Valérie Quennessen (3 December 1957 – 19 March 1989) was a French theatre and film actress.
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Biography
Quennessen was born near Paris in Boulogne-Billancourt, of Jewish French/Polish parentage, and dedicated much of her childhood to pursuing her dream of becoming an acrobat. She quickly reached a level of competence and received an award for her expertise at the age of ten. By her teens, she had given up acrobatics and enrolled in acting classes, not because she particularly wanted to get into show business, but to help her overcome social anxiety. She found that she not only overcame her shyness via acting, but she also enjoyed performing. She studied drama first briefly at the École nationale supérieure des arts et techniques du théâtre, then at the Conservatoire National d'Art Dramatique, in Paris, from 1976 to 1979, and appeared in several theater productions, notably Chers Zoiseaux, by Jean Anouilh, which premiered in 1976, and Pirandello's Nuova colonia (1977).
She made her first film appearances in a pair of 1976 French films: Little Marcel and Le Plein de Super. She continued to appear in the occasional French film and television show, and in 1979 she landed one of the main roles in the American film French Postcards (Willard Huyck), working alongside Miles Chapin, Debra Winger and Mandy Patinkin. She followed up that film by playing Princess Yasimina in John Milius's 1982 film Conan the Barbarian with Arnold Schwarzenegger in the title role.
Randal Kleiser's Summer Lovers was the peak of her career for American audiences. This story of a love triangle on the Greek island of Santorini also starred Peter Gallagher and Daryl Hannah.
Shortly after Summer Lovers, Valérie Quennessen appeared in the short We Cannes, filmed by François Manceaux during the 1982 film festival, then gradually retired from acting, choosing to concentrate on raising her family. She and François Manceaux had two children, Antoine (born 1982) and Elsa (born 1985), both of them born in France. On March 19, 1989, she died in a car accident on the A13 highway in Saint-Ouen-des-Champs at the age of 31.
In July 2017, the Tampa Bay Times, citing IMDb, reported that, during the filming of Summer Lovers, Quennessen, who played Lina, an archaeologist, discovered pottery at the Akrotiri site that was circa 3,500 years old.
Filmography
Le Petit Marcel (Jacques Fansten, 1976) as a receptionist
Le Plein de super (Alain Cavalier, 1976) as Marie
Nuova colonia (Anne Delbée, 1978, TV adaptation) as Mita
La Tortue sur le dos (Luc Béraud, 1978) as a Nietzsche student
Brigade des mineurs: Tête de rivière (Guy Lessertisseur, 1978—TV episode) as Doris
On efface tout (Pascal Vidal, 1978)
Martin et Léa (Alain Cavalier, 1979) as Cléo
French Postcards (Willard Huyck, 1979) as Toni
Pause-café (Serge Leroy, 1981—TV miniseries, one episode) as a secretary
Silas (Sigi Rothemund, 1981—German TV miniseries, one episode) as Melinda, a washerwoman
Les Uns et les Autres (Claude Lelouch, 1981) as Francis Huster's character girlfriend
Conan the Barbarian (John Milius, 1982) as Princess Yasimina
Summer Lovers (Randal Kleiser, 1982) as Lina
We Cannes (François Manceaux, 1982 short) as Janine
Quartier sud (Mathias Ledoux, 1984—TV) as Rebecca
La petite commission (Jean-Paul Salomé, 1985 short) as Sister Clarisse
Theatre
Bajazet, by Jean Racine (director Stéphan Boublil, Studio d'Ivry, 1976)
Phèdre, by Jean Racine (Antoine Bourseiller, Théâtre Récamier, 1976), as Ismène
Chers Zoiseaux, by Jean Anouilh (Jean Anouilh and Roland Piétri, Comédie des Champs-Élysées, 1976), as one of the "Girls"
Nuova colonia, by Luigi Pirandello (Anne Delbée, Nouveau Carré Silvia Montfort, 1977), as Mita
Babylone, by Alain Gautré (Pierre Pradinas, Compagnie du Chapeau rouge, Avignon, 1979)