- Born
- Died
- Birth nameJean Dorothy Seberg
- Nickname
- Jeana
- Height5′ 3″ (1.60 m)
- Jean Dorothy Seberg was born in Marshalltown, Iowa, to substitute teacher Dorothy Arline (Benson) and pharmacist Edward Waldemar Seberg. Her father was of Swedish descent and her mother was of English and German ancestry.
One month before her 18th birthday, Jean landed the title role in Otto Preminger's Saint Joan (1957) after a much-publicized contest involving some 18,000 hopefuls. The failure of that film and the only moderate success of her next, Bonjour Tristesse (1958), combined to stall Seberg's career, until her role in Jean-Luc Godard's landmark feature, Breathless (1960), brought her renewed international attention. Seberg gave a memorable performance as a schizophrenic in the title role of Robert Rossen's Lilith (1964) opposite Warren Beatty and went on to appear in over 30 films in Hollywood and Europe.
In the late 1960s, Seberg became involved in anti-war politics and was the target of an undercover campaign by the FBI to discredit her because of her association with several members of the Black Panther party. She was found dead under mysterious circumstances in Paris in 1979.- IMDb Mini Biography By: v)
- SpousesDennis Berry(March 12, 1972 - August 30, 1979) (separated)Romain Gary(October 16, 1962 - July 1, 1970) (divorced, 1 child)François Moreuil(September 5, 1958 - September 21, 1960) (divorced)
- ChildrenNina Hart Gary
- ParentsDorothy Arline Seberg (Benson)Edward Waldemar Seberg
- RelativesDavid Alan Seberg(Sibling)Mary Ann Suey Seberg(Sibling)Kurt Seberg(Sibling)
- Was a huge fan of Marlon Brando since seeing his screen debut in the movie The Men (1950). As a teenager, Seberg wrote to Brando and invited him to stay with her parents in Iowa. She met him years later, and Brando asked her to renew the invitation.
- Otto Preminger chose her to play Joan of Arc out of nearly 18,000 hopefuls.
- Her son Diego Gary was born out of wedlock on July 17, 1962 in Barcelona, Spain. Romain Gary was married to Lesley Blanch until September 1962. To avoid public scrutiny, he and Jean lied about Diego's year of birth, claiming that he was born in 1963.
- Of her own movies, she considered Lilith (1964) to be her favorite.
- Of all her leading men, only Jean-Paul Belmondo went to her funeral.
- My first marriage was not happy. I married him because I was impressed that he knew which wines to order and how to leave his visiting card. Ridiculous reasons.
- Money doesn't buy happiness. But happiness isn't everything.
- I know that the greatest of actresses has about 20 good years of acting in her and that she will go on living for 30 or 40 years as a human being. So, the conclusion I have come to is that I can't make acting my whole life.
- I never knew until I came here [Hollywood] that somebody could be really nice to you for years and really hate your guts. Happens all the time here.
- In my long and difficult and mature life, I have come to learn that the less I know about acting and the more I know about everything else, the better I'll be at both acting and living.
- Macho Callahan (1970) - $100,000
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