Marianne Faithfull  

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Marianne Faithfull (born 29 December 1946) is an English singer, songwriter, actress and diarist whose career spans over four decades.

Faithfull's early work in pop and rock music in the 1960s was overshadowed by her struggle with drug abuse in the 1970s. During the first two-thirds of that decade, and with little notice, only two studio albums were produced. After a long commercial absence, she returned late in 1979 with the landmark album, Broken English. Faithfull's subsequent solo work, often critically acclaimed, has at times been overshadowed by her personal history.

With a recording career that spans over four decades, Faithfull has continually reinvented her musical persona, experimenting in vastly different musical genres and collaborating with such varied artists as Beck, David Bowie, Nick Cave, The Chieftains, Jarvis Cocker, Billy Corgan, Lenny Kaye, Daniel Lanois, Emmylou Harris, PJ Harvey, Rupert Hine, Metallica, Barry Reynolds, Keith Richards, Sly and Robbie, Tom Waits, Roger Waters, and Steve Winwood.

Contents

Discography

Acting career

In addition to her music career, Faithfull has had a career as an actress in theatre, television and film.

Her first professional theatre appearance was in a 1967 stage adaptation of Chekhov's Three Sisters, at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in which she played Irina, co-starring with Glenda Jackson and Avril Elgar. Before that she played herself in Jean-Luc Godard's film Made in U.S.A. Faithfull has also appeared in the 1967 film I'll Never Forget What's'isname alongside Orson Welles (where she notably became the first person to say "fuck" in a mainstream studio picture), in the French television film Anna, starring Anna Karina (in which Faithfull sang Serge Gainsbourg's "Hier ou Demain"), as a leather-clad motorcyclist in the 1968 French film La Motocyclette (English titles: Girl on a Motorcycle and Naked Under Leather) opposite Alain Delon, and in Kenneth Anger's 1969 film Lucifer Rising, in which she played Lilith. In 1969, Faithfull played Ophelia opposite Nicol Williamson's title character in Hamlet, directed by Tony Richardson and featuring Anthony Hopkins as Claudius. The original producers of The Rocky Horror Show wanted her to play "Magenta/Usherette", but as Patricia Quinn (who got the part) stated in an interview "She went to India with her guru".

Her stage work also included Edward Bond's Early Morning at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in which she played a lesbian Florence Nightingale, The Collector at St Martin's Theatre in the West End opposite Simon Williams, Mad Dog at Hampstead Theatre opposite Denholm Elliott, A Patriot for Me by John Osborne, at the Palace Theatre, Watford and the role of Lizzie Curry in N. Richard Nash's The Rainmaker, which toured the UK and in which Faithfull's co-star was Peter Gilmore. Other film roles in the 1970s included Sophy Kwykwer in Stephen Weeks's Ghost Story (AKA Madhouse Mansion), released on a newly mastered DVD in the UK in 2009, and Helen Rochefort in Assault on Agathon.

Her television acting in the late 1960s and early 1970s included The Door of Opportunity (1970) with Ian Ogilvy, adapted from W. Somerset Maugham's story, followed by August Strindberg's The Stronger (1971) with Britt Ekland, and Terrible Jim Fitch (1971) by James Leo Herlihy, which once more paired Faithfull with Nicol Williamson.


In 1993, she played the role of Pirate Jenny in The Threepenny Opera at the Gate Theatre in Dublin. Later she performed Kurt Weill's "The Seven Deadly Sins" with the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, a CD of which was released in 1998.

She has played both God and the Devil. She appeared as God in two guest appearances in the British sitcom Absolutely Fabulous opposite friend Jennifer Saunders, with another close friend, Anita Pallenberg, playing the Devil. In 2004 and 2005, she played the Devil in William Burroughs' and Tom Waits' musical, The Black Rider, directed by Robert Wilson, which opened at London's Barbican Theatre, toured to San Francisco, but from which she was forced to withdraw prior to performances at the Sydney Festival, owing to exhaustion.

In 2001 Faithfull appeared with Lucy Russell and Lambert Wilson in C.S. Leigh's Far From China. She has also appeared in Patrice Chéreau's Intimacy (2001) and, in 2004, in Jose Hayot's Nord-Plage. Faithfull appeared as Empress Maria Theresa in Sofia Coppola's 2006 biopic, Marie Antoinette. She starred in the film Irina Palm, released at the Berlinale film festival in 2007. Faithfull plays the central role of Maggie, a 60-year-old widow who becomes a sex worker to pay for medical treatment for her ill grandson.

Faithfull lent her voice to the 2008 film Evil Calls: The Raven, although this was recorded several years earlier when the project was still titled Alone in the Dark. She has appeared in the 2008 feature documentary by Nik Sheehan on Brion Gysin and the dreamachine, entitled FLicKeR.

In 2008, Faithfull toured readings of Shakespeare's sonnets, drawing on the "Dark Lady" sequence. Her accompanist was the cellist Vincent Ségal.

In 2011 and 2012 Faithfull had supporting roles in the films Faces in the Crowd and Belle du Seigneur.

Marianne recently starred in a production of Kurt Weill's The Seven Deadly Sins at Landestheater Linz, Austria. The production ran from October 2012 to January 2013.

Filmography

Film and television work

Year Film Role Notes
1967 Anna (TV movie) Une jeune femme dans la soirée dansante
I'll Never Forget What's'isname Josie Faithfull became the first person to say "fuck" in a mainstream studio picture.
1968 The Girl on a Motorcycle Rebecca
1969 Hamlet Ophelia
1972 Lucifer Rising (Short) Lilith
1974 Ghost Story Sophy Kwykwer
1975 Assault on Agathon Helen Rochefort
1992 The Turn of the Screw Narrator
1993 When Pigs Fly Lilly
1994 Shopping Bev
1995 Moondance Mother
1996 Crimetime Club Singer
2001 Intimacy Betty
Far from China Helen
Absolutely Fabulous (TV series) God – "The Last Shout: Part 1" (1996)
– "The Last Shout: Part 2" (1996)
– "Donkey" (2001)
2006 Paris, je t'aime Marianne (segment "Le Marais")
Marie Antoinette Queen Maria Theresa
2007 Irina Palm Maggie Nominated: European Film Award for Best Actress
2011 Faces in the Crowd Dr. Langenkamp
2012 Belle du Seigneur Mariette

Stage work

Year Production Role Location Notes
1967 Three Sisters Irina Royal Court Theatre, London
1968 Early Morning Florence Nightingale Royal Court Theatre, London
1969 Hamlet Ophelia The Royal House, London
1973 Alice in Wonderland Alice Theatre Royal, Brighton
A Patriot for Me Countess Sophia Delyanoff Palace Theatre, London
Mad Dog Jane Ludlow; Little Ford Fauntleroy (disguised) Hampstead Theatre, London
1974 The Collector Miranda Wyvern Theatre, Sweden
1975 The Rainmaker Lizzie Curry Kenneth More Theatre, Ilford
The Kingdom of Earth Myrtle Ravenstock unknown
1991 The Threepenny Opera Pirate Jenny Gate Theatre, Dublin
2004 The Black Rider Pegleg Barbican Centre, London




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