Mila Parély

Mila Parély, born Olga Colette Peszynski on 7 October 1917 in Paris, France, emerged as one of the most distinctive French actresses of the mid‑twentieth century. Of Polish ancestry but raised in a French‑speaking environment, she began her film career at the age of fifteen, debuting in 1932 and quickly attracting the attention of major directors such as Max Ophüls and Jean Renoir. Her luminous screen presence made her a natural fit for the poetic realism movement, and she secured memorable roles in classics like Robert Bresson’s The White Slave (1939) and Fritz Lang’s The Phantom Carriage (1939). In 1939 she appeared as Geneviève in Jean Renoir’s acclaimed masterpiece La Règle du jeu, a role that cemented her reputation as a nuanced performer capable of balancing elegance with emotional depth. Two years later she was cast by Jean Cocteau as Félicie, the eldest sister of Belle, in the celebrated 1946 adaptation La Belle et la Bête, a film that remains a touchstone of French cinematic fantasy. During the early 1940s she formed a passionate liaison with fellow actor Jean Marais; although the affair ended in 1944, their friendship endured, and in 1976 she partnered with him in a pottery business, underscoring her creative versatility beyond the screen. In 1947 she married racing driver Thomas Alastair Sutherland Ogilvie Mathieson, commonly known as Taso Mathieson, and devoted herself to his care after a severe accident, stepping away from acting in the late 1950s to manage his affairs. After a long hiatus she returned briefly to cinema in the late 1980s, appearing in a handful of projects that highlighted her timeless appeal. Mila Parély passed away on 14 January 2012 in Vichy, France, at the age of ninety‑four, having spent her final five decades in the town where she and her husband had settled. Her legacy endures through a rich filmography that includes collaborations with such luminaries as Max Ophüls, Jean Cocteau, Fritz Lang, and G.W. Pabst, marking her as a vital figure in the golden era of French cinema.