen, where Bisset also served as co-producer.[16] One of her best-known roles came in the coming-of-age comedy Class (1983), as a woman having an affair with her son's (Rob Lowe) prep school roommate (Andrew McCarthy). Bisset was nominated for another Golden Globe for her role in John Huston's Under the Volcano (1984), opposite Albert Finney.

In 1984 Bisset made the wartime drama Forbidden. For cable she played the title role in Anna Karenina (1985), opposite Christopher Reeve, and did an abortion drama, Choices (1986).[17] She also had the lead in some comedies: High Season (1987) and Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills (1989), playing a lascivious suburban widow in the latter. She was Carré Otis's employer/educator in the controversial erotic thriller Wild Orchid (1990) with Mickey Rourke.

Later career

In 1996, Bisset was nominated for a César Award for her role in the French film La Cérémonie.[18] She appeared in the 16th-century period drama Dangerous Beauty (1998) as a retired Venetian courtesan, and had the leading role in the 2001 independent feature The Sleepy Time Gal, which premiered on SundanceTV and was cited by the Village Voice in its annual survey of the year's best undistributed films.

For television, Bisset was in the Biblical epics Jesus (1999) and In the Beginning (2000), playing the Virgin Mary and Sarah, wife of Abraham, respectively. For her performance in the 1999 miniseries Joan of Arc, she earned a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress.[19] One of her later TV movies, in 2003, was America's Prince: The John F. Kennedy Jr. Story, in which she portrayed Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis.

In 2005, Bisset was seen in the Domino Harvey biographical film Domino with Keira Knightley, directed by Tony Scott, playing a fictionalized version of Paulene Stone (renamed "Sophie Wynn"), whom she actually knew from their time as models in London.

Bisset at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival

In 2006, Bisset had a recurring role on the FX series Nip/Tuck as the ruthless extortionist James. She starred in the lead role of Boaz Yakin's Death in Love, which premiered at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. Later that year, she starred in the Hallmark Channel television film An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving. She finished filming The Last Film Festival in 2010, which was Dennis Hopper's final screen appearance, though its release would be delayed until 2016.[20] Also in 2010, Bisset was awarded the Legion of Honour insignia, with French President Nicolas Sarkozy calling her "a movie icon".[21]

Following a recurring role on Rizzoli & Isles, Bisset returned to the UK to film Stephen Poliakoff's 1930s jazz drama series Dancing on the Edge, which started on BBC2 in 2013.[22] For her work, she won the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film. Next, she played Gérard Depardieu's wife in Welcome to New York (2014) for controversial director Abel Ferrara. In 2015, she co-starred with Drew Barrymore and Toni Collette in Miss You Already. The same year, she received a Stanislavsky Award at the 37th Moscow International Film Festival.

Bisset had a recurring role in the American TV series Counterpart in 2017.[23] On the indie circuit, Bisset kept busy with roles in four features in 2018: Head Full of Honey, which reunited her with The Deep co-star Nick Nolte, Backstabbing for Beginners (opposite Ben Kingsley), Here and Now with Sarah Jessica Parker, and Asher with Famke Janssen and Ron Perlman. In 2019, she co-starred with Fabio Testi in the Lifetime movie Very Valentine.

