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- Actor
- Writer
- Director
Louis Germain David de Funès de Galarza was born on July 31, 1914, in Courbevoie, France. His father, named Carlos Luis de Funes de Galarza, was a former lawyer of Seville, Spain, who became a diamond cutter. His mother, named Leonor Soto Reguera, was of Spanish and Portugese extraction.
Young Louis de Funès was fond of drawing and piano playing. He dropped out of school and worked various jobs, mostly as a jazz pianist at Pigalle, making his customers laugh every time he made a grimace. He studied acting for one year at the Simon acting school. There he made some useful contacts, including Daniel Gélin among others. During the occupation of Paris in the Second World War, he continued his piano studies at a music school, where he fell in love with a secretary, named Jeanne de Maupassant, a grand-niece of writer Guy de Maupassant. She had fallen in love with "the young man who played jazz like god"; they married in 1943, and had two sons born in 1944 and 1949. Funès continued playing piano at clubs, knowing there wasn't much call for a short, balding, skinny actor. His wife and Daniel Gelin encouraged him until he managed to overcome his rejection. He made his film debut in 1945, at the age of 31, and went on playing about one hundred film roles in the next twenty years.
Louis de Funès shot to international fame in the 1960's after his roles in such slapstick comedies as The Gendarme of Saint-Tropez (1964) and the Fantomas (1964) trilogy. He brilliantly portrayed a funny French policeman, whose hilarious hyperactivity, uncontrolled anger, and sardonic laughter produced a highly comic effect. Funès was voted the most favorite actor in France in 1968, and remained very popular in Europe during the 1970's. He also continued to play on stage during his career as a film star, and was acclaimed for his stage works in classic French theatre. Funès was instrumental in making film adaptations of such theatre plays as 'Oscar continues' and the Molière's 'The Miser', among other plays.
Nicknamed "the man with the forty faces per minute", Louis de Funès played bit parts in over eighty films, before he got his first leading roles, eventually becoming the leading French comedian. He co-starred with the major French actors of the time, including Jean Marais and Mylène Demongeot in the Fantomas trilogy, and also Jean Gabin, Fernandel, Bourvil, Coluche, Annie Girardot, and Yves Montand. Funès's collaboration with director Gérard Oury produced a memorable tandem of Funès-Bourvil. He also worked with Jean Girault in the famous 'Gendarmes' series. In a departure from the Gendarme image, Funès collaborated with Claude Zidi, who wrote for him a new character full of nuances and frankness in The Wing or The Thigh? (1976), which is arguably the best of his roles.
Funès played over 130 roles in film and over 100 roles on stage. From 1943-1983 Louis de Funès was married to Jeanne Barthelemy de Maupassant. Their son, Olivier De Funès , had a brief acting career before becoming a pilot with Air France, his other son, named Patrick de Funès, became a medical doctor. Louis de Funès was also a rose grower, a variety of roses has been named the "Louis de Funès rose" after him. He died of a heart attack and complications of a stroke on January 27, 1983, in Nantes, France. He was laid to rest in the Cimetière du Cellier, and a monument of him was erected in the rose-garden of his wife's castle.- Actress
Legendary Australian character actress of the British screen, Miss Cannon was without doubt one of the best scene stealing actresses.
Her pixie like looks and extraordinary facial expressions made her a true favourite of many a British movie.
Without her appearances in many a 'Carry On..' film in the 1960s, her career would have probably been forgotten today. Arguably her most famous performance was as the lonely but happy spinster in Carry on Cruising (1962). The bar scene with Dilys Laye where both their characters get hideously drunk, is as legendary as the movie itself.- Mr. Denner began studying in Paris with Charles Dullin in 1945. Four years later, he joined the National Popular Theater. In 1962, he was offered his first big film role, in Bluebeard (1963). He made thirty films after that, notably with Claude Lelouch and François Truffaut. Over the years, he worked under some of France's best-known directors, including Louis Malle. During the 70's and 80's, he notoriously personified police detectives in famous French "Films Noirs" such as Mille milliards de dollars (1982) or The Night Caller (1975).
