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To celebrate Leslie Caron's 84th birthday, this week on "Film Friday" I bring you the first film she ever made, which also happens to be the Best Picture winner of 1951. Theatrical release poster Directed by Vincente Minnelli, An American in Paris (1951) tells the story of Jerry Mulligan (Gene Kelly), a happy-go-lucky American veteran of World War II now making his life as a struggling artist in Paris, along with his friend and neighbor Adam Cook (Oscar Levant), a cynical American concert pianist. One day, a lonely society woman and heiress named Milo Roberts (Nina Foch) finds Jerry displaying his paintings and takes an interest in him and his art. She invites him to a jazz club, where they talk about their lives and his paintings, and Milo offers to sponsor an art show for him as a friendly gesture. While Milo is dancing with a friend, Jerry spots a pretty French girl, Lise Bouvier (Leslie Caron), and is immediately smitten. Ignoring Milo and her acqua in ta...

OLIVIA DE HAVILLAND (July 1, 1916) Famous people feel that they must perpetually be on the crest of the wave, not realising that it is against all the rules of life. You can't be on top all the time; it isn't natural. LESLIE C ARON (July 1, 1931) I think it's the end of progress if you stand still and think of what you've in the past. I keep on.