Zouzou (model)

Zouzou (born Danièle Ciarlet on November 29, 1943 in Blida, French Algeria) is a model, actress, singer and icon of the 1960s and early 1970s mostly known for her beauty and for her lead role in Éric Rohmer's Love in the Afternoon. Her career, however, was constantly hampered by her addiction to heroin and other drugs.

The nickname "Zouzou" is due to her zézaiement (lisp) ^[1] of the consonants 's','j' and 'z'.^[2]

Her boyfriends during her years of fame included Brian Jones (of the Rolling Stones), Christian Charvet (Personal Tutor) Michel Taittinger, Dave Davies (of the Kinks), Jean-Paul Goude and Jack Nicholson .

Biography

Ciarlet obtained her Baccalauréat at 14, then enrolled at the Artististic Training Centre of the Académie Charpentier. She was an inspiration of the sixties passing through Régine, Castel, the Drugstore at the top of the Champs-Élysées and Gabriel Pommerand.

The news magazine Paris Match baptised her "la twisteuse". She represented the liberated young woman, who was active during the protests of May 1968, as indeed Ciarlet was.^[3]

She left then for Swinging London with Brian Jones, but left him and returned to Paris. However, her success after this eroded. In 1978 she left Paris for the Antilles where she remained for seven years. She returned to France in 1985 to take care of her mother.

Drug addiction

From the early 1970s she was addicted to a number of drugs, in particular heroin. This resulted in two short periods in Fleury-Mérogis prison, in 1992 and 1994.

Return

In 2002, she co-starred in the short film Signe d' hiver ("Sign of winter") , directed by Jean-Claude Moireau and also starring Marie Rousseau and Cyrille Thouvenin.^[4] In 2003, her autobiography, Jusqu' à l' aube ("Until dawn"),^[5] co-written with Olivier Nicklaus, was published by Flammarion. At the beginning of 2004, a retrospective of Zouzou was organized by Centre Georges Pompidou.^[6] In 2005, Zouzou appeared at the Sentier des Halles club in Paris.^[7]

Selected filmography

• Love in the Afternoon (1972)
• Sky Riders (1976)

References

1. ^ Vulgaris-Médical Encyclopédie
2. ^ Star Portraits In French
3. ^ ParisFree70 In French
4. ^ Unifrance In French
5. ^ Flammarion In French
6. ^ Radio France
7. ^ Video of Zouzou singing "Cherchez l'erreur" ("Look for the mistake") in the club, 2005

External links

• Official web site
• Zouzou at the Internet Movie Database

Persondata
Name	Zouzou
Alternative names
Short description	French actress-model
Date of birth	November 29, 1943
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death