Catherine Hessling (Paperback)

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Catherine Hessling (born Andr e Madeleine Heuschling, 22 June 1900, Moronvilliers, Marne - 28 September 1979, La Celle-Saint-Cloud, Yvelines) was a French actress and the first wife of film director Jean Renoir. Hessling appeared in 15, mostly silent, films before retiring from the acting profession and withdrawing from public life in the mid-1930s. Hessling, born in Champagne-Ardennes, had sought refuge in Nice during World War I. In 1917, her beauty came to the attention of Henri Matisse, who sent her to fellow artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir as he thought she looked like a suitable Renoir subject. Hessling modelled, sometimes naked, for Renoir until his death in December 1919.