Béatrice Altariba(1939-2026)

Brunette French actress and model, born Béatrice Florence Andrée Altarriba, the daughter of Clément Altarriba, an art dealer, and his wife Émilienne Fort. Her great-uncle was the renowned Symbolist poet Jules-Jean-Paul Fort (1872-1960). Beatrice started out in revues and musical theatre before making her screen debut in 1956. Her career gained momentum, having met the popular comedian Darry Cowl who helped to get her cast in two of his films, L'ami de la famille (1957) and Hardboiled Egg Time (1958). Beatrice subsequently co-starred as Cowl's romantic interest Popeline in the screwball farce Le triporteur (1957) and had pivotal roles in other French classics like Eyes Without a Face (1960) (as the kidnap victim Paulette), Les Misérables (1958) (as the orphaned Cosette, saved from abuse by Valjean) and Man Called Rocca (1961) (as the gangster's moll Maud, who comes to a sticky end at the hands of a young Jean-Paul Belmondo).

From 1962, Beatrice branched out into the Italian cinema. She went on to star in a couple of swashbucklers (Le sette spade del vendicatore (1962), The Four Musketeers (1964)) but found herself relegated to the supporting cast by the middle of the decade. Beatrice made one international appearance in Roger Corman's youth-oriented sports drama The Young Racers (1963). She rounded out her career in films as a saloon girl in a minor spaghetti western, Cemetery Without Crosses (1969), then retired from acting at the age of thirty.