Jacqueline Bisset

Date of Birth	13 September 1944 , Weybridge, Surrey, England, UK
Birth Name	Winnifred Jacqueline Fraser-Bisset
Height	5' 6½" (1.69 m)

Biography

Jacqueline Bisset has been an international film star since the late 1960s. She received her first roles mainly because of her stunning beauty, but over time she has become a fine actress respected by fans and critics alike. Bisset has worked with directors John Huston, François Truffaut, George Cukor and Roman Polanski. Her co-stars have included Anthony Quinn, Paul Newman, Nick Nolte, Charles Bronson and Marcello Mastroianni.

Her somewhat French-sounding name has some to assume that she is from France, but she was born and brought up in England, and had to study to learn French. Her mother, Arlette Alexander, was of English and French descent, and was an attorney before being married. Her father, Max Fraser Bisset, was a Scottish-born doctor. As a child, Jacqueline studied ballet. During her teenage years her father left the family when her mother was diagnosed with disseminating sclerosis; Jacqueline worked as a model to support her ailing mother and eventually her parents divorced, an experience she has said she considered character-strengthening. She took an early interest in film, and her modeling career helped pay for acting lessons.

In 1967 Bisset gained her first critical attention in Two for the Road (1967), and in that same year appeared in the popular James Bond spoof Casino Royale (1967), playing Miss Goodthighs. In 1968 her career got a boost when Mia Farrow unexpectedly dropped out of the shooting of The Detective (1968); Farrow's marriage to co-star Frank Sinatra was on the rocks, and her role was eventually given to Bisset, who received special billing in the film's credits. In the following year she played opposite Steve McQueen in the popular action film Bullitt (1968). In 1973 she became recognized in Europe as a serious actress when she played the lead in Truffaut's Day for Night (1973). However, it would be several years before her talents would be taken seriously in the US.