Françoise Pascal

Françoise Pascal (born 14 October 1949) is a British actress, singer, dancer, fashion model, and producer born in Mauritius to French parents. She appeared in numerous film and television productions in her peak throughout the late 1960s to early 1980s. Film roles include two films with Peter Sellers, There’s A Girl In My Soup (1970) and Soft Beds, Hard Battles (1973). Her career further advanced with appearances in Burke & Hare (1972), La Rose De Fer (1973), and Keep It Up Downstairs (1976). Her greatest success was on the hit British sitcom Mind Your Language as Danielle Favre. She also became established as a sex symbol as Penthouse Pet of the Month for August 1970, and appearing on the first cover of Club International in 1972.

For the 17th-century French poet, see Françoise Pascal (poet).
Françoise Pascal
Pascal in 2012
Born
Françoise Pascal

(1949-10-14) 14 October 1949
Vacoas, Mauritius
Occupation
  • Actress
  • singer
  • dancer
  • fashion model
  • producer
Years active1967-present
Known for
Height5 ft 5 in (1.65 m)
Partner(s)Richard Johnson
ChildrenNicholas Johnson (b. 1976)
Websitehttp://francoisepascal.co.uk

Early life

Pascal was born in Mauritius, then a colony of the United Kingdom, to Marcel and Claire Pascal. She grew up with her parents and four siblings in Mauritius, until age 6 when her family moved to London. She also lived in Paris for some time where she attended La Sorbonne. Her father died when she was 14. Françoise Pascal made her debut at the age of 11 on the boards of Paris with Jean-Louis Barrault. But it is in the British capital that she settles down and that she is noticed by dancing in the show Top of the Pops Her film career opens in 1968 with Loving Feeling by Norman J. Warren and School for Sex, two trendy "sex-comedies". Figure of Swinging London, she appears alongside the Rolling Stones in One Plus One by Jean-Luc Godard and begins to attract the attention of the sensational press. She was chosen to be the Penthouse Pet of the Month in August 1970 and appeared on the cover of Club International's first issue in 1972. On the big screen, we see her in Vernon Sewell's film Burke and Hare. She also shoots for the BBC, alongside Rex Harrison in The Adventures of Don Quixote or Lee Remick in Summer and Smoke after Tennessee Williams. Above all, she gives the line twice to Peter Sellers in A Girl in My Soup and in In the Car, Simone.

In 1973, Françoise starred in La Rose de fer with Hugues Quester as a partner. If it is not the first choice of Jean Rollin, the understanding is excellent with the director and his performance amply satisfies him. The film, now cult, places it at the forefront in the memory of the filmmaker's fans, but after its release, it suffered a bitter commercial failure. In 1976, she starred in two erotic comedies, one, And if you don't want it, shot in France, the other, Keep It Up Downstairs, shot in England with Diana Dors. She then worked mainly on television, often playing the "little French". She notably plays the role of Danielle Favre in the series Mind Your Language (en) (1977-1979) which establishes her as a popular figure on the small screen. Complete artist, she also records some 45 laps. His private life is marked throughout the 1970s by a troubled love affair with comedian Richard Johnson. The couple gave birth to a son, Nicholas, in 1976 and separated in 1980. In 1980, she left for Hollywood with a two-year contract to star in the Young and the Restless series. During her stay in Los Angeles, she worked mainly in the theater, including three plays by Shakespeare for which her performances were hailed. She also admits in a recent interview to have a predilection for boards. She shot in 1986 what is to date her last film Lightning the White Stallion with Mickey Rooney and Susan George. Returning to England in 1987, she made a living from public appearances and worked as a secretary. She participated in 1995, like Anna Bergman among others, in the show Doing Rude Things which looks back on the history of English erotic cinema.

In January 2012, Françoise Pascal published her autobiography, As I am. The actress evokes her relations with the actors Warren Beatty and Michael Caine and causes some stir by revealing her adulterous relationship with the very conservative Baron James Hanson7. She returns above all to the excesses of a certain showbiz and to his drug addiction problems that prematurely ended his Hollywood career. After going through particularly difficult times, the actress returned to the light, devotes much of her time to charity. Since 2010, she has been organizing events aimed at connecting charities with stars likely to promote their causes.

