Regine, French Actress, Singer and Discotheque Entrepreneur, Dies at 92

Regine, a French singer, actress and discotheque entrepreneur, has died. She was 92.

Her grand-daughter Daphne Rotcajg confirmed Regine’s death to the Agence France-Presse on Sunday. The outlet’s tweet, translated into English, shared that Regine “ruled the the nightlife world for a long time with discos and France and abroad.” No further details were provided.

Regine was born Regina Zylberberg to Polish Jewish parents in Belgium in 1929.

According to the AFP local news agency, Regine opened her first nightclub in Paris’s Latin Quarter in the 1950s, which was notable for having replaced the jukebox, a staple in dance venues at that time, with turntables and disc jockeys.

By the 1970s, Regine — who had become known as “Queen of the Night” — was operating discotheque venues in Los Angeles, Miami, New York and Rio de Janeiro. At one point during her entrepreneurial reign, she had 22 nightlife venues.

As an actress, Regine’s film credits include Anatole Litvak’s Five Miles to Midnight, Claude Zidi’s My New Partner, Herbert Ross’s The Seven-Per-Cent Solution, Claude Lelouch’s Robert et Robert and Claude Berri’s Marry Me! Marry Me!

She played a singer, which she actually was, in the musical series Die Drescheibe. Regine performed on the soundtrack of a number of projects, from TV movie Chut, Chut, Marceau to talk show series De quoi j’me mele!

Tributes to Regine included a tweet from English musician Boy George, who called her a “legendary French Diva” on Twitter.

Source: Hollywood