Geneviève Bujold


Actor
Geneviève Bujold

About

Birth Place
Montreal, Quebec, CA
Born
July 01, 1942

Biography

Soft-spoken and poised, yet capable of surprising intensity, French-Canadian film actress Geneviève Bujold emerged from the stages of Quebec and the cinema of France to become one of the most sought after film stars of the 1970s. Following her screen debut opposite Yves Montand in "La Guerre est finie" (1965), Bujold became an international star with her Academy Award-nominated performan...

Family & Companions

Paul Almond
Husband
Director. Married in 1967; divorced in 1973; appeared in several films directed by Almond.
Dennis Hastings
Companion
Contractor. Together since c. 1977.

Notes

"She has that indefinable something which is fast disappearing. She doesn't resemble anyone else, she doesn't try to copy anyone's style. In short, she's herself with gestures that are strictly hers and a rare face never seen on the screen before." --Yves Montand on Bujold

"Acting and being a mother are all I know how to do. When the new baby was born, I thought I would probably never act again. I always think that at the end of each film. Yet, somehow, acting pulls me." --Genevieve Bujold

Biography

Soft-spoken and poised, yet capable of surprising intensity, French-Canadian film actress Geneviève Bujold emerged from the stages of Quebec and the cinema of France to become one of the most sought after film stars of the 1970s. Following her screen debut opposite Yves Montand in "La Guerre est finie" (1965), Bujold became an international star with her Academy Award-nominated performance in "Anne of the Thousand Days" (1969). As one of Hollywood's most promising leading ladies, Bujold starred in a slew of mainstream feature films, including the disaster movie "Earthquake" (1974), Brian De Palma's "Obsession" (1976), and the Michael Crichton thriller "Coma" (1978). Moving into the next decade, the veteran actress held her own opposite the likes of Clint Eastwood in "Tightrope" (1984) and joined filmmaker Alan Rudolph's band of regulars on such projects as "Trouble in Mind" (1985). Working with fellow Canadian David Cronenberg, she delivered a fearless performance opposite Jeremy Irons in "Dead Ringers" (1988). Remaining active in her later career, Bujold preferred independent productions like the dark comedy "The House of Yes" (1997) and such Montreal-based endeavors as the end of the world drama "Last Night" (1999) and the coming-of-age comedy "The Trotsky" (2009). Always bringing an air of class to each role, Bujold remained one of the more respected actresses of her generation.

Geneviève Bujold was born on July 1, 1942 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada to parents Laurette Cavanaugh and Joseph Firmin Bujold, a bus driver. The product of a strict convent education, Bujold left when she was 15 in order to prepare for an acting career. At age 16, she began to study her craft at the Montreal Conservatory of Drama before eventually joining the Le Rideau Vert repertory company where she made her stage debut in "The Barber of Seville" and went on to star as "St. Joan." At 22, Bujold made her screen debut in the small film "The Adolescents" (1964) before heading across the ocean to France, where director Alain Resnais had the good fortune to see her play Puck in a production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream." Thoroughly impressed, the filmmaker quickly signed her to co-star opposite the legendary Yves Montand in "La Guerre est finie (The War is Over)" (1965). Bujold made two more films in France, playing Alan Bates' love interest in the cult hit "King of Hearts" (1966) before appearing in Louis Malle's "The Thief of Paris" (1967). For her performance in the latter, Bujold was proclaimed the French film industry's "Discovery of the Year," winning the Prix Suzanne Bianchetti.

