Famed French ballerina and Oscar-nominated actress Colette Marchand has died at the age of 90. The actress best known for her supporting role in John Huston's 1952 film "Moulin Rouge" passed away on June 5 at her home in Bois-le-Roi, France, her nephew told The New York Times.
The French beauty known for her long legs came to fame in Roland Petit's ballets in the 1940s and '50s, according to The Hollywood Reporter. In "Moulin Rouge" she played the streetwalker who torments the painter Toulouse-Lautrec played by Jose Ferrer. She lost the Academy Award for best supporting actress to Gloria Grahame, who starred in the Hollywood drama "The Bad and the Beautiful" in 1952.
Nicknamed "Les Legs," Marchand was born on April 29, 1925 in Paris and studied with the Paris Opera Ballet where she graduated from. After multiple ballet tours, Marchand turned to acting in movies but still preformed as a guest dancer throughout the '50s.
