Birth of Rosy Varte (November 22, 1923)

Rosy Varte was a French actress of Armenian descent. She made more than 100 film and television appearances during her career.  

She was born Nevarte Manouelian on November 22, 1923, in Constantinople. She was a few weeks old when her family moved to France following the establishment of the Kemalist regime in Turkey.   

Her career reflected her appetite for life and formidable curiosity. She started working with noted theater director Jean Vilar at the Theatre National Populaire (National Popular Theater, TNP), a major theatrical institution. Her performance in the play “Ubu Roi,” staged at the TNP in 1958, is considered a classic. She also played in the most important theaters of Paris, such as the Comédie des Champs-Élysées, Théâtre Édouard VII, Vieux-Colombier, and others before becoming an actress at the Comédie-Française between 1971 and 1974, where she performed in the plays by the great authors of the repertoire like Sophocles, Molière, Shakespeare, and Pirandello. She also played in about 50 films, becoming well known for her roles in movies by famous French directors like Jean Renoir, Francois Truffaut, Henri Verneuil, and Claude Sautet. She starred in the 1972 film The Bar at the Crossing, which was entered into the Berlin International Film Festival. She was a voice actress in the cartoon Western movies Daisy Town (1971) and La Ballade des Dalton (1978).  

She promoted theater in television, participating in various TV cycles. She had the title role (Maguy Boissier) in 333 episodes of the hit TV series Maguy from 1985 to 1993. She won the 7 d’Or award for Best Actress for playing Maguy Boissier in 1987. She also earned the title of Official of the Order of the Legion of Honor.   

Rosy Varte remained faithful to her Armenian origins and was among the artists who participated in the recording of “Pour toi, Armenie” by Charles Aznavour (in 1989) to the benefit of the victims of the earthquake of Armenia in December 1988. 

She appeared for the last time in television with the French film Hubert and the Dog in 2007. She passed away on January 14, 2012, in Neuilly–sur-Seine, at the age of 88.