Following a two-year relationship, Bujold married Canadian film director Paul Almond in 1967, with whom she had a son. The young actress also caught the eye of U.S. producers and was signed to embody "St. Joan" (NBC, 1967) in a "Hallmark Hall of Fame" rendition of the Shaw play then returned to Canada to star in "Isabel" (1967), the first of five films for then-husband Almond. Bujold earned a Best Actress Oscar nomination for her work as Anne Boleyn opposite an imposing Richard Burton as King Henry the VIII in "Anne of a Thousand Days" (1969). As a classically trained actress, she later delivered an appropriately stirring performance as the defiant Greek princess "Antigone" (PBS, 1972). After years of appearing in the works of Sophocles and Shakespeare, Bujold's first foray into major Hollywood filmmaking found her playing Charlton Heston's mistress in the Irwin Allen disaster movie "Earthquake" (1974).

Returning with a pair of period pieces, Bujold crossed swords with Robert Shaw in the pirate adventure "Swashbuckler" (1976) then portrayed Cleopatra in a "Hallmark Hall of Fame" rendition of George Bernard Shaw's "Caesar and Cleopatra" (NBC, 1976). In more contemporary fare, she was seen as the spitting image of Cliff Robertson's dead wife in director Brian De Palma's Hitchcockian thriller "Obsession" (1976) and played an inquisitive doctor who stumbles upon a black market organ harvesting conspiracy in the Michael Crichton medical thriller "Coma" (1978), co-starring Michael Douglas. The feisty Bujold next matched wits with Christopher Plummer's Sherlock Holmes in the mystery-thriller "Murder by Decree" (1979) and exchanged witty rejoinders with down-on-his-luck pilot Elliott Gould in the Disney family adventure "The Last Flight of Noah's Ark" (1981).

Still enjoying a robust feature film career as she entered the 1980s, Bujold played a young nun embroiled in an illicit affair with Christopher Reeve's corrupted priest in the papal melodrama "Monsignor" (1982). On the other end of the character spectrum, she played a rape prevention counselor surprised by police detective Clint Eastwood's rather intense sexual issues in the grim thriller "Tightrope" (1984). At about this time she became a de facto member of Alan Rudolph's informal stock company, giving suitably cryptic performances opposite Keith Carradine in the films "Choose Me" (1984), "Trouble in Mind" (1985) and "The Moderns" (1988). Daring as always, Bujold was memorable as Claire, the troubled, conception-challenged actress opposite emotionally dependent twin gynecologists (Jeremy Irons) in David Cronenberg's psycho-sexual thriller "Dead Ringers" (1988).

By the turn of the decade, Bujold increasingly appeared in made-for-TV projects like the contemporary Native-American themed drama "Red Earth, White Earth" (CBS, 1989) and the Corey Haim direct-to-video period drama "Oh, What a Night" (1992). Briefly considering taking on a regular role on a television series, Bujold had initially signed on to play Captain Janeway on the "Star Trek" spin-off "Star Trek: Voyager" (UPN, 1995-2001). However, after filming only a handful of scenes, the actress decided that the long hours and open-ended commitment of a weekly show was more than she had bargained for and promptly quit. Her role was quickly filled by veteran actress Kate Mulgrew. Later, she appeared in "The Adventures of Pinocchio" (1996), a live-action feature starring Martin Landau as the kindly Geppetto and Jonathan Taylor Thomas as the puppet who becomes a real live boy. Finding a more satisfying creative outlet in smaller independent films, Bujold was in her element as the mother of an unstable Jackie-O obsessed Parker Posey in writer-director Mark Waters' dark comedy "The House of Yes" (1997).

Two years later, Bujold joined a cast of fellow Canadians, including her former "Dead Ringers" director David Cronenberg, for the acclaimed apocalyptic drama, "Last Night" (1999), starring Sandra Oh and writer-director-star Don McKellar. In one of her less likable roles, she played the owner of an old apartment building who becomes just one of many suspects after a tenant is murdered in the thriller "Jericho Mansions" (2003), co-starring James Caan and Jennifer Tilly. Amidst her other Canadian film work of the time was a supporting turn in the Montreal-set comedy "The Trotsky" (2009), starring up-and-comer Jay Baruchel as an eccentric high school student convinced he is the reincarnation of the eponymous Soviet era icon. Continuing to work with regularity, the 70-year-old actress later starred alongside James Cromwell as a wife and her husband at odds with the local authorities as they attempt to construct their retirement dream home in the low key drama "Still" (2012).

