Yola Letellier | |
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![]() Portrait of Yola Letellier c. 1929 by Man Ray | |
Born | Yvonne Henriquet 28 June 1904 |
Died | 5 June 1996 | (aged 91)
Occupation | Socialite |
Known for | Inspiration for Gigi by Colette |
Spouse | Henri Letellier |
Partner(s) | István Horthy Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma |
Yola Letellier (born Yvonne Henriquet (also spelled Henriquez or Henriques), 28 June 1904 – 5 June 1996)[1][2] was a French socialite and the wife of a newspaper owner.
Yola is widely credited as the model for the main character in Colette's 1944 novella, Gigi.[3][4][5] As such, she became the basis of a 1949 French film in which Gigi was played by Danièle Delorme; a 1951 stage adaptation by Anita Loos, in which Colette cast the as-yet-unknown Audrey Hepburn to play Gigi; and an Academy Award-winning 1958 musical film starring Leslie Caron with a score by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe.[6]
In the novella, Gigi is a teenager educated to be a French courtesan, to provide companionship and intellectual stimulation as well as sex, who marries an older wealthy man.[7] In real life, Yola married Henri Letellier , 36 years her senior,[8] who was a wealthy investor, owner of Le Journal, a stylish Parisian newspaper, and mayor of Deauville from 1925 to 1928. Letellier's family also owned hotels and casinos in Normandy.[9]
Yola had affairs with other men, including one with Lord Louis Mountbatten, from 1932 until his death in 1979.[10]