Fanny Ardent was the youngest of 5 children born to a cavalry officer and his wife. She was raised in Monte Carlo where she was educated at a convent school. A voracious reader, she discovered Proust at age 15 and felt as though his writings were for her. When she was 17 her father died and the shock of his loss never left her. Shortly before his ...
The reason I never married is because my mother and father really loved each other, so we were a perfect family. Little House on the Prairie (1974) was bullshit compared to us. I think I was afraid of not measuring up to that. For me, a successful marriage is something to be revered. Real closeness between a man and a woman, a real family where you can argue and laugh, that's like Notre dame or Westminster Abbey - a 'chef d'oeuvre'. It's hard to achieve.
2
When I read the synopsis of The Woman Next Door (1981) I was completely stunned by the idea that you could die of love. The only thing I've ever believed in, at the risk of seeming sentimental, is love. If I'm at a boring dinner I always ask the man next to me, whether he's an ambassador or the President of the Republic: "Do you love your wife?" It's the only interesting subject.
3
[on Gérard Depardieu] I love him because he has an incredible feminine side, finesse and intelligence - he's not a great crashing macho, even if he is arrogant.
4
[on François Truffaut] For him, film was a matter of life and death. He used to say, "In films, trains never run late" - I love that. Film was his salvation because in film everything has a meaning. Life is chaotic but in cinema you can stop time. François used to say, "Those who love life, love cinema." That's for sure.
5
[on undertaking a role] If you prepare too much, after a while you are not surprised any more by the way the man - the husband or the lover - is going to look at you, to smile at you, to answer you. It's better to be available.
6
I think it will become more and more normal to see older actors because the population is becoming more and more older. It's like wine, cinema.
7
The strength of the French cinema [is that] the director puts the woman in the middle of the story. And if you look at French literature carefully - Balzac, Flaubert, Stendahl - always look for the woman.
8
[answering a question about what she wants to do before she passes] I would like to be a hairdresser - a shop in a small village in Italy, Sicily. Sometimes I dream about it. I would cut the hair of everyone - from the priest to the Mafioso, the beautiful lady and the young girl in the wedding. It would be the most important place in the village.
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Fact
1
Sister of Frédéric Ardant and Véronique Ardant.
2
Her brother Frédéric Ardant died from brain tumour on December 15, 2007, at 62 years old.
3
Her brother Frédéric Ardant is godfather of her daughter Joséphine (born September 28th 1983), fathered by François Truffaut.
In her early twenties her interest turned to acting.
9
The daughter of a colonel in the cavalry, she first followed her father in his various missions around Europe. He was once an adviser to Prince Rainer's personal guard.
$300,000
