Madeleine Ozeray, born Magdeleine Marie Catherine Elisabeth Ozeray, was born on September 13, 1908, in Bouillon, Belgium, to Camille Ozeray, an avocat and député libéral of the province of Luxembourg, and Marie Deymann.
She studied at the Conservatoire royal de Bruxelles, where she earned a first prize in comédie.
She joined the company of Louis Jouvet and, at the age of 27, played the role of Hélène in the premiere of Jean Giraudoux's La guerre de Troie n'aura pas lieu at the Théâtre de l'Athénée.
A few years later, she co-starred with Jouvet in Julien Duvivier's 1939 film La Fin du jour, where she played the role of the young Jeannette, who was totally captivated by an old comedian who was half-mad and half-donjuanesque (Jouvet).
She played with a delicate, characteristic grace, both fragile and ardent, which she had already demonstrated in her role as Rosalie in Victor Trivas's 1933 film Dans les rues.
Madeleine Ozeray was the godmother of the actor, dancer, and singer Frédéric Norbert.
She died on March 28, 1989, in Paris, at the age of 81, due to cancer, and was buried in the cemetery of her hometown.
In 2008, on the occasion of the celebration of her 100th birthday, Belgian journalist Dominique Zachary wrote a book about her life, titled Madeleine Ozeray, Ondine de la Semois, which was published by Éditions Racine and featured contributions from Christophe Malavoy and Frédéric Norbert.
