By Eunice Charles
FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS
Winifred Jacqueline Fraser Bisset LdH (/ˈbɪsɪt/ BISS-it; born 13 September 1944) is a British actress. She began her film career in 1965 and first came to prominence in 1968 with roles in The Detective, Bullitt, and The Sweet Ride, for which she received a Golden Globe nomination as Most Promising Newcomer. In the 1970s, she starred in Airport (1970), The Mephisto Waltz (1971), Day for Night (1973), which won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, Le Magnifique (1973), Murder on the Orient Express (1974), St. Ives (1976), The Deep (1977), The Greek Tycoon (1978) and Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe? (1978), which earned her a Golden Globe nomination as Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical.
Bisset’s other film and TV credits include Rich and Famous (1981), Class (1983), her Golden Globe-nominated role in Under the Volcano (1984), her CableACE Award-nominated role in Forbidden (1985), Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills (1989), Wild Orchid (1990), her Cesar Award-nominated role in La Cérémonie (1995), Dangerous Beauty (1998), her Emmy-nominated role in the miniseries Joan of Arc (1999), Britannic (2000), The Sleepy Time Gal (2001), Domino (2005), a guest arc in the fourth season of Nip/Tuck (2006), Death in Love (2008), and the BBC miniseries Dancing on the Edge (2013), for which she won a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film.
Bisset has since appeared in Welcome to New York (2014), Miss You Already (2015), The Last Film Festival (2016), Backstabbing for Beginners (2018) and Birds of Paradise (2021). She received France’s highest honour, the Legion of Honour, in 2010. She speaks English, French, and Italian.
Bisset was born Winifred Jacqueline Fraser Bisset in Weybridge, Surrey, England, the daughter of George Maxwell Fraser Bisset (1911–1982), a general practitioner, and Arlette Alexander (1914–1999), a lawyer-turned-housewife. Her mother was of French and English descent and her father was of Scottish descent; Bisset’s mother cycled from Paris and boarded a British troopship to escape the Germans during the 1940 Battle of France.
Bisset has never married, but had long-term romances with Canadian actor Michael Sarrazin, Moroccan real estate magnate Victor Drai, Russian dancer/actor Alexander Godunov, Swiss actor Vincent Perez and Turkish martial arts instructor Emin Boztepe.
In interviews, Bisset is often asked about being unmarried and without children. When she was 32, she told the press: “I couldn’t in all conscience do what I do and have children. Could you imagine being the daughter of Raquel Welch? I’ve heard such horror stories, about the children in Hollywood.” Bisset has been a de facto stepmother in two of her past relationships, as Sarrazin and Boztepe already had children before they met her.
Bisset is godmother to Angelina Jolie.
TODAY’S ALMANAC
Question of the Day
Advice of the Day
Home Hint of the Day
Word of the Day
Puzzle of the Day
Born
- Oliver Evans (inventor) –
- Clara Schumann (pianist & composer) –
- Milton Hershey (Chocolatier and founder of The Hershey Company; born in Derry Township, Pennsylvania) –
- Adolf Meyer (psychiatrist) –
- Sherwood Anderson (writer) –
- Leland Hayward (producer) –
- Claudette Colbert (actress) –
- Horace Babcock (astronomer) –
- Roald Dahl (author) –
- Else Holmelund Minarik (children’s author; Little Bear” series”) –
- Mel Torme (singer) –
- Peter Cetera (musician) –
- Jacqueline Bisset (actress) –
- Nell Carter (actress & singer) –
- Anne Geddes (photographer) –
- Michael Johnson (Olympic athlete) –
- Tyler Perry (actor and screenwriter) –
- Stella McCartney (fashion designer) –
- Fiona Apple (singer) –
- Ben Savage (actor) –
Died
- John Barry (commodore, father of the American navy) –
- Richard Merrell (television writer & actor) –
- George Wallace (politician) –
- Dorothy McGuire (actress) –
- Dilhan Eryurt (Turkish astrophysicist) –
- Frank Vincent (actor) –
- Eddie Money (singer) –
Events
- Halford Mackinder’s team became the first Europeans to summit Mount Kenya –
- Henry Bliss walked off a trolley and was hit by a speeding driver. The following day when he died from his injuries, he became the first pedestrian to be killed by an automobile –
- The Chocolate Soldier opened in N.Y.C. –
- Chiang Kai-shek became president of China –
- Margaret Chase Smith became the first woman to serve in both houses of Congress –
- IBM introduced the first computer with a disk storage system –
- A protester dressed as Batman scaled the front wall of Buckingham Palace –
Weather
- Frost hit Albany, New York, ending the shortest growing season ever –
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