Jacqueline Bisset is amazing in so many ways.
With a 58-year career and a library of about 50 films, the 78-year-old actress shows no signs of slowing down.
Jacqueline Bisset has been one of my role models since I was a little girl, and my parents adored her. To me, she is one of the few women who embody the glamour that Hollywood once possessed.
I adore her natural aging and have always thought she had a very natural beauty and attractive. She never wore too much makeup.
Throughout her illustrious career, the brown-haired beauty, known for her high cheekbones and striking green eyes, has demonstrated her versatility by playing a range of characters, including the sultry seductress Miss Goodthighs in the spy parody Casino Royale (1967), a devoted mother in Sleepy Time Gal (2001), First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in America’s Prince: The John F. Kennedy Jr. Story (2003), and Anna Karenina (1985) in the sweeping love story of the same name,
Jacqueline Bisset in a publicity shot for the film ‘The Detective’, 1968. (Photo by Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images)
Bisset made her film debut in Roman Polanski’s Cul-de-Sac (1966) and rose to prominence in 1968 when she starred in back-to-back films: Detective with Frank Sinatra, Bullitt with Steven McQueen, and her Golden Globe-nominated performance in The Sweet Ride with Tony Franciosa and Bob Denver, who is famously known as Gilligan on Gilligan’s Island.
She’s also known for her roles in Day for Night (1973), Murder on the Orient Express (1974), The Deep (1977), Wild Orchid (1990), her Golden Globe and Emmy-nominated role in Joan of Arc (1999), her Golden Globe-winning role in the miniseries Dancing on the Edge (2013), Miss You Already (2015) and Birds of Paradise (2021).
Bisset, a multilingual performer who speaks English, French, and Italian, received the Legion of Honor, France’s highest state accolade, in 2010, and the Sedona International Film Festival honored her with a Lifetime Achievement award in 2023.
Despite working with some of Hollywood’s most attractive guys, Bisset has never been married. Frank Sinatra pursued a beautiful woman, and reports circulated that she was dating Bullitt co-star and Hollywood bad boy Steve McQueen. But Bisset, a respectable English lady, thought they were too different.
In an interview with the Daily Mail, she described McQueen as “He was attractive, but a little scary. I was very English and he was a hip American. The way he talked would have driven me mad–I didn’t know what a dude or a soul chick was!”
She’s been in long-term relationships with Canadian actor Michael Sarrazin, ballet dancer Alexander Godunov, and actor Vincent Pérez, but she believes she’s too independent for anything serious.
In an interview with the Independent, Bisset said, “I’ve had some very interesting men in my life. They have been a handful. I don’t choose easy men, I’m told.” She continued, “Sometimes you get too much information when you spend time with people. You start to see things–bad habits. You start to discover them and then you have to marry bad habits and I’m not sure I can cope with them. I don’t ever have bad relationships. I haven’t broken up angry. I’ve just moved out of situations that have been overwhelming.”
Though Bisset, Angelina Jolie’s Godmother, has not made headlines for having out relationships, she was trending after winning a Golden Globe for her depiction of Lady Cremone in the BBC series Dancing on the Edge.
Her acceptance speech, with background music playing to signify her exit, was essentially meandering, but it displayed genuine thanks from the then-69-year-old, who had been nominated for best newcomer 47 years prior.
Jaqueline Bisset on the red carpet at the 1989 Academy Awards, March 29, 1989 / Alan Light
Since then, she has played a sassy femme fatale in the French thriller The Lodger (2020), and most recently in the film Loren & Rose (2022). Bisset plays the principal role Rose, a great performer attempting to re-establish her profession but is constrained by a reputation as a “little zany and a bit unreliable.”
According to the film’s director, Russell Brown, Rose is the polar opposite of Bisset in real life. Brown stated, “Viewers often assume that Jacqueline is ‘like she is in the movie.’ But this really isn’t the case–as an actress and a woman, I think she is quite different from Rose, and it’s a testament to her skill that the transformation feels so seamless.”
Bisset is a timeless beauty who accepts age gracefully. In her controversial Golden Globes address, she stated: ‘I believe, if you want to look good, you’ve got to forgive everybody. It’s the best beauty treatment.’
She also stated that, despite having “lots of complexes” in her teens, she was never tempted by plastic surgery. “I don’t think it makes you look younger. It makes you different,” stated Bisset.
Such an incredibly honest, lovely, and generous woman and actor/artist, a shining star in the world of celebrities!
Jacqueline appears to be so down to earth! What a lovely woman, and one of my all-time favorite actresses.
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