1971, Jeanne Moreau was a signatory of the Manifesto of the 343 which publicly announced that she had obtained an illegal abortion. Moreau was a close friend of Sharon Stone, who presented a 1998 American Academy of Motion Pictures life tribute to Moreau at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater, academy headquarters, in Beverly Hills. Orson Welles called her "the greatest actress in the world", and she remained one of France's most accomplished actresses. In 2009, Moreau signed a petition in support of director Roman Polanski, who had been detained while traveling to a film festival in relation to his 1977 sexual abuse charges, which the petition argued would undermine the tradition of film festivals as a place for works to be shown "freely and safely", and that arresting filmmakers traveling to neutral countries could open the door "for actions of which no-one can know the effects." Moreau died on 31 July 2017 at her home in Paris at the age of 89. Her body was discovered by her cleaning maid and shortly before her death, she said she felt "abandoned". Filmography Actress Director Lumière (1976) L'Adolescente (1979) Lillian Gish (1983, TV documentary) Awards and nominations Films Theater References External links Jeanne Moreau Biography on newwavefilm.com 1928 births 2017 deaths BAFTA fellows Best Foreign Actress BAFTA Award winners Best Actress César Award winners French television actresses French people of English descent French people of Irish descent European Film Awards winners (people) Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress winners César Honorary Award recipients Honorary Golden Bear recipients French women film directors French women singers French film actresses French film directors Actresses from Paris Members of the Académie des beaux-arts Musicians from Paris French women screenwriters French screenwriters Conservatoire de Paris alumni 20th-century French actresses 21st-century French actresses Troupe of the Comédie-Française French National Academy of Dramatic Arts alumni Burials at Montmartre Cemetery Because Music artists Signatories of the 1971 Manifesto of the 343