[1][5][6] Born in Paris on the left bank on 22 August 1922,[1][7] Presle wanted to be an actress from an early age.

She was the daughter of Robert Chassagne, a French banker (who fled to the United States amid a finance scandal) and artist Julie Bachelier.

[1] She received early education in a convent school, but took acting classes with the Belgian actor Raymond Rouleau.

[1][5] "Exquisite good looks" coupled with a "graceful transition between froth and drama" facilitated her long career, with more than 200 credited roles.

[9] Her first Hollywood production was a starring role opposite John Garfield in the film Under My Skin directed by Jean Negulesco.

That same year, director Fritz Lang cast her opposite Tyrone Power in the war drama American Guerrilla in the Philippines.

[1] Disenchanted with Hollywood, since "They gave me uninteresting parts in bad pictures," she went back to work in European film.

[2] Tonie Marshall, her daughter, won a César for Venus Beauty Institute in which Presle appeared.

It was paired with Marv Newland's Bambi Meets Godzilla and John Magnuson's Thank You Mask Man and marketed under the heading The King of Hearts and His Loyal Short Subjects.