By Bryce Coleman

Filmography

 

Cast (Feature Film)

Chorus (2015)
Sarila (2014)
Voice
Still (2013)
The Trotsky (2010)
La mémoire des anges (2008)
Délivrez-moi (2006)
Mon Petit Doigt M'a Dit (2005)
Finding Home (2003)
Katie
La Turbulence des fluides (2002)
Children of My Heart (2001)
Gabrielle Roy
Eye of the Beholder (1999)
Last Night (1998)
You Can Thank Me Later (1998)
The House of Yes (1997)
Mrs Pascal
Dead Innocent (1997)
Suzanne St Laurent
The Adventures of Pinocchio (1996)
Leona
My Friend Max (1994)
Marie-Alexandrine Brabant--Max
Clint Eastwood: The Man From Malpaso (1993)
An Ambush of Ghosts (1993)
Irene Betts
Oh, What a Night (1992)
Rue du Bac (1991)
Marie Aubriac
Dance Goes On (1991)
James'S Mother; Rick'S Mother
False Identity (1990)
A Paper Wedding (1989)
Claire
Red Earth, White Earth (1989)
Dead Ringers (1988)
The Moderns (1988)
Trouble In Mind (1985)
Tightrope (1984)
Beryl Thibodeaux
Choose Me (1984)
Monsignor (1982)
Mistress Of Paradise (1981)
Elizabeth Beaufort
The Last Flight of Noah's Ark (1980)
Bernadette Lafleur
Final Assignment (1980)
Nicole Thomson
Murder by Decree (1979)
Coma (1978)
Another Man, Another Chance (1977)
Swashbuckler (1976)
Alex And The Gypsy (1976)
Obsession (1976)
L'Incorrigible (1975)
Kamouraska (1973)
Elisabeth
Journey (1972)
Saguenay
Act of the Heart (1970)
Martha Hayes
Isabel (1968)
Isabel
The Adolescents (1967)
Geneviève
The Thief of Paris (1967)
Charlotte
La guerre est finie (1967)
Nadine Sallanches
King of Hearts (1967)
Coquelicot

Cast (Special)

Matisse and Picasso: A Gentle Rivalry (2000)
Voice Of Francoise Gilot
The 21st Annual NAACP Image Awards (1989)
Performer
Caesar and Cleopatra (1976)
Cleopatra
Antigone (1974)
Antigone

Life Events

1964

First film as actress, "The Adolescents"

1965

Made first film of note, "La Guerre est finie"

1967

First of five films with Paul Almond "Isabel"

1967

Made US TV debut, "St. Joan"

1969

Won Academy Award nomination for "Anne of a Thousand Days"

1974

Starred opposite Charlton Heston in "Earthquake"

1981

Made US TV-movie debut, "Mistress of Paradise"

1984

First collaboration with Alan Rudolph and Keith Carradine "Choose Me"

1988

Starred opposite Jeremy Irons in "Dead Ringers"

1991

Last appearance to date in a film directed by Paul Almond "And the Dance Goes On ... "

1992

Played Corey Haim's love interest in "Oh What a Night"

1994

Hired to star in syndicated series "Star Trek: Voyager"; left production after a few days and was replaced by Kate Mulgrew

1996

Cast in "The Adventures of Pinocchio" with Martin Landau and Jonathan Taylor Thomas

1997

Played Mrs. Pascal in "The House of Yes" directed by Mark Waters

1998

Starred in "You Can Thank Me Later" with Ellen Burstyn and Amanda Plummer

2003

Co-starred in the independent film, "Jericho Mansions" with Jennifer Tilly and James Caan

2007

Co-starred in "Downtown: A Street Tale," a drama about homeless teenagers

Videos

Movie Clip

Coma (1978) -- (Movie Clip) I Don't Need A Shrink Maybe they had to cast Tom Selleck for sheer handsomeness, as a knee-surgery patient, when Genevieve Bujold as resident Dr. Wheeler is summoned to meet chief surgeon Harris (Richard Widmark, his first scene), after getting caught accessing confidential records, after her friend went into a coma during a routine procedure, in Coma, 1978.
Coma (1978) -- (Movie Clip) Open, It's All Politics Opening in Boston, Genevieve Bujold is surgical resident Susan Wheeler, Harvard-trained MD turned novelist Michael Crichton in his third film as a director, shooting exteriors at Boston City Hospital where he did clinical rotations, and we learn Michael Douglas as Dr. Bellows is also her love interest, in the hit medical thriller Coma, 1978.
Coma (1978) -- (Movie Clip) The Risks Of Anesthesia Michael Douglas as incoming chief-resident Dr. Bellows has sent for his colleague and live-in girlfriend (Genevieve Bujold as Dr. Wheeler) after he recognized her close friend (Lois Chiles as Nancy Greenly), now being treated for a coma following a routine abortion procedure, with some feminist overtones, in Coma. 1978.
Coma (1978) -- (Movie Clip) To Prevent Bedsores Partial SPOILER, as it’s now clear that Boston surgical resident Susan Wheeler has uncovered a conspiracy involving patients being put into comas, and she’s joined a tour (Betty McGuire the guide) at the facility where they’ve developed a cheap way to store patients, in one of the most remarked-upon scenes in director Michael Crichton’s medical thriller, Coma, 1978.
Coma (1978) -- (Movie Clip) I'm Just Her Surgeon Still remarkable scene, even moreso in 1978, where Lois Chiles is the unconscious patient getting a therapeutic abortion, but the lead actors are real doctors, Tom Borut the anesthesiologist, Philip G. Brooks the surgeon, recruited by the MD and novelist Michael Crichton, directing his third film, based on a novel by his doctor friend Robin Cook, from Coma, 1978.
Earthquake (1974) -- (Movie Clip) I'm Not That Stupid Engineer Charlton Heston is accepting a promotion until he realizes his wife (Ava Gardner) has forced her father (Lorne Greene) to make the offer, Victoria Principal at the movies, Genevieve Bujold in the canyon, Richard Roundtree preparing a stunt, when the big one hits, in Earthquake, 1974.
Another Man, Another Chance (1977) -- (Movie Clip) What's West About This? James Caan in the amusing contemporary opening to director Claude Lelouch's 19th century trans-Atlantic melodrama, from Lelouch's original screenplay, Another Man, Another Chance, 1977, also starring Genevieve Bujold.
Obsession (1976) -- (Movie Clip) Open, 1959 Bernard Hermann music, Vilmos Zsigmond shots of the Basilica di San Miniato al Monte in Florence, opening Brian De Palma's Obsession, 1976, with Cliff Robertson and Genevieve Bujold.

Trailer

Family

Firmin Bujold
Father
Bus driver. French-Canadian.
Laurette Bujold
Mother
Matthew Almond
Son
Actor. Born 1967; father Paul Almond.
Emmanuel Hastings
Son
Born c. 1980; father Dennis Hastings.

Companions

Paul Almond
Husband
Director. Married in 1967; divorced in 1973; appeared in several films directed by Almond.
Dennis Hastings
Companion
Contractor. Together since c. 1977.

Bibliography

Notes

"She has that indefinable something which is fast disappearing. She doesn't resemble anyone else, she doesn't try to copy anyone's style. In short, she's herself with gestures that are strictly hers and a rare face never seen on the screen before." --Yves Montand on Bujold

"Acting and being a mother are all I know how to do. When the new baby was born, I thought I would probably never act again. I always think that at the end of each film. Yet, somehow, acting pulls me." --Genevieve Bujold