Sylvia Kristel was born on September 28, 1952 in Utrecht, Netherlands. She first came to international attention in the early 1970s with Emmanuelle (1974) for director Just Jaeckin. Then two more sequels followed in which she also starred. Included in her credits are a long list of European films including the film Julia (1974), in which she ...
Philippe Blot (m. 1986–1991), Alan Turner (m. 1982–1983)
Children
Arthur Kristel
Parents
Piet Kristel, Jean-Nicholas Kristel
Siblings
Marianne Kristel
Movies
Private Lessons, The Arrogant, The Margin, The Concorde ... Airport '79, Private School, Game of Seduction, Dracula's Widow, The Nude Bomb, Alice or the Last Escapade, Mata Hari, Julia, Tigers in Lipstick, Playing with Fire, The Fifth Musketeer, Because of the Cats, The Big Bet, Love in First Class,...
I am a divorced child, of divided, uncertain background. Within this division I - supposed fruit of their love - no longer exist. It happened nearly forty years ago, yet to me nothing is sadder than my parents' divorce.
2
I like this other world, this forgetting of myself. The actor works in order to escape, not to find himself. You become an actor by leaving yourself, and then you have to keep acting. How tragic!
3
People say they miss the deceased. I missed my father and my mother when they were still fully alive. They traveled through my childhood in the same way they moved around the hotel: my mother industrious, hurried, hidden; my father drunk, flamboyant, alone.
4
I realized that the public had been deeply affected by Emmanuelle (1974) and wanted to prolong their fantasy, to keep me within it, symbolic and naked, idealized and necessary.
5
[on how the public perceived her] People don't assume that John Wayne shoots people and rides a horse on weekends. People think I'm a nymphomaniac.
6
I was a silent actress, a body. I belonged to dreams, to those who can't be broken.
7
Self confidence for me is a fragile fleece.
8
[from a 2005 Dutch newspaper interview] I don't expect too much from the afterlife, I think that I know very well what pain is. When I think of the end of my life, I think mainly: I didn't do nothing, but I could have done more.
9
I would now rather be very healthy and strong as a horse but it is nice to be attractive.
10
Didn't they warn you? I love to invent - avoiding the truth. I need to dramatize. It's also a form of protection.
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Fact
1
Had an affair with director 'Roger Vadim' during filming of Une femme fidèle (1976) and for a short while afterwards.
2
Had an affair with actor Warren Beatty in the early 1980s.
3
Had an relationship with producer André Djaoui during filming of Lady Chatterley's Lover (1981). When Kristel cut her hair short after her last scene was shot, Djaoui didn't like her new look and ended the affair.
4
Wannabe writer/director Philippe Blot approached Sylvia Kristel in Amsterdam, saying that only she could play the female lead in his script. He convinced her to marry him and to star in a total of three motion pictures for him, by which time he had spend so much money that they both ended up in debt.
5
Was planning to tour the Netherlands in a stage version of Calendar Girls (2003), but had to pull out because of her illness. [2012]
6
Began a relationship with actor Ian McShane during filming of The Fifth Musketeer (1979), which lasted for almost 5 years.
7
Speaks four languages: Dutch, English, Italian and French.
8
She was born in Utrecht where her parents owned and ran the Commerce Hotel. Sylvia and her sister, Marianne, were brought up in Room 21, unless the hotel was full, in which case they were shifted, often in the middle of the night, to Room 22 which, according to the actress, is like a cupboard.
9
Grandmother's name was Marie. Her mother was called Pete.
10
At age 16, her father brought home a woman he introduced to the family as his next wife and told his wife and kids to leave. They moved into a small flat.
11
Diagnosed with throat cancer in 2005 which spread to her lung, necessitating surgery.
12
Worked in a bar, as a secretary and even pumped gas while struggling to succeed as a dancer prior to becoming a model and an actress.
13
Originally planned on being a teacher.
14
Had a strict religious upbringing.
15
Has a reported IQ of 164 and skipped four grades in school.
16
Entered the Miss TV Europe contest and won, which led to her movie career.
$8 Million
Yes, she earned her money. What would her life have been if her mother had not pressed Sylvia to enter the “Miss TV Holland” contest?