Christiane Martel

Birth : 1932-01-18, Piennes, France

History

Christiane Martel (born Christiane Magnani on 18 January 1932) is a French actress and beauty queen who became the second woman to win Miss Universe in 1953. Martel was crowned Miss France by outgoing titleholder Claude Godart and represented France at Miss Universe 1953 where she became the second Miss Universe. She was crowned by actress, Julie Adams as Miss Universe 1952, Armi Kuusela of Finland gave up her crown. Martel's runners-up in the 1953 pageant was Myrna Hansen of the USA, followed by delegates of Japan, Mexico, and Australia. Shortly after her reign, Martel embarked on a successful career in international films, appearing in movies such as Yankee Pasha, So This Is Paris, Abajo el Telón, the 1956 version of Corazón salvaje (playing the villain Aimée), Viva el Amor!, Rosa Blanca and her last film to date, 1961's Leoni al Sole.

Profile

Movies

The White Rose

Georgette

An international oil company comes into conflict with a Mexican ranch owner who refuses to sell his land, resorting to a devious scheme to try to take over the property.

Juana Gallo

Ninón

Peasant woman leads a regiment during the final days of the Mexican Revolution. Also, romantic entanglements.

El Padre Pistolas

Feature on the adventures that develop the most perfect of false priest.

Impaciencia del corazón

Young army officer gets involved with two sisters; one of them's a chronic invalid and her family has protected and sheltered her from all possible harm with such smothering care that she's a spoiled, petulant bag of temper tantrums. She forms a big ol' crush on the dashing lieutenant, and everyone involved goes completely nuts and makes an infinite number of bad decisions in the wake of her pouting and her crying jags and her passive-aggressive crap.

Póker de reinas

A musical comedy about a group of pretty girls who meet in Mexico and decide to break into showbiz and make a pact and promise not to get involved with men. But they all are in love with different guys and that complicates things.

Infierno de almas

Yvonne

Mauricio flees from the police and takes refuge in the apartment of Ivonne, who gives him blood to save his life. Carlos the policeman who is in love with her, finds Mauricio's passport and has the inspector offer 10 thousand pesos to whoever turns him in. Mauricio confesses to Ivonne that he is innocent of the crime, and asks her to marry him.

Tipi da spiaggia

Barbara Patton

Four penniless friends wich Belong to a small commedy theatre go to taormina a famous Italian beach resort willing to marry Barbara a famous multimillionaire cosmetic firm owner and forget their troubles. After a series of adventures the four youths go back to Rome with four new girlfriends.

Yo pecador

Biopic of a 1930s operatic tenor who ended up becoming a Franciscan monk and joining the priesthood.

Estampida

María Santos

The Little Savage

Nanoa Ribaud

The most fearsome pirate in epic deeds and fierce battles. Betrayed and abandoned on an island, discover a fabulous treasure and fight to the death to save a child from the dangers and wild beasts.

Señoritas

Four young women facing "crises," mostly centered around the crucially-important issue of preserving their virginity in a variety of purity-oath threatening situations.

¡Viva el amor!

Man wants to dump wife for a new girlfriend; all three end up weekending in Acapulco together along with a gentleman the wife meets enroute, and all four explore the possibility of forming new relationships.

Adam and Eve

Eva / Eve

Version of the story of Adam and Eve.

Una lección de amor

An older gentleman takes responsibility for molding a young showgirl's career; there seems to be a romantic link between them, but she has lots of side-pieces running around, and a serious boyfriend waiting in the wings...

Bataclán mexicano

International showgirl engineers a green-card marriage for herself to avoid being deported.

Wild Heart

Aimée de Molnar

On the Caribbean island of Martinique, two half-brothers are involved in the entanglements of a frivolous and calculating young woman.

Drop the Curtain

Lulu Duval

Cantinflas, who owns a cleaning business, cleans the windows of the house of a famous French actress. While carrying out his work he observes how a man steals one of the famous actress necklaces, but he can only see his back.

So This Is Paris

Christiane

Three sailors on leave head for Paris with one thing on their minds.

Yankee Pasha

Harem girl (as Miss Universe France)

Director Joseph Pevney's 1954 swashbuckling adventure saga stars Jeff Chandler as an adventurer trying to rescue a damsel kidnapped by pirates. The cast also includes Rhonda Fleming, Mamie Van Doren, Rex Reason, Lee J. Cobb, Hal March, Arthur Space, Benny Rubin, Harry Lauter and, as a promotional gimmick, Miss Universe 1953 (Christiane Martel of France) and a slew of other pageant contestants (Miss USA, Miss Japan, Miss Panama, Miss Norway, Miss Uruguay, Miss South Africa and Miss Australia).