a theme for French sufferers of AIDS. Eileen Gray Around 1922, Damia became the lover of the architect Eileen Gray, who was a member of a circle of lesbians which included Fuller and her lover Gab Sorère, Natalie Barney and Romaine Brooks. Upon Fuller's death in 1928, Damia and Sorère became lovers. Films In 1927, she appeared in the film, Napoléon directed by Abel Gance with early silent film stars Antonin Artaud, Philippe Hériat, Annabella, and Suzanne Bianchetti. Her other film successes included "Sola" and "Notre Dame De Paris", alongside Anthony Quinn. Damia had enduring appeal that stretched to audiences as far away as Japan where she toured in 1953. Farewell tour A few years later she did a farewell tour, ending her more than forty-year career in a double bill with Marie Dubasin front of a full house at the Paris Olympia. Her actual swansong, however, was singing "Les Croix" on "La joie de vivre d'Edith Piaf", in 1956. When asked in 1974 by the Anglo-French biographer David Bret to divulge the secret of her long life and fabulous voice, Damia replied, "Three packs of Gitanes a day!" Death Damia died on 30 January 1978 at La Celle-Saint-Cloud, a western suburb of Paris, and was interred in the Cimetière de Pantin. Today, she is considered to be the second greatest singer of chansons réalistes, after Edith Piaf. Selected filmography Calais-Dover (1931) Alone (1931) La tête d'un homme (1933) References Citations Bibliography External links 1889 births 1978 deaths Singers from Paris French film actresses 20th-century French actresses People of Montmartre 20th-century French women singers Lesbian musicians French LGBT singers