 Duval attended the Collège de Libourne, appearing in the play "Les Plus beaux yeux du monde" by Jean Sarment.Her father, a colonel, allowed her to enrol in the theatre classes at the Conservatoire de Bordeaux, where she was spotted by the director, Gaston Poulet, who got her into the vocal classes.From there she made her debut in "Cavalleria rusticana" at the Grand Theatre de Bordeaux in 1942, her Santuzza described by the "Liberté du Sud-Ouest" critic as “painful, fierce, tragic”, leading to other principal roles in Bordeaux.