Anne Chevalier

Anne Chevalier (also known as Reri; 1912–1977) was a French-Tahitanian actress, singer and dancer.

Anne Chevalier
Reri as Moana and Eugeniusz Bodo as Stefan in a scene of Black Pearl
Born	1912
Died	1977
Occupations	Actress dancer singer

Early life

Anna Irma Ruahrei Chevalier, born in 1912, was the seventh child to a Frenchman Laurence Chevalier and his Polynesian wife. She received education from a Catholic girls' school at Papeete.^[1] At age 16, Chevalier was spotted by German director F.W. Murnau who was looking for a Polynesian girl to play the lead role in his silent film Tabu: A Story of the South Seas (1931), whose story revolved around the fate of a couple when the young girl Reri is to be offered as a sacred maiden to Gods.^[2]Tabu has been lauded as "one of the last of the great silent films".^[3] Chevalier went to the United States for promoting the film and spent nearly a year there, appearing in the 1931 Broadway show of Ziegfeld Follies and visiting several Hollywood studios.^[1][3] From there, she went to Europe for Tabu's premiere in Berlin and also performed at dance shows in Paris and Warsaw.^[1]

Chevalier's second film role was opposite Eugeniusz Bodo in the Polish romantic drama Black Pearl (1934). She played a Tahitian woman who marries a Polish sailor and becomes a dancing sensation in her quest to gain acceptance by her husband's society. Ohio state censor banned the film, citing their policy against interracial marriage.^[4] Three years later, she made a brief appearance in John Ford's The Hurricane, another film set in the South Seas.^[5]

Personal life

During her stay in Europe, Chevalier was romantically involved with her Black Pearl co-star Eugeniusz Bodo. Polish media even referred to her as his wife, but the couple soon separated and Chevalier returned to Tahiti. She died there in 1977.^[1]

Filmography

• Tabu: A Story of the South Seas (1931)
• Black Pearl (1934)
• The Hurricane (1937)