As an actress she is particularly known for classics directed by Marcel Carné, including Hotel du Nord (1938), Le jour se lève (1939) and Children of Paradise (1945).

Arletty's career took off around 1936 when she appeared as the leading lady in the stage plays Les Joies du Capitole and Fric-Frac, in which she starred opposite Michel Simon.

[5] Arletty was imprisoned in 1945 for her wartime liaison with a German Luftwaffe officer, Hans-Jürgen Soehring (1908–1960),[6] during the occupation of France.

James Lord wrote of her special treatment: Arletty was too well known for the mere humiliation of having her head shaved, her naked skull tarred with a swastika and in this abject state paraded through the streets to confront the jeers and spittle of the mob.

Prison would be none too good for her, people said, looking forward to severe retribution for the moral treason of which they found her guilty.

One of her final screen appearances was in a small role as an elderly French woman in The Longest Day (1962).