Personal life

Bisset has never married, but had romances with French-Canadian actor Michael Sarrazin,[24] Moroccan real estate magnate Victor Drai,[25] Russian dancer/actor Alexander Godunov,[25] Swiss actor Vincent Perez,[26] and Turkish martial arts instructor Emin Boztepe.[27] Boztepe and Perez were 18 and 20 years her junior, respectively. Bisset is godmother to actress Angelina Jolie.[28]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1965	The Knack ...and How to Get It	Model	Uncredited
1966	Cul-de-sac	Jacqueline
1966	Drop Dead Darling	Dancer	AKA Arrivederci, Baby!
1967	Casino Royale	Giovanna Goodthighs
1967	Two for the Road	Jackie
1967	The Cape Town Affair	Candy
1968	The Sweet Ride	Vickie Cartwright	Nominated—Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actress
1968	The Detective	Norma Maclver
1968	Bullitt	Cathy	Laurel Award for Female New Face (2nd place)
1969	The First Time	Anna
1969	Secret World	Wendy Sinclair	Original titles: L'échelle blanche AKA La Promesse
1970	Airport	Gwen Meighen
1970	The Grasshopper	Christine Adams	Nominated—Laurel Award for Best Female Dramatic Performance
1971	The Mephisto Waltz	Paula Clarkson
1971	Believe in Me	Pamela
1971	Secrets	Jenny
1972	Stand Up and Be Counted	Sheila Hammond
1972	The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean	Rose Bean
1973	The Thief Who Came to Dinner	Laura Keaton
1973	Day for Night	Julie Baker	Original title: La nuit américaine
1973	Le Magnifique	Tatiana/Christine	AKA How to Destroy the Reputation of the Greatest Secret Agent...
1974	Murder on the Orient Express	Countess Elena Andrenyi/Helena Arden
1975	The Spiral Staircase	Helen Mallory
1975	End of the Game	Anna Crawley	Original title: Der Richter und sein Henker
1975	The Sunday Woman	Anna Carla Dosio	Original title: La donna della domenica
1976	St. Ives	Janet Whistler
1977	The Deep	Gail Berke
1978	The Greek Tycoon	Liz Cassidy
1978	Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe?	Natasha O'Brien	Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical
1979	Together?	Louise
1980	When Time Ran Out	Kay Kirby
1981	Inchon	Barbara Hallsworth
1981	Rich and Famous	Liz Hamilton
1983	Class	Ellen Burroughs
1984	Under the Volcano	Yvonne Firmin	Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
1984	Forbidden	Nina von Halder	Nominated—CableACE Award for Actress in a Movie or Miniseries
1985	Anna Karenina	Anna Karenina	Television movie
1986	Choices	Marisa Granger	Television movie
1987	High Season	Katherine Shaw
1988	La maison de Jade	Jane Lambert
1989	Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills	Clare Lipkin
1990	Wild Orchid	Claudia Dennis
1991	The Maid	Nicole Chantrelle	Television movie
1991	Rossini! Rossini!	Isabella Colbran
1993	Corrupt Justice	Holly McPhee	AKA CrimeBroker
1993	Les marmottes	Frédérique
1995	La Cérémonie	Catherine Lelievre	Nominated—César Award for Best Supporting Actress
1996	September	Pandora	Television movie
1996	Once You Meet a Stranger	Sheila Gaines	Television movie
1997	End of Summer	Christine Van Buren	Television movie
1998	Dangerous Beauty	Paola Franco
1999	Let the Devil Wear Black	Helen Lyne
1999	Witch Hunt	Barbara Thomas	Television movie
1999	Jesus	Mary	Television movie
2000	Britannic	Lady Lewis	Television movie
2000	Les gens qui s'aiment	Angie
2000	Sex & Mrs. X	Madame Simone	Television movie
2000	In the Beginning	Sarah	Television movie
2001	The Sleepy Time Gal	Frances
2001	New Years Day	Geraldine
2002	Dancing at the Harvest Moon	Maggie Webber	Television movie
2003	America's Prince: The John F. Kennedy Jr. Story	Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis	Television movie
2003	Latter Days	Lila Montagne
2003	Swing	Christine / Mrs. DeLuca
2004	The Survivors Club	Carol Rosen	Television movie
2004	Fascination	Maureen Doherty
2005	The Fine Art of Love: Mine Ha-Ha'	Headmistress
2005	Domino	Sophie Wynn
2005	Summer Solstice	Alexia White	Television movie
2006	Save the Last Dance 2	Monique Delacroix
2007	Carolina Moon	Margaret Lavelle	Television movie
2008	Death in Love	Mother
2008	Nick Nolte: No Exit	Herself	Documentary
2008	An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving	Isabella	Television movie Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film
2010	An Old Fashioned Christmas	Isabella	Television movie
2012	Two Jacks	Diana
2014	Welcome to New York	Simone Devereaux
2015	Peter and John[29][30]	Unknown
2015	Miss You Already	Miranda
2016	The Last Film Festival	Claudia Benvenuti
2017	L'Amant Double
2017	9/11	Diane
2018	Asher	Dora
2018	Backstabbing for Beginners	Christina Dupre
2018	Head Full of Honey	Vivian
2019	Very Valentine		Television movie
TBA	Birds of Paradise		Post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1987	Napoleon and Josephine: A Love Story	Josephine de Beauharnais	3 episodes
1999	Joan of Arc	Isabelle d'Arc	2 episodes Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie
1999	Hey Arnold!	Madame Parvenu	Episode: "Polishing Rhonda"
2001–2002	Ally McBeal	Frances Shaw	2 episodes
2003	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Juliet Barclay	Episode: "Control"
2006	Nip/Tuck	James LeBeau	7 episodes
2009	The Eastmans	Emma Eastman	Unsold TV pilot
2011–2012	Rizzoli & Isles	Constance Isles	3 episodes
2013	Dancing on the Edge	Lady Lavinia Cremone	4 episodes Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film
2018	Counterpart	Charlotte Burton	1 episode

