French Film Actress and Film Director, she is best remembered for her role of Helene Aughain in “Muriel” (1963), and in the role of Colette de Montpelier in “The Day of the Jackal” (1973). Born Delphine Claire Belriane Seyrig in Beirut, Lebanon, to a French Archeologist and his wife.  She studied acting at the Comedie de Saint-Etienne and at the Centre Dramatique de l”Est.  In 1958, she appeared in her first film, “Pull my Daisy” (1958), filmed in New York City.  In 1960, she returned to France and was hired by director Alain Resnais for his leading lady in the film “l’Annee demiere a Marienbad” (1960); this performance brought her to the attention of the international film medium.  During the next twenty years, she worked with some of the best French film directors, including Francois Truffaut, Marguerite Duras, and Alain Resnais, becoming one of Europe’s most recognized film actresses on both stage and film.  In 1963, she was named Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival for her role in the film “Muriel” (1963).  Fluent in French, German, and English, she appeared in a number of films in all three languages.  American audiences remember her in such films as “Accident” (1967), “The Day of the Jackal” (1973), and “Golden Eighties” (1986).  Seyrig used her movie star status to promote the issue of women’s rights.  In her 1977 film director debut “Sois belle et tais-toi” (Look Beautiful and Keep your Mouth shut), she and actresses Shirley MacLaine and Jane Fonda would speak frankly about the sexism in the film industry.  In 1982, she was a founding member of the Centre Audiovisuel Simone de Beauvoir (Simone de Beauvoir Audio-visual center), in Paris, which is a library and archive of films made by women and about women actresses.  Seyrig was married to the American painter, Jack Youngerman, who had studied in the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where she met him.  She died in Paris at the age of 58, from cancer. (bio by: Kit and Morgan Benson)