by Sandra Brennan
biography
French actress Renée Adorée, born Jeanne de la Fonte, was a leading lady in Hollywood films during the 1920s. She began entertaining at age five when she worked as a bareback rider in the circus. As a young woman she worked for a time as a chorine for the Folies-Bergères. She came to Hollywood in 1920 and began playing leads in mediocre films. She became an overnight sensation after she appeared in The Big Parade (1925) opposite heartthrob John Gilbert. Adorée died at the age of 35 in 1933, a victim of tuberculosis.