References

1. Births, Marriages & Deaths Index of England & Wales, 1916–2005; at ancestry.com
2. "Jacqueline Bisset profile". FilmReference.com. Retrieved 10 October 2010.
3. "NewsLibrary Search Results".
4. "NewsLibrary Search Results".
5. "Jacqueline Bisset Biography". movies.yahoo.com. Yahoo! Movies. Retrieved 10 October 2010.
6. "Charlie Rose: January 28, 1997". Google. 28 January 1997. Retrieved 10 October 2010.
7. Jacqueline Bisset, Lady-Swinger in Life and Films Haber, Joyce. Los Angeles Times 4 May 1969: o13.
8. Jacqueline Bisset Is a Type That Just Can't Be Typified Norma Lee Browning. Chicago Tribune10 Mar 1968: n11.
9. Jacqueline Bisset, Lady-Swinger in Life and Films Haber, Joyce. Los Angeles Times (4 May 1969: o13.
10. Jacqueline Bisset: Film Survivor Murphy, Mary. Los Angeles Times (8 Dec 1975: f18.
11. October 03, -; 2020. "Where was Jacqueline Bisset's wet t-shirt scene filmed?". Retrieved 23 October 2020.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
12. Nancy Griffin and Kim Masters, Hit & Run: How Jon Peters and Peter Guber Took Sony for A Ride in Hollywood, Simon & Schuster, 1996, p. 85.
13. Chodin (16 May 2010). "A History of the Wet T-Shirt Contest". Uproxx. Archived from the original on 28 January 2012. Retrieved 14 January 2013.
14. October 03, -; 2020. "Where was Jacqueline Bisset's wet t-shirt scene filmed?". Retrieved 23 October 2020.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
15. JACQUELINE BISSET AS STAR AND PRODUCER Mann, Roderick. Los Angeles Times 23 Apr 1981: h7.
16. Jacqueline Bisset on 'Rich and Famous' McBride, Joseph; McCarthy, Todd. Film Comment; New York Vol. 17, Iss. 5, (Sep/Oct 1981): 45,80.
17. TWO PROJECTS FOR JACQUELINE BISSET: [REVIEW] O'Connor, John J. New York Times 26 Mar 1985: C.18.
18. JACQUELINE BISSET, HOLLYWOOD `LIONESS': [ALL Edition] BRIDGET BYRNE Entertainment News Wire. Sun Sentinel 24 Sep 1996: 3.E.
19. Jacqueline Bisset does Hollywood her way Davis, Ivor. The Ottawa Citizen; Ottawa, Ont. [Ottawa, Ont]09 Nov 2000: E8.
20. https://www.indiewire.com/2016/09/the-last-film-festival-clip-dennis-hopper-final-film-1201732121/#!
21. Olivia de Havilland, Jacqueline Bisset receive French honors USA Today. 9 September 2010
22. "Jacqueline Bisset back for first UK drama role in nearly 40 years" The Guardian, 30 December 2012.
23. Petski, Denise (30 March 2017). "'Counterpart': Jacqueline Bisset, Stefan Kapicic, Five More Set To Recur On Starz Spy Thriller". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 16 September 2018.
24. The Times Michael Sarrazin Obituary p67, 20 April 2011.
25. Wallace, David (1 April 1985). "Just Your Ordinary Couple". People. Retrieved 25 April 2010.
26. "VINCENT PEREZ : "CA FAIT DU BIEN D'ÊTRE AMOUREUX, MÊME SI ÇA NE DURE PAS"". Closer. Paris, France. 3 January 2013. Retrieved 8 October 2013.
27. Schneider, Karen (23 March 1998). "Driving Miss Bisset". People magazine. Retrieved 8 October 2013.
28. "Jolie denies trying to steal Kylie's man". Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. 12 April 2004. Retrieved 28 August 2012.
29. Shanahan, Mark; Goldstein, Meredith (27 April 2014). "Jacqueline Bisset filming movie on Nantucket". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 4 July 2019.
30. McNary, Dave (7 April 2014). "Jacqueline Bisset Starring in 'Peter and John' (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved 4 July 2019.

External links

• Jacqueline Bisset at IMDb
• Jacqueline Bisset at the TCM Movie Database
• Jacqueline Bisset biography, filmography, commentary
• Jacqueline Bisset interview
• Interview with Jacqueline Bisset – The Spectrum, October 9, 2018.