Laurence Badie was spotted at an audition by Georges Wilson, acted on stage and in film, and above all practised the trade of the shadows: dubbing, that is, lending one's voice without ever appearing. She died in 2024, aged ninety-five. Two words are engraved, and they are not hers: the name of another family. For a voice one heard without knowing whose it was, anonymity suits well.
The story
Two words on Laurence Badie's stone, and they are not hers: “FAMILLE SAY.” Neither her name, nor her dates, nor her trade appear there.
Born Laurence Dolorès Badie-Lopes in Boulogne-Billancourt on 15 June 1928, she was studying under Julien Bertheau, a sociétaire of the Comédie-Française, when Georges Wilson noticed her at an audition and brought her into the Théâtre national populaire. She played there for a decade under Jean Vilar, who staged the classics at the Palais de Chaillot at prices a working family could afford.
In 1952 she played Berthe in Jeux interdits — Forbidden Games — the farm family's eldest daughter, who takes in a girl orphaned in the flight from the German advance. René Clément's film won France the Golden Lion at Venice, then the Oscar for best foreign film a year later.
She died on 10 January 2024, at ninety-five, and lies in Division 94. Alongside the stage and the screen she had worked in the shadows, dubbing — lending her voice to a foreign actor without ever appearing herself. Generations of French children heard her every week without ever learning her name: she was the French voice of Velma, the bespectacled girl of Scooby-Doo.
The grave
An inscription of two words, which are not hers: “FAMILLE SAY.” The stage, film and dubbing actress, dead at ninety-five, rests in the grave of another family — without her name, her dates or her profession being engraved. Père-Lachaise holds many of these graves that do not name their dead, like those of Henri Duparc, Alphonse Lavallée, the Duke of Bassano and Harry Kessler.
On site, do not miss
Look for her name: it is not there. The stone bears two words — “FAMILLE SAY” — and nothing else.
Visitors' questions
Where is Laurence Badie's grave?
In Division 94 of Père-Lachaise, avenue Greffulhe, fourth row — but under another family's name: she was buried in the Say family grave. She died in 2024, aged ninety-five.
Philippe GaubertIs her name on the stone?
No: the inscription is two words, “FAMILLE SAY” — not her name, not her dates, not her trade. The cemetery holds many of these graves that do not name their dead — those of Duparc, Lavallée, Maret and Harry Kessler.
Henri DuparcWho spotted her?
Georges Wilson, at an audition — the man who would run the Théâtre national populaire after Jean Vilar. She was studying at the time with Julien Bertheau, a sociétaire of the Comédie-Française.
Alice TissotWhat is dubbing?
The trade of the shadows: lending your voice to a foreign actor and never showing your face. It kept generations of French actors in work, and for decades Laurence Badie was one of its voices.
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