Emmanuelle Riva (born 24 February, 1927) had a successful career on the stage before taking on the role of Elle in Alain Resnais’ critical and commercial hit Hiroshima mon amour (1959). Although never equalling the impact of that performance, she was also impressive in Jean-Pierre Melville's Léon Morin, prêtre (1961), Georges Franju's Thérèse Desqueyroux (1962) – for which she won the Best Actress Award at the Venice Film Festival, Thomas l’imposteur (1964, also directed by Franju) and Three Colors Blue (1993).