Born 1907 as Suzanne Georgette Charpentier in Paris, French Actress Annabella had a small part in Abel Gance’s classic Napoléon (1927). She was not critically acclaimed until she starred in René Clair’s Le Million (1931), and over the following decade, she established herself as one of France’s popular cinema actresses. For Veille d’armes (1935), she won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival in 1936.
Annabella was cast as the female lead in the British-made film Wings of the Morning (1937) with Henry Fonda. Under contract to 20th Century Fox, she traveled to America and appeared in Suez (1938) with Loretta Young and Tyrone Power.
Annabella returned to France. She appeared in film director José Luis Sáenz de Heredia’s Spanish version of Don Juan (1950), and her final film was released in 1952. After a 1954 television appearance in the American series Suspense, she retired.
Annabella died in 1996 after suffering a heart attack in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, aged 89. Take a look at these beautiful photos to see portraits of a young Annabella in the 1930s.
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