by Sandra Brennan
biography
Charismatic French actress Gina Manès was one of the biggest stars in Europe during the 1920s. Born in Paris, she made her screen debut in 1919 in Feuillade's L' Homme San Visage. She was subsequently typecast as a femme fatale. Manès is best remembered for portraying Josephine in Gance's Napoleon (1927) and Therese Raquin in Feyder's film of the same name. Other noted directors with whom she worked include Jean Epstein and Julien Duvivier. By the mid-'30s, her bright star had begun to fade and she basically disappeared from films until the early '60s when she again began taking movie roles. Manès also worked steadily in a Toulouse theater company until the early '70s.