Source : https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7oise_Pascal_(actrice)

Career

Acting

Represented by Hazel Malone Management, her earliest films were Norman J. Warren's Loving Feeling and Pete Walker's School for Sex (both 1969), and she also appeared briefly in a scene in the troubled cult horror film Incense for the Damned (1970), but her breakthrough role was playing Paola in There's a Girl in My Soup (1970) with Peter Sellers. She went on to do the black comedy Burke & Hare (1972), playing Marie, and another Sellers film, Soft Beds, Hard Battles (1974).

After that appearance, she moved to France where she starred in such films as Et si tu n'en Veux Pas (1974) and Les Raisins de la Mort (1978), directed by Jean Rollin. The producer of Rollin's La Rose de Fer, then gave her the lead in the film but it was not a success. Later she returned to England to appear in Keep It Up Downstairs (1976) alongside Diana Dors, Jack Wild and Mary Millington.

Her first television work came in October 1971 with a role in Coronation Street, playing Ray Langton's friend. Then came guest starring roles in an episode of Play of the Month for the BBC in "Don Quixote" (1973) with Rex Harrison and for ITV's Sunday Night Theatre "Giants & Ogres" (1971). She was cast in numerous guest starring appearances in many television comedy series such as Happy Ever After (1976) with Terry Scott and June Whitfield, as well as My Honourable Mrs (1975) with Derek Nimmo for the BBC. She co-starred in an episode of the thriller You're on Your Own starring Denis Quilley, for the BBC.

She played seductive French au-pair Danielle Favre in the first three series of the ITV sitcom Mind Your Language (1977–79); she then took on her stage roles in Happy Birthday (reuniting with Frazer Hines), and starring in a pantomime of Aladdin. Pascal left for the United States in 1980, where she acted in Hollywood with a two-year contract in The Young and the Restless, Gavillan, My Man Adam, Lightning, The White Stallion. She returned to England in 1987.

In 2015, Pascal joined the cast for a new comedy series called For the Love of Ella. The series also stars Ewen Macintosh, Lucy Drive, Bobby Ball, Alex Reid, Daniel Peacock, Melanie Sykes, Darren Day and Billy Pearce.[1]

Since work had been scarce as an actress for some years, Pascal has turned her talent to producing her first film Cold Sun starring Patrick Bergin and Ian Ogilvy. The film is produced by Pascal's own company MFC Productions Ltd and Pascal Productions Ltd. She is also to make an appearance in the film.

Music

Pascal made her music debut in August 1968 with the UK release of her promo double single When It Comes to Love / Got It Badly. Released on SNB Records UK, the ballad-driven songs received good reviews from critics, but failed to make a commercial impact. With her acting career taking off, Pascal pursued acting full time and didn’t return to the music scene for over a decade.

In 1979, Pascal returned to the music industry with record executives hoping to cash in on her burgeoning success from Mind Your Language. Signed to RCA Victor UK, she released her biggest music hit to date, Woman Is Free, as a promo single along with Symphony Just For Me. Released only in the United Kingdom, Woman Is Free achieved modest success and was a bop hit in disco clubs. The popularity of the song continued when it was covered by Grace Kennedy for her debut album Desires the following year.

The moderate success of Woman Is Free propelled RCA UK to release Pascal’s next single I Can’t Get Enough in 1981. The synth pop/soul inspired song, along with the singles second track Make Love To Me, failed to find success on the music charts. Subsequently Pascal was dropped from the label without releasing a full length studio album.

Since 1981, Pascal has remained mostly inactive in the music industry. As of 2020, her catalogue of music is out of print, and physical copies of the vinyl singles are hard to find. Although her music has yet to be remastered and released on music streaming platforms, Pascal does feature her entire collection of songs on her official website.

Filmography

Film
Year Title Role Notes
1968 Loving Feeling Model film debut
Sympathy For The Devil Self documentary
1970 There’s A Girl In My Soup Paola
1971 Incense For The Damned uncredited
The Anatomy of a Pin-Up Self documentary short
The Beloved uncredited
1972 Burke & Hare Marie
1973 The Iron Rose La femme
1974 Soft Beds, Hard Battles Madeline
1976 French Undressing Margot
Keep It Up Downstairs Mimi
Private Lives Louise television film
1978 The Grapes of Death Train passenger scenes deleted
1986 Lighting White Stallion Marie Ward Leeman
2013 Symbols and Signs Isabella short film
2015 For The Love of Ella Maitre’d television film
2016 Respectable: The Mary Millington Story Herself documentary film
2020 Jeepers Creepers Fantasy Lover voice
2021 Cold Sun Madeline Bouvier also producer

