Yvonne Arnaud
| Yvonne Arnaud | |
|---|---|
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| Born | 20 December 1892 Bordeaux, Gironde, Aquitaine, France |
| Died | 20 September 1958 (aged 65) Guildford, England |
| Occupation | Pianist, singer, actress |
| Years active | 1920–1958 |
Yvonne Arnaud (20 December 1892 – 20 September 1958) was a French-born pianist, singer and actress.
Germaine Yvonne Arnaud was born in 1892. She entered the Paris Conservatoire at age 9, studying piano under Alphonse Duvernoy and other teachers.[1] From 1905 (at age 12) to 1911 she performed with leading orchestras throughout Europe and USA, under conductors such as Édouard Colonne, Arthur Nikisch, Willem Mengelberg, Vasily Safonov, Gustav Mahler and Alexander Siloti.[1] In 1911 she decided to try the stage instead of the concert hall and obtained the lead role in the musical The Girl in the Taxi. She also had a lead in Kissing Time (1919). However, an operation damaged her vocal cords so she switched from musicals to plays.
Her stage career lasted many years, with several films made during the 1930s. Arnaud's likeness was drawn in caricature by Alex Gard for Sardi's, the New York City theater district restaurant. The picture is now part of the collection of the New York Public Library.[2]
She still occasionally performed as a pianist, for example, with the Hallé Orchestra under Sir John Barbirolli in Manchester in 1948.[1] And she was the soloist at the premiere of Franz Reizenstein's pastiche Concerto Popolare at the 1956 Hoffnung Festival (having been chosen after Eileen Joyce declined).
Arnaud was godmother to the writer Oriel Malet, and was the subject of Malet's book Marraine: a portrait of my godmother (1961).[3]
For many years she lived in Guildford, England, where she died. Her ashes were scattered in St. Martha's churchyard on St. Martha's Hill just south-east of Guildford, and there is a memorial to her on the church grounds. In 1965 the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre was opened in the town.
[edit] Selected filmography
- Canaries Sometimes Sing (1930)
- On Approval (1930)
- Tons of Money (1930)
- The Improper Duchess (1936)
- Neutral Port (1940)
- The Ghosts of Berkeley Square (1947)
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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