Anne (Anna) Chevalier was a French and Polynesian actress and dancer who lived in the first half of the 20th century. Stage name - Reri. Full name - Anna Irma Ruahrei Chevalier.
Biography
Anne was born in 1912 on the Pacific island of Bora Bora, in French Polynesia, on the Wind Islands northwest of Tahiti.
Réry's father is a native Frenchman, Laurence Chevalier, who left for the island of Tahiti and settled in its capital in the city of Papeete. He made a living teaching French, but later took over as mayor of Papeete.
Anne's mother is Polynesian. Ann became the seventh child in the family. In total, Lawrence's family had from 12 to 18 children (according to various sources). Anne spent her childhood in Tahitian villages, surrounded by her peers.
Rery received her education in the same city, at a school for Catholic girls.
Creation
When Anne Chevalier was only 16 years old at a local cocktail bar she met by chance the famous German film director Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau. At that time, he planned to make a film about the life of two lovers on one of the islands of the South Seas, and in Tahiti he was looking for a suitable candidate for the main female role of the future film. The meeting ended with Chevalier being invited to shoot.
According to the memoirs of Yadwiga Migova (Murnau's assistant), Ann was an ordinary young girl attending a Catholic high school, of average height, with mischievous eyes and brown hair to the shoulder blades.
The 1931 film Taboo: A History of the South Seas was considered by many critics to be one of the last great silent films. The genre is documentary. The plot tells about the life of two lovers on the island of Bora Bora before the arrival of colonists on it and after its development by civilization. Anne Chevalier played the main role of a girl named Reri. Since then, this pseudonym has stuck with her, along with the characteristic features of the character she played.
The film was shot at the own expense of its director F. V. Murnau. Due to the lack of money for filming, only local Polynesian actors were hired to perform the roles, the film crew consisted entirely of natives, and the picture became black and white, although it was originally conceived in color.
The film was not a box office success after its release, but won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography and made Anne Chevalier famous.
After filming ended, Murnau invited Chevalier to the United States, intending to promote her as a dancer. For this purpose, a personal agent, Mildred Lember, was even hired, but Murnau's plans did not materialize due to his death in a car accident.
Young Anne Chevalier settled in the United States. Despite the death of her patron Murnau, her agent found her a job promoting the film on the Siegfeld Fallis Broadway show. Through his Broadway work, Chevalier has been fortunate enough to perform with actors such as Frederick March, Wallace Bury and Morris Chevalier (namesake).
In 1932, Anne toured Europe, appearing in film premieres in Paris, Warsaw, London, Rome, Vienna and Berlin, and performing at European dance studios.
The first performance, which brought Anne wide European fame, was the premiere of the film "Taboo" at the Berlin Theater "Skala".
However, not all performances went smoothly. So, for example, in Paris, although she made a big splash and became a sensation of that time, the theater still did not pay her the promised fee. This was the reason for the break with her agent Lember.
Since 1933 she has been a regular Polynesian dancer and a Polynesian songwriter at the Alhambra cinema (Poland). Has performed in Warsaw, Krakow, Poznan, Lodz, Zakopane, Krynica and Tsekhonik.
In 1934, Anne starred in the film Black Pearl by the Polish actor and director Eugene Bodo. Here she also got the main role of a Tahitian girl who marries a Polish sailor and strives to gain recognition in her husband's society.
The script for the film was written by Eugene Bodo especially for Reri. In the same film, Anne, as Moana, sang the song "For you, I want to be white," which became the most famous song in Anne Chevalier's career.
The story of this film is notable for the fact that it was banned from showing in Ohio (USA), citing the then policy of opposing incest between representatives of different racial groups.
In 1937, Chevalier was invited to shoot the film "The Hurricane" directed by John Ford. Fil received great success with the audience, but Ann got a very small role in it.
Personal life
During the filming of the film "Black Pearl" Ann and director Yevgeny Bodo had an affair. The Chevalier moved to live with Bodo. After a short period of dating, the couple announces their engagement and upcoming wedding.
However, the wedding never took place. The couple broke up after living together for only one year. The most likely reason for the breakup was that Anne often abused alcohol, while Eugene was an absolute teetotaler.
During her life in Poland, Chevalier learned the Polish language.
After Hurricane, Ann was no longer invited to shoot new films. She tried to establish contact with her former agent Mildred Lember, who at the time settled in Holland, but he was able to offer her only small theatrical performances in which she played Reri.
Disappointed in marriage, fed up with her "eternal" role of Reri, and she was forced to return to Tahiti to her parents. Only once after that did she star in Hurricane.
In 1939, Polish writer and traveler Arkady Fiedler came to Tahiti to meet Anne. Later, he described this meeting and acquaintance in Chevalier in detail in his books published in the late 70s.
Another Polish writer, reporter and traveler Lusjan Wolanowski made a special visit to Tahiti in the 60s to interview Anne.
In Tahiti, Anne Chevalier remarried a local fisherman and lived until 1977, dying in her home.
After her death, her former agent Mildred Lember wrote the script for The Dancing Cannibal and tried to sell the plot to Hollywood. In fact, it was a new story about Reri. Lember was accused of plagiarism and no longer tried to write scripts.
