Geneviève "Ginette" Lantelme
(or Lanthelme)
(Mathilde Hortense Claire Fossey)
* May 20th 1883, Paris (France)
† July 25th 1911
After a difficult childhood due to the divorce of her parents, Mathilde struggled to become an actress. For an artists name she took the maiden name of her mother, Lantelme, and her first name Geneviève. While having minor roles on stage she studied acting at the Conservatoire de Paris. From 1906 until 1908 Lantelme was member at the Théâtre Réjane. In 1908 she had her first leading role in a play called "Le Roi".
Because of her extraordinary beauty and her gorgeous dresses and hats, created by French fashion designers, Lantelme was frequently photographed and featured in various magazines and on postcards.
Lantelme knew how to take advantage of her beauty and had always relationships to influential and wealthy men. Since 1906 she was the mistress of Alfred Edwards, a Parisian media tycoon, whom she finally married in July 1909. Edwards was a journalist and magnate of French press. It was on the night of July 24th/25th 1911, when she died under mysterious circumstances. She fell off the yacht of her husband, assumingly by accident. Her body was found in the Rhine River a few days later.
There were speculations, that she was murdered by her husband Alfred Edwards.
References:
|
Portrait of Geneviève Lantelme (1907)
by Giovanni Boldini (1842-1931)
Clippings of a German magazine
concerning the tragic death of Geneviève Lantelme |
