Parisienne Brigitte Auber, a stunning and curvaceous beauty, briefly flirted with international stardom as Danielle Foussard in the iconic romantic thriller To Catch a Thief (1955),directed by the legendary Alfred Hitchcock. As a member of a gang of jewel thieves, she vied with the captivating heroine Grace Kelly for the affections of the debonair and suave cat burglar Cary Grant. The story goes that while filming a particularly perilous rooftop scene, which had Brigitte fearing an accidental fall and possible death, she spotted a quartet of Catholic priests and quipped "Mon Dieu! You Americans think of everything!"
Born Marie-Claire Cahen de Labzac, Brigitte was the daughter of Robert Cahen, a man of letters and expert on the writings of Balzac, who had adopted the nom-de-plume Robert Cahen de Labzac. Initially aspiring to become a dancer, young Brigitte instead turned to dramatics and began acting on screen at the age of 21. After early bit parts, her first leading role was opposite Daniel Gélin and Nicole Courcel in Jacques Becker's charming comedy Rendezvous in July (1949),set in post-war Paris. Following that, she had back-to-back starring turns in Vendetta en Camargue (1950),a rural comedy about a girl inheriting a farm house and facing larceny and resentment from the locals; Julien Duvivier's episodic melodrama Under the Paris Sky (1951); L'amour toujours l'amour (1952),a film made for teen consumption; and Femmes de Paris (1953),a musical comedy.
Hitchcock then picked her for the coveted role of Danielle in To Catch a Thief, a role that certainly suited her striking appearance, which fit the director's known predilection for cool blondes. However, Hitch thought Brigitte's French accent was too pronounced to cast her in his next picture, The Trouble with Harry (1955). By the mid-60s, Brigitte worked intermittently on both the big and the small screen, mostly in comedies or crime dramas. She had one more supporting role in an English-language production, appearing as an attendant to Queen Anne in The Man in the Iron Mask (1998),starring Leonardo DiCaprio in the title role.