- Marc Michel was born on 10 February 1929 in Basse-Terre, Guadeloupe, France. He was an actor, known for The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964), Lola (1961) and The Free Frenchman (1989). He was married to Liv Knutsen. He died on 3 November 2016 in Dreux, Eure-et-Loir, France.
- Actress
- Additional Crew
Natasha Parry was born on 2 December 1930 in Kensington, London, England, UK. She was an actress, known for Romeo and Juliet (1968), Midnight Lace (1960) and Crow Hollow (1952). She was married to Peter Brook. She died on 22 July 2015 in Saint-Nazaire, Loire-Atlantique, France.- Director
- Writer
- Editor
Jean Delannoy began his film career in the 1920s as an actor. By the 1930s he had switched careers and become an editor, then a short-subjects director. By the mid-'30s he was a full-fledged director, and soon garnered a reputation as a sensitive, understated craftsman with a thorough command of the medium. By the 1950s, however, he was doing overheated melodramas and overblown epics, including a particularly undistinguished version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame (The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1956)), and he was soon reduced to churning out such drivel as Action Man (1967) (US title: "Action Man") and The Double Bed (1965) (US title: "The Double Bed").- Actress
- Composer
- Soundtrack
Dani was born on 1 October 1944 in Castres, Tarn, France. She was an actress and composer, known for Day for Night (1973), Love on the Run (1979) and Orchestra Seats (2006). She was married to Benjamin Auger. She died on 18 July 2022 in Tours, Indre-et-Loire, France.- Director
- Writer
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Bill Hays was born on 15 March 1938 in Wingate, County Durham, England, UK. He was a director and writer, known for Dig This Rhubarb (1963), The Good Companions (1980) and R3 (1964). He was married to Catherine Schell and Jill. He died on 2 March 2006 in Craponne-sur-Arzon, Haute-Loire, France.- Director
- Editor
- Producer
Danièle Huillet was born on 1 May 1936 in Paris, France. She was a director and editor, known for Sicily! (1999), Class Relations (1984) and The Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach (1968). She was married to Jean-Marie Straub. She died on 9 October 2006 in Cholet, Maine-et-Loire, France.- Claude Farell was born on 7 May 1914 in Vienna, Austria-Hungary [now Austria]. She was an actress, known for Titanic (1943), The Andromeda Breakthrough (1962) and The Secret of Mayerling (1949). She died on 17 March 2008 in Saint-Jean-Le-Priche, Saône-et-Loire, France.
- Art Department
- Writer
- Composer
The archetypal "Renaissance Man," Leonardo da Vinci was one of the greatest scientific minds as well as one of the greatest visual artists the human race has ever produced. The illegitimate son of a wealthy Florentine notary, Piero da Vinci, and a peasant woman named Caterina, Leonardo was born in Tuscany on April 15, 1452, in Anchiano, a town near Vinci, which is in the proximity of Florence.
When he was about 17 years old, Leonardo was apprenticed as a garzone or studio boy to the workshop of the Renaissance master Andrea Verrocchio, the leading Florentine painter and artist of his day. From roughly 1469 to 1476, Leonardo acquired a variety of skills during his apprenticeship at Verrocchio's workshop, including painting altarpieces and panel pictures and making large sculptures in bronze and marble. In 1472, he joined the painters' guild, and six years later, he became an independent master. His first commission was in 1478, to paint an altarpiece for the Palazzo Vecchio's chapel. The painting was never executed. Florence's Monastery of San Donato a Scopeto commissioned Leonardo's first large painting in 1481. 'The Adoration of the Magi' was left unfinished when Leonardo left Florence for Milan approximately a year later, to work for Duke Lodovico Sforza as court artist and as an engineer.
Leonardo had written the Duke of Milan touting his skills as a military engineer. In his letter, Leonardo claimed that he could build portable bridges, manufacture cannon, and build ships and war machines, including armored vehicles and catapults. He also told the Duke he could sculpt in bronze, clay and marble. He worked for the Duke of Milan for almost 18 years, painting portraits, designing festivals, and planning to sculpt a massive equestrian monument to honor the Duke's father. In addition to serving the duke as an architect and working for him as a military engineer, Leonardo assisted the mathematician Luca Pacioli in the celebrated work Divina Proportione.
Leonardo's interest in science began to flourish in Milan, and as a civil and military engineer, he delved into the field of mechanics. His scientific research also embraced anatomy, biology, mathematics, and physics. It was during this period that he finished "The Last Supper," which along with the "Mona Lisa," is his most significant masterpiece.
France captured Milan in 1499, and Leonardo moved to Mantua and then to Venice to seek employment. By April 1500, he had returned to Florence, though two years later, he left to work for Cesare Borgia, the Duke of Romagna, in a military capacity. The son of Pope Alexander VI, Borgia served his father as his general in-chief. Leonardo. as the duke's chief architect and engineer, supervised construction on forts in the Papal states in central Italy.
Back in Florence in 1503, Leonardo served on the art commission of artists that determined the proper placing of Michelangelo's sculpture 'David.' Florence was at war with Pisa, and Leonardo served the city-state as a military engineer while continuing his scientific research. Leonardo began to design a painting for the great hall of the Palazzo Vecchio to commemorate the Battle of Anghiari, a Florentine victory over Pisa. While Leonardo produced a full-size sketch in 1505, he never executed the wall painting. During his second residency in Florence, Leonardo painted the portrait 'La Giocondane,' more famously known as Mona Lisa. Leonardo apparently was quite fond of the completed work, as it accompanied him on all of his subsequent travels.
Arguably the most famous painting in the world, the Mona Lisa is a bravura technical performance. The innovative Leonardo exhibits his mastery of chiaroscuro, the technique of modeling and defining form through contrasts of light and shadow, and sfumato, the technique of using subtle transitions between areas of color. The Mona Lisa, like many of his paintings, features a landscape background utilizing atmospheric perspective. Leonardo was one of the first painters to introduce atmospheric perspective into art, and his work influenced the High Renaissance Florentine masters, including Raphael. He also was a major influence on the artistic development of Correggio.
Returning to Milan in June 1506, at the invitation of French governor Charles d'Amboise, Leonardo went to work for the French court, which with King Louis XII of France, was residing in the Italian city. Except for a sojourn back in Florence in the period 1507-08, Leonardo stayed in Milan for seven years, though he returned to Florence often to visit his half-brothers and -siters and to manage his inheritance. In 1507, Leonardo went was named court painter to King Louis XII.
In Milan, he worked on engineering projects and on the planning of an equestrian statue to honor Gian Giacomo Trivulzio, the French military commander of Milan. The statue was never realized. During this Milan stay, scientific research became paramount. He applied his artistic gifts toward scientific illustration. In addition to his study of anatomy, he studied the stratification of rocks and researched the principles behind light, the flow of water, and the growth of plants. Leonardo's method was to draw and describe things by first approaching the surface before delving in to the underlying structure. He was interested in exactly describing the appearance of natural things in order to analyze their functioning. Similar to his artistic innovations, Leonardo's scientific theories were based on careful observation, precisely documented. He also made sketches of mechanical devices for the transmission of energy.
Along with Giuliano de'Medici, the brother of Pope Leo X, Leonardo moved to Rome in 1514. Enjoying the patronage of Pope Leo X, he lived in the Palazzo Belvedere in the Vatican and was mostly concerned with scientific experimentation. In 1516, he left Italy and moved to France to become the architectural adviser of King Francis I, an admirer of his work. Leonardo lived at the Château de Cloux, near Amboise, France, where he died on May 2, 1519 at at the age of 67.- Actor
- Director
- Writer
José Quaglio was born on 28 February 1923 in Anguillara Veneta, Veneto, Italy. He was an actor and director, known for The Conformist (1970), 1900 (1976) and Lia, rispondi (1992). He died on 8 February 2007 in Cosne-Cours-sur-Loire, Nièvre, France.- Edwin Apps was a familiar face during the early days of British television, at his most prolific as a character actor between 1953 and 1972. In addition, he sidelined as a scripter for the BBC, penning some 33 episodes of the comedy series All Gas and Gaiters (1966). The son of auctioneers and hop farmers, he was born in East Kent. Upon the marital breakup of his parents, he was evacuated to Cornwall at the onset of World War II. At seventeen, he joined a repertory company in the north of England, though his budding career as a thespian was interrupted by national service. Having eventually completed his training at the Central School of Speech and Drama, he resumed his career on the stage as well as doing live television. In 1976, Edwin and his wife, the RADA-trained actress and writer Pauline Devaney, resettled on a farm in the French town of Liez (south-Vendée) in western France. He now appeared only occasionally in French films, devoting time to his life-long passion for painting ("I was a lonely child. At 10, I found a box of paint: since then, I have not let go of the brush"). A successful painter of oils on canvas, he specialised in satirical depictions of bishops in unconventional situations. In 2013, he published a humorous autobiography entitled "Pursued by Bishops - the Memoirs of Edwin Apps". His wife is also an accomplished painter, finalist in the 2017 National Art Competition.
- Jean Dasté was born on 18 August 1904 in Paris, France. He was an actor, known for The Grand Illusion (1937), L'Atalante (1934) and Z (1969). He was married to Marie-Hélène Dasté. He died on 15 October 1994 in Saint-Priest-en-Jarez, Loire, France.
- Actor
- Director
- Producer
René Navarre was born on 8 July 1877 in Limoges, Haute-Vienne, France. He was an actor and director, known for Fantômas: In the Shadow of the Guillotine (1913), L'écrin du rajah (1913) and Fantômas: The Dead Man Who Killed (1913). He was married to Elmire Vautier and Nelly Palmer. He died on 8 February 1968 in Azay-sur-Cher, Indre-et-Loire, France.- Anatole France, the 1921 Nobel laureate for literature, was born Jacques Anatole Thibault in Paris on April 16, 1844, the son of a Paris book dealer. He attended the Parisian boys' school Collège Stanislas, where he received a classical education, and later matriculated at the École des Chartes. For 20 years after finishing his education, he worked at various positions, including the post of assistant librarian of the French Senate from 1876 to 1890, before devoting himself full-time to writing. He was able to write even when he worked, and in his life-time in which he became the premier French man of letters, he produced a vast output of novels, as well as works in every genre. A story-teller in the French classical style, his literary precursors were Voltaire and Fénélon. His urbane skepticism and enlightened hedonism were in the spirit and tradition of the French enlightenment of the 18th century. His epicurean philosophy was limned in his 1895 book of aphorisms, "The Garden of Epicurus."
France's first great success was the novel "Le Crime de Sylvestre Bonnard (1881), which was honored by the Académie Française. France later became a member of the Académie in 1896. He published an autobiographical novel in 1885, "Le Livre de mon ami" ["My Friend's Book"], which he followed up with "Pierre Nozière" (1899), "Le Petit Pierre" (1918), and "La Vie au fleur" (1922) ["The Bloom of Life"].
France was the literary critic on the "Le Temps" newspaper, and his reviews were published in a four-volume collection entitled "La Vie littéraire" [On Life and Letters] between 1888 and 1892. It was in this period that France wrote historical fiction about past civilizations, focusing particularly on the transition from paganism to Christianity. He published "Balthazar" (1889), a story of the conversion of one of the Magi, and "Thaïs" (1890), about the conversion of an Alexandrian courtesan. In 1891, he published "L'Étui de nacre" ["Mother of Pearl"], the story of a hermit and a faun. It was during this period that the classicist France reacted strongly against Emile Zola's naturalism.
Approximately half of France's output appeared in periodicals and newspapers. The style of his novels was rooted in elegance and a subtle irony. "La Rôtisserie de la Reine Pédauque" ["At the Sign of the Reine Pédauque], a historical novel about life in 18th century France, was published in 1893. It proved to be the most celebrated of France's novels; that same year, he used the central character of the novel, the Abbé Coignard, in "Les Opinions de Jérôme Coignard." The Abbé again appeared in "Le Puits de Sainte Claire" ["The Well of Saint Claire"], a collection of stories published in 1895.
With "Le Lys rouge" ["The Red Lily"], a tragic love story published in 1894, France returned to contemporary fiction. In 1896, he began a cycle of prose works focused on the character of Professor Bergeret, one of his most famous literary creations, in the "Histoire contemporaine," published between 1896 and 1901.
He protested the unjust conviction of Captain Alfed Dreyfuss for treason and the anti-semitism of the French establishment that permitted his persecution, and developed an empathy for socialism. After the Dreyfus Affair, in which he came out in support of Zola, Dreyfus' great champion, France's work became more engaged socially and slanted increasingly towards political satire. In 1908, he published a satire about the Dreyfus Affair, "L'Île des pingouins" ["Penguin Island"]. Also that year, his biography of Joan of Arc was published. His other major works of his later period include "Les Dieux ont soif (1912) ["The Gods are Athirst"], a novel about the French Revolution, and "La Révolte des anges" (1914) ["The Revolt of the Angels].
Anatole France was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1921, "in recognition of his brilliant literary achievements, characterized as they are by a nobility of style, a profound human sympathy, grace, and a true Gallic temperament." In the presentation Speech by E.A. Karlfeldt, Permanent Secretary of the Swedish Academy, the author of historical novels about the transition from paganism to Christianity was praised for limning "a faith purified by healthy doubts, by the spirit of clarity, a new humanism, a new Renaissance, a new Reformation."
Karlfeldt would go on to praise rance as "the faithful servant of truth and beauty, the heir of humanism, of the lineage of Rabelais, Montaigne, Voltaire, [and ]Renan," but first, he would honor him as embodying the best of French civilization and letters:
"Sweden cannot forget the debt which, like the rest of the civilized world, she owes to French civilization," Karlfeldt said. "Formerly we received in abundance the gifts of French Classicism like the ripe and delicate fruits of antiquity. Without them, where would we be? This is what we must ask ourselves today. In our time Anatole France has been the most authoritative representative of that civilization; he is the last of the great classicists. He has even been called the last European. And indeed, in an era in which chauvinism, the most criminal and stupid of ideologies, wants to use the ruins of the great destruction for the building of new walls to prevent free intellectual exchange between peoples, his clear and beautiful voice is raised higher than that of others, exhorting people to understand that they need one another. Witty, brilliant, generous, this knight without fear is the best champion in the sublime and incessant war which civilization has declared against barbarism. He is a marshal of the France of the glorious era in which Corneille and Racine created their heroes.
France used the occasion to himself honor the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, the Swedish Prime Minister Karl Hjalmar Branting, a diplomat who worked for disarmament and helped draft the Geneva Protocol, a proposed international security system mandating arbitration between belligerent nations. France also denounced the Versailles Treaty as being unjust and a continuation of the Great War and called for the instillation of common sense among diplomats lest Europe meet its doom. After France received his Prize from the King of Sweden, after all the laureates had again ascended the rostrum, France turned to Professor Walther Nernst, the German Nobel laureate for chemistry, and shook his hand cordially for an extended time. The gesture profoundly moved the crowd as the symbolism of the meeting of the heart (literature) and the head (science) and of two nations so recently engaged in waging a ruinous war against each other was not missed. The audience applauded the gesture as a symbol of reconciliation between France, the nation, and Germany.
Anatole France's writings were put on the Index of Forbidden Books of the Roman Catholic Church in the 1920s. Between 1925 and 1935, France's collected works were published in 25 volumes.
Anatole France died on October 12, 1924 in Tours, Indre-et-Loire, France and was buried in the Ancient Cemetery of Neuilly, Hauts-de-Seine. - Paul Guers was born on 19 December 1927 in Tours, France. He was an actor, known for La piovra (1984), A Tale of Two Cities (1958) and Kali Yug, la dea della vendetta (1963). He was married to Marie-Josèphe Guers, Françoise Brion and Rolande Kalis. He died on 28 November 2016 in Montsoreau, Maine-et-Loire, France.
- Actor
- Director
Edmond Van Daële was born on 11 August 1884 in Paris, France. He was an actor and director, known for Three Musketeers (1932), Six et demi onze (1927) and Cagliostro - Liebe und Leben eines großen Abenteurers (1929). He died on 11 March 1960 in Grez-Neuville, Maine-et-Loire, France.- Lucienne Legrand was born on 18 July 1920 in Douai, Nord, France. She was an actress, known for A Slightly Pregnant Man (1973), Shock Treatment (1973) and Au théâtre ce soir (1966). She was married to André Legrand. She died on 19 October 2022 in Nogent-le-Rotrou, Eure-et-Loir, France.
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Jean Champion was born on 9 March 1914 in Chalon-sur-Saône, Saône-et-Loire, France. He was an actor, known for Clean Slate (1981), The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964) and The Red Circle (1970). He died on 23 May 2001 in Chalon-sur-Saône, Saône-et-Loire, France.- Odette Ventura was born on 6 November 1919 in Paris, France. She was married to Lino Ventura. She died on 15 May 2013 in Trélazé, Maine-et-Loire, France.
- Céline Léger was born on 28 December 1937 in Montréal, Québec, Canada. She was an actress, known for Le théâtre de la jeunesse (1960), Thierry la Fronde (1963) and Se souvenir des belles choses (2001). She was married to Jean-Claude Deret. She died on 20 January 2017 in Mennetou-sur-Cher, Loir-et-Cher, France.
- Actor
- Additional Crew
Jean Brochard was born on 12 March 1893 in Nantes, Loire-Atlantique, Pays-de-la-Loire, France. He was an actor, known for Diabolique (1955), The Bullocks (1953) and Angel and Sinner (1945). He died on 17 June 1972 in Nantes, Loire-Atlantique, Pays-de-la-Loire, France.- Micheline Boudet was born on 28 April 1926 in Metz, Moselle, Lorraine, France. She was an actress, known for Would-Be Gentleman (1958), Le malade imaginaire (1959) and Le barbier de Séville ou La précaution inutile (1960). She was married to Julien Bertheau. She died on 5 July 2022 in Serville, Eure-et-Loir, France.
- Claude Génia was born on 4 March 1913 in Vetluga, Russian Empire [now Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Russia]. She was an actress, known for Le père Goriot (1945), The Count of Monte Cristo (1954) and La louve (1949). She was married to Jacques Le Beau. She died on 18 May 1979 in Tours, Indre-et-Loire, France.
- Valéry Giscard d'Estaing was born on 2 February 1926 in Koblenz, Germany. He was married to Anne-Aymone Giscard d'Estaing. He died on 2 December 2020 in Authon, Loir-et-Cher, France.
- Max Vialle was born on 4 July 1934 in Paris, France. He was an actor, known for My American Uncle (1980), Messieurs les jurés (1974) and L'homme au cerveau greffé (1972). He was married to Sonia Laroze. He died on 6 January 2000 in Tours, Indre-et-Loire, France.
- Composer
- Music Department
- Actor
Jacques Loussier was