Madeleine LeBeau, widely believed to be the last surviving credited cast member from the classic film “Casablanca,” has died, her stepson said. She was 92.
LeBeau played Yvonne, the jilted mistress of Humphrey Bogart’s character, Rick.
In a memorable scene from the World War II-era film, her eyes fill with tears as “The Marseillaise” plays, and she cries out, “Vive la France!”
LeBeau in Spain after breaking her thigh bone, her stepson, Carlo Alberto Pinelli, told CNN.
In addition to her role in “Casablanca,” LeBeau also appeared in the 1950 film “Cage of Gold” and in Federico Fellini’s 1963 film “8 1/2,” according to CNN sister network Turner Classic Movies.
According to IMDB.com, there were parallels between LeBeau’s role in “Casablanca” and her life. The French actress escaped Nazi-occupied France, fleeing with her then-husband, Marcel Dalio, who also had a role in “Casablanca.”
“While the plot of Casablanca traces the movements of European refugees through Morocco, a look at the actors involved in the production also tells a story of émigrés,” the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences noted in a 2014 article about LeBeau and other artists who fled Europe and appeared in the film.
Records indicate that actors from 34 different countries participated in “Casablanca,” according to the Academy.
Ugarte holds the letters of transit that many refugees waiting in Casablanca would like to get their hands on. Here he brandishes a gun as he attempts to flee from French authorities.
At film’s end, Rick manages to ensure that Ilsa leaves with Victor. But having killed the villainous Major Strasser (not pictured), he will need to flee Casablanca, presumably accompanied by the likeable but corrupt police captain, Louis Renault (Claude Rains), who has had an epiphany of his own. In the end, they walk into the fog with Rick uttering the famous last words: “Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”
“Casablanca,” the 1942 film starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman and directed by Michael Curtiz, won three Oscars. In this still from the film, a plane flies over the upscale piano bar Rick’s Cafe Americain.
LeBeau was born in 1923 in Hauts-de-Seine, France, according to IMDB. She was married to Dalio, who played a croupier in Casablanca, from 1938-1942.
She later married Italian screenwriter Tullio Pinelli, whose writing credits included “La Dolce Vita,” “8 1/2” and “La strada.”