Bernadette Lafont

If Brigitte Bardot was the face of French new-wave cinema and François Truffaut its brain, then Bernadette Lafont could easily be considered the movement’s soul. The French actress appeared in some 120 films, beginning with her 1957 debut in Truffaut’s Les Mistons. Lafont never had any formal training in acting, which helped her embody the naturalistic portrayal of life that directors of the new wave–including Truffaut and fellow Frenchman Claude Chabrol–so greatly coveted. Truffaut, who died in 1984, once called her “the most arousing actress of the French cinema.”

Though heralded for her sensuality, Lafont was an accomplished actress whose talents gained greater recognition in the latter half of her career. She won a pair of César awards–the French equivalent of Oscars–the first of which came in 1986 for her portrayal of a housekeeper in L’Effrontée. Her second César was an honorary award for lifetime achievement in 2003, but Lafont continued acting until her death on July 25 at the age of 74. In her 1997 memoir, she wrote, “My work is the motor of my existence,” yet just as often she proved to be the motor that drove others’ work, helping cement new wave and its ambitious auteurs in the annals of cinema history.