Dalida's grave is one of the most visited in the cemetery of Montmartre, 35 years after her death. It is indeed on May 3, 1987 that she gave herself death in her house of the Bute Montmartre, 11 bis rue d'Orchampt, located at 250 m in direction of the Place du Tertre. Her name of singer is Dalida and that of her civil status Iolanda Christina Gigliotti.
The circumstances of Dalida's death
On May 2, 1987, she was supposed to spend the evening to see the comedy Cabaret by Jérôme Savary, played at the Mogador theater, and dinner in town with François Naudy. But, in reality, François Naudy does not confirm the appointment. During the night of May 2 to 3, 1987, left alone in her house in the Rue d'Orchampt, in Montmartre, she committed suicide by overdosing on barbiturates, which she swallowed with alcohol. Her dresser discovers her inert body on May 3 in the late afternoon.
The depression of Dalida which leads to death
In the last years of her life, Dalida is affected by a chronic depression. Her last appearance in gala takes place in concert in Turkey in Antalya, at the ancient theater of Aspendos, on April 28 and 29, 1987, only a few days before her death. Back from these last concerts, she seems extinct, does not go out anymore, smokes compulsively.
She left two letters, one to her producer and brother Orlando, the other to her companion François Naudy, as well as a word undoubtedly to the attention of her public: "Life is unbearable to me. Forgive me."
Funeral and burial of Dalida
On May 4, 1987, to announce the death of the singer, Le Républicain lorrain headlines in its newspaper "Ciao ciao Dalida", in reference to his song Ciao, ciao bambina.
Several French personalities, from the world of song and others, publicly expressed their sadness: Sheila, Charles Aznavour, Brigitte Bardot, François Mitterrand, Jacques Chirac and Alain Delon, etc.
The Saint-Jean de Montmartre church at the bottom of the hill was too small for the ceremony, so the funeral was held, by dispensation, in the Madeleine church. Some 40,000 people attended on May 7, 1987. She was then buried in the Montmartre cemetery (division 18).
Dramas and disappointments have marked the life of Dalida
The private life of the singer was a series of dramas and sentimental disappointments. Several of her partners or friends committed suicide.
Everything began in her youth. Her father was interned in Egypt by the British, in a prison camp. He was of Italian nationality. Marked by this episode, his father became violent, and his relationship with Iolanda and the rest of his family proved difficult.
Marriages and lives in couple with no future to her
Dalida married on April 8, 1961, Lucien Morisse, Director of the radio Europe 1, who had divorced his first wife, and with whom she was in a relationship for five years. But Dalida, who married him more for professional recognition than for love, quickly left him for Jean Sobieski. On September 11, 1970, Lucien Morisse, with whom she kept good relations, committed suicide with a bullet in the temple in their former apartment at 7 rue d'Ankara in Paris.
Dalida will maintain an affair with the actor and painter Jean Sobieski from 1961 to 1963. He is one of the few men in her life who did not die in tragic circumstances.
Following his separation with Sobieski, Dalida has a love affair with the journalist Christian de La Maziere which she separated in 1966. In Rome, she lived a short romance with Alain Delon
A short-lived hope in his love life
On January 26, 1967, Dalida participates in the song festival of Sanremo with Luigi Tenco, who is the new man in her life. She convinced him to take part in the competition. That evening, the lovers intend to announce their marriage project to their relatives. Anxious by the idea of a failure in the festival, Tenco consumes alcohol and takes sedatives. Dalida and Luigi Tenco interpret the song in turn. Following the performance of Luigi Tenco judged mediocre, and despite the performance of Dalida, their title Ciao amore, ciao is not retained by the jury. Terribly disappointed, the singer returned to his hotel room, where he committed suicide by shooting himself in the head. Worried for Tenco, Dalida leaves the festival to go to his hotel where she discovers him without life. Under the shock, she caresses the face of Tenco and covers herself with his blood. In the weeks which follow, she enchaîne emissions of television and recordings.
On February 26, she makes believe to her entourage that she embarks at the airport of Paris-Orly to join her family. In reality she returned to the Prince of Wales hotel and tried to commit suicide by absorbing a large dose of barbiturates
The adventure with Lucio, abortion and sterility
Another drama marks the singer that same year 1967. Not yet recovered from her suicide attempt, she met Lucio, a 22-year-old student from Rome. Although their story does not last, Dalida finds herself pregnant and decides to have an abortion. The operation, performed in Italy (abortion was not allowed in France), makes her sterile. This relationship with Lucio recalls the song Il venait d'avoir 18 ans, a text proposed to Dalida by Pascal Sevran.
Life goes on to better hurt her
Between 1969 and 1971, she is linked to the philosopher and writer Arnaud Desjardins. But this one being married, they prefer to put an end to this connection. Around 1972, she has a short relationship with the singer Richard Stivell, who admits to be also already married.
One of his best friends, the singer Mike Brant, died on April 25, 1975. Dalida had allowed him to sing in the first part of his passage at the Olympia in the fall of 1971. This performance had contributed to his success in France. She had also been the first to go to the bedside of the Israeli singer during his first suicide attempt, on November 22, 1974.
A companion finally cumbersome
Her affair with Richard Chanfray is done in 1972, through Pascal Sevran. Richard Chanfray called himself "Count of Saint-Germain", an alchemist adventurer and immortal who frequented the court of Louis XV - nothing else! She lives with him a tumultuous idyll of nine years. Tired of his antics, she put an end to their affair in 1981. Two years later, in 1983, Richard Chanfray committed suicide by asphyxiation, with his new companion.
Noting that his three main companions (Luigi Tenco, Lucien Morisse and Richard Chanfray) committed suicide, Dalida said "to bring misfortune to men that [she] loves.
Dalida still has some companions and from 1985, she is in a couple with the doctor François Naudy. Her disappointment is great when he does not want to leave his wife shows more and more evasive.
Dalida and political commitment
Her political commitment to François Mitterand divided her public. But her friendship with President Mitterrand - who no longer inquires about her after his election - seems to end in 1983. In April of that year, at an event organized by Line Renaud, she gave a warm kiss to the main opposition leader of the time, Jacques Chirac. The media questioned the possible political significance of this gesture and saw in it at least the end of Dalida's commitment to Mitterrand.
Places and monuments in the name of Dalida
A Dalida square in Montmartre in Paris, - which includes a bust representing her (see picture on this post - bears her name. It is near the rue d'Orchampt, where she lived.
Dalida's grave on which a statue of her is erected, is said to be the most flowered in the cemetery of Montmartre. Anonymous visitors come to pay their respects.
Dalida's grave cannot be missed. It is located on the heights of the Montmartre cemetery, in the 18th division, near the entrance at the corner of rue Caulaincourt and rue Joseph de Maistre.
The life-size statue on the tomb of Dalida, is in stone, sculpted by Aslan. Dalida's name is written in golden letters. The inscription on the stele : "Yolande Gigliotti dite Dadida, nous a quittés le 3 mai 1987".
During the last year of her life, Dalida was preparing a musical in which she was to play Cleopatra, and a play. She had just returned from the filming of "The Sixth Day" in which she had played the washerwoman Saddika with whom she identified. However, Dalida fell into a deep depression.
She had more and more difficulty to hide her despair. She ended up committing suicide in her house in the Rue d'Orchampt during the night of May 2 to 3, 1987.
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