Marcelle Féry

Born in Paris, Marcelle Féry became a film actress late, which accounts for her rather brief career, spanning only thirteen years. A period during which she appeared in over thirty films, but in tiny, often uncredited parts. She thus belongs to that pack of thespians who do not count for much and whose name nobody knows. Which amounts to forgetting that all those anonymous artists help by their presence to create a precious background pattern indispensable to make the whole story operate. Indeed, but for second fiddles like René Pascal, Marguerite de Morlaye, Gabriel Gobin, Yette Lucas, Eugène Yvernès and many, many others like Marcelle Féry, wouldn't French film dramatically lack color, liveliness and - if we dare say it - SOUL ? An ordinary-looking woman (the tall and well-built kind), Marcelle Féry, to get back to her, is perfect for the role of concierge which she embodied more than once ('Innocents in Paris', 'Le bon Dieu sans confession' , 'Sur le banc'). But it is in René Clément's 'Gervaise' (1956) that, as the laundry boss, she showed the full extent of her talent.