Biography
María Casares was a Spanish-born French actress. Born María Victoria Casares y Pérez in A Coruña, Galicia, she studied at the Paris Conservatoire and began her career on the French stage in the early 1940s, appearing in productions including works by Albert Camus.
She made her film debut in Marcel Carné’s Les Enfants du Paradis (1945) as Nathalie and appeared the same year in Robert Bresson’s Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne as Hélène. For Jean Cocteau she played Death in Orphée (1950) and appeared in Le Testament d’Orphée (1960). Other screen roles include La Chartreuse de Parme (1948) and La Lectrice (1988). She was nominated for a César Award for Best Supporting Actress for the latter.
Casares took French nationality in 1975 and was married to actor André Schlesser from 1978 until his death in 1985. She died in Alloue, France, in 1996.