Television
Year Title Role Notes
1971 Coronation Street Françoise Dubois (1 episode, 1971)
ITV Saturday Night Theatre Secretary (1 episode, 1971)
1972 Go Girl Martine unaired series
1972-73 BBC Play of the Month Harlot/Rosa González (2 episodes, 1972-1973)
1974 Napoleon and Love Elzunia (1 episode, 1974)
Late Night Drama Cynthia Crumpet (1 episode, 1974)
1975 You’re On Your Own Suzanne Fermont (1 episode, 1975)
My Honorable Mrs Anna-Maria (1 episode, 1975)
Rule Britanna! Colette (1 episode, 1975)
1976 The Brothers Thérèse d’Alamber (2 episodes, 1976)
Happy Ever After Michelle (1 episode, 1976)
What’s on Next? Self (1 episode, 1976)
1977 Whodunnit Vere Le Grand (1 episode, 1977)
1977-1979 Mind Your Language Danielle Favre (29 episodes, 1977-1979)
1978 Celebrity Squares Herself (4 episodes, 1978)
Those Wonderful TV Times Herself (1 episode, 1978)
1979 Blankety Blank Herself (1 episode, 1979)
1980 The Dick Emery Hour Herself TV special
1981 Mike Yardwood In Persons Louise (1 episode, 1981)
Punchlines! Herself (1 episode, 1981)
1982 Gavilan Carla (1 episode, 1982)
1995 Doing Rude Things Herself TV movie documentary

Discography
Title Year Album
"When It Comes To Love"[2] 1968 When It Comes To Love/Got It Badly-Single
"Got It Badly”[2]
“Woman Is Free”[3] 1979 Woman Is Free-Single
“Symphony Just For Me”[3]
“I Can’t Get Enough”[4] 1981 I Can’t Get Enough-Single
“Make Love To Me”[4]

Personal life

Pascal had a child, Nicholas Johnson, by the actor, Richard Keith Johnson.[5][6]

On 4 December 2010, she joined Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood at Claygate Village to turn on the village Christmas lights[7] and singing a solo of Silent Night.

In December 2012, Pascal took part in the ITV1 programme Storage Hoarders, in which she sorted and sold at auction some of her more valuable possessions which she had kept in storage for months.

One of Pascal’s closest friends was British actress, Lynne Frederick. She first became acquainted with Frederick in 1972, when they co-starred on an episode of the television anthology series, BBC Play of the Month.[8] The two actresses quickly became “firm friends”[8] and frequently saw each other during the height of their careers in the 1970s. Pascal recalled that they regretfully lost contact in 1977 after Frederick married Peter Sellers.[8] Frederick later died in 1994. In April 2020, a few weeks before the 26th anniversary of Frederick’s death, Pascal tweeted a photo of herself and Frederick, with the caption “I think of her very often! Always had that fresh baby face! RIP Lynne! Xxx”.[9]

References
  1. "For the Love of Ella (2015)". IMDb. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
  2. When It Comes to Love / Got It Badly by Françoise Pascal, retrieved 8 October 2020
  3. "Françoise Pascal - Woman Is Free". Discogs. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
  4. "Francoise Pascal* - I Can't Get Enough". Discogs. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
  5. Pendreigh, Brian (8 June 2015). "Obituary: Richard Johnson, actor". The Scotsman. Archived from the original on 10 March 2016.
  6. "Family Album". francoisepascal.co.uk. MFC Productions Ltd. Retrieved 17 July 2018.
  7. Luke Jacobs, "Ronnie Wood lights up Claygate for Christmas", Surrey News, 7 December 2010
  8. Pascal, Francoise (13 April 2020). "We both worked in a BBC Play of the month called Summer and Smoke, we became firm friends. Then she met Peter S and she told me she was marrying Peter. I was happy for both of them. We lost touch and the last time I spoke to her is when Peter died. Never saw her again". @fpascal. Retrieved 5 May 2020.
  9. Pascal, Francoise (13 April 2020). "I think of her very often! Always had that fresh baby face! RIP Lynne! Xxxpic.twitter.com/G7ckW91bgx". @fpascal. Retrieved 5 May 2020.

Further reading
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