Her father was a military man, and she was raised in Indochina, Senegal, and China before the family settled in Bordeaux. She studied music and drama at the Bordeaux Conservatoire.
She made her professional stage debut with the Bordeaux Opéra as Lola in "Cavalleria Rusticana" in 1943. She made her Paris Opera debut as Salomé in "Hérodiade", and debuted at the Opera Comique as Cio-Cio-San in "Madame Butterfly".