She had already appeared in her first film, an uncredited role as a student in the melodrama Young Girls in Trouble (Jeunes filles en détresse, 1939).

[1] In June 1940, Lebeau and Dalio (who was Jewish) fled Paris ahead of the invading German Army and reached Lisbon.

They are presumed to have received transit visas from Aristides de Sousa Mendes, allowing them to enter Spain and journey on to Portugal.

[2] Lebeau made her Hollywood debut in Hold Back the Dawn (1941), which featured Charles Boyer and Olivia de Havilland in the leading roles.

Courtesy of MGM, Lebeau helped entertain the troops at Camp Roberts, California in 1943, starring in The Desert Song.

[5] She would appear in 20 more films, mainly French, including La Parisienne (1957), with Brigitte Bardot as the star, as well as in Federico Fellini's 8½ (1963).

[3] French culture minister Audrey Azoulay said of Madelaine Lebeau after her death: "She was a free woman who lived by her own rules, totally inhabiting the roles entrusted to her by leading directors.