Josette Andriot

Who was Josette Andriot?

Josette Andriot was a French film actress of the silent era, best known for playing the role of Protéa in the series of espionnage films made between 1913 and 1919.

She was born Camille-Élisa Andriot on 23 August 1886, in Paris, the fifth of six children whose father was a dyer and their mother a florist. She joined the Éclair studios as an actress first in 1909, and then from 1911 she made around 60 films exclusively for that studio. She had no theatrical training, and the skills that she brought to the film studio were those of an accomplished sportswoman - in riding, cycling, and swimming. She proved to be a natural actress.

Her early films were made principally with the director Victorin-Hippolyte Jasset, for whom she became a favourite performer. In his Zigomar series, she played Rosaria, the title-character's accomplice, forever escaping from threatening predicaments. In 1913 Jasset made Protéa, a spy adventure with the distinction of being the first to have a woman as the central action figure. Although Jasset died shortly after completion, the film had considerable success and Andriot went on to make four more films in the series with other directors. After the last one was released in 1919, she retired from acting. She died on 13 May 1942 in Antibes.