TheFrench actress Claude Jade made many films for the cinema and television,and had a notable stagecareer, but she willbest be remembered for her performances for the director François Truffaut in three films.

The daughter of a professor, she spent three years at Dijon's Conservatory of Dramatic Art, where in 1964, she won a best actress prize for her portrayal of Agnès in Molières L'école des femmes and in 1966 the "Prix de comédie" for Jean Giraudoux' Ondine, which was performed at the "Comédie Boulogne". She subsequently moved to Paris and became a student of Jean-Laurent Cochet at the Edouard VII theater, and also began acting in a number of television productions, including a role as Sylvie Massonneau in TV series Les oiseaux rares (The Rare Birds). It was while she was performing as Frida in Pirandello's Henri IV as part of Sacha Pitoëff's production at the Théâtre Moderne that Claude Jade was discovered by François Truffaut, who was "completely taken by her beauty, her manners, her kindness, and her joie de vivre" and cast her in the role of Christine Darbon in Stolen Kisses (1968). During the working for Stolen Kisses Jade and Truffaut were engaged at one point. Stolen Kisses earned great acclaim, and placed Jade in the international spotlight, thanks to her strong performance, at most her teaching Antoine the best way to butter toast in the morning, their writing each other little notes. The American critic Pauline Kael remarked that Claude Jade "seems a less ethereal, more practical Catherine Deneuve." It was the first of three movies by Truffaut in which she appeared.
Claude Jade reprised her role as Christine, Antoine Doinel's girlfriend and then wife, in Truffaut's...