Suzanne Flon, 87; French Film and Stage Actress Won Awards

Suzanne Flon, 87, a grande dame of French film and theater who had a supporting role in John Huston’s 1952 film “Moulin Rouge,” died Wednesday in Paris of complications from a stomach illness.

She was born Jan. 28, 1918, near Paris, and acted for more than five decades. She earned Cesar awards, France’s version of the Academy Award, for her work in the 1984 thriller “One Deadly Summer” and for the 1990 film “The Dragon.” She also received two Moliere awards for her stage performances.

Introduced to the entertainment industry as secretary to French singer Edith Piaf, Flon was named best actress at the 1961 Venice Festival for her performance in Claude Autant-Lara’s film “Thou Shalt Not Kill.”

She was still drawing praise in 2003 playing what a Los Angeles Times reviewer called “the family’s clear-eyed mainstay, a woman of deep sorrows but also of much strength and daring as well as loving attentiveness” in Claude Chabrol’s “Flower of Evil.”

The office of French President Jacques Chirac described Flon as a “grande dame of stage and screen” who leaves behind “a lesson for us about elegance, fantasy and sensitivity.”