Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Saturday, December 14, 2024 77° Today's Paper


News

French actress Edith Scob, who starred in horror flick ‘Eyes Without a Face,’ dead at 81

ASSOCIATED PRESS / 2016

Edith Scob poses for photographers during a photo call for the competition film ‘Things To Come’ at the 2016 Berlinale Film Festival in Berlin. Scob, the French actress whose illustrious career in film and theater spanned nearly six decades, died Wednesday at the age of 81.

Edith Scob, the French actress whose illustrious career in film and theater spanned nearly six decades, died Wednesday at the age of 81.

Her agent confirmed she passed away in Paris but did not reveal a cause of death, reported Agence France-Presse.

Scob shot to stardom in 1960, playing a disfigured car crash victim whose crazed surgeon father doggedly attempts to perform a face transplant on her in the classic horror film “Eyes Without a Face.”

Through much of the film only her eyes are visible, eerily peering out from behind bandages or a mask.

Scob also drew raves in a string of experimental films during the 1960s and ’70s, portraying Joan of Arc in 1966’s “Jeanne au bûcher” and the Virgin Mary in Luis Bunuel’s 1969 picaresque, philosophical drama “The Milky Way.”

In 2001, she appeared in “Brotherhood of the Wolf,” an 18th-century thriller about a feral beast slaughtering hundreds of residents in a French province. The film, which also starred Monica Bellucci, Vincent Cassel and Gaspard Ulliel — who starred as a younger Hannibal Lecter in the 2007 thriller “Hannibal Rising” — was an international box-office smash.

In the latter stages of her career, Scob was cast in prominent supporting roles. She snagged two Cesar Award nominations for her work in the 2008 family drama “Summer Hours” and four years later for her enigmatic role as a mysterious limousine driver in the contemporary classic “Holy Motors.”

One of her final movie roles was portraying Isabelle Huppert’s possessive mother in the critically acclaimed 2016 drama “Things to Come.”

By participating in online discussions you acknowledge that you have agreed to the Terms of Service. An insightful discussion of ideas and viewpoints is encouraged, but comments must be civil and in good taste, with no personal attacks. If your comments are inappropriate, you may be banned from posting. Report comments if you believe they do not follow our guidelines. Having trouble with comments? Learn more here.