Knowra Jean Seberg Jean Seberg Jean Seberg was an American actress and director whose performance in Jean-Luc Godard’s 1960 film Breathless made her an emblem of the French New Wave.
Breathless : A 1960 French crime film directed by Jean-Luc Godard, starring Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg. Patricia Franchini, Seberg’s role in this film, became her most enduring screen image.
Otto Preminger : An Austrian-born American film director and producer known for films including Laura and Anatomy of a Murder . Preminger selected Seberg from thousands of candidates and directed her first two films.
Marshalltown, Iowa : A city in central Iowa, United States, and Jean Seberg’s hometown. Seberg grew up here before a nationwide casting search launched her acting career.
FBI surveillance of Jean Seberg : The FBI’s monitoring of actress Jean Seberg because of her support for civil rights and Black nationalist causes. The surveillance campaign damaged her privacy and became a defining part of her later biography.
Jean-Paul Belmondo : A French actor who became an international star after playing Michel Poiccard in Breathless . Belmondo’s co-starring role anchors the film opposite Seberg’s Patricia.
Saint Joan : A 1957 film directed by Otto Preminger, adapted from George Bernard Shaw’s play about Joan of Arc. Seberg made her screen debut as Joan of Arc in this costly, unsuccessful production.
Jean-Luc Godard : A French film director and critic whose work helped define the French New Wave. Godard cast Seberg as Patricia in Breathless , linking her image to his film movement.
University of Iowa : A public research university in Iowa City, founded in 1847. Seberg studied drama there before Otto Preminger cast her in Saint Joan .
Los Angeles Times false pregnancy story : A 1970 newspaper report, based on an FBI leak, falsely claimed Seberg’s pregnancy was connected to a Black Panther Party member. The story publicly exposed the smear campaign and intensified Seberg’s personal distress.
Brigitte Bardot : A French actress and singer who became an international sex symbol after starring in And God Created Woman . Bardot’s screen persona offers a contrasting model of French female stardom in the same era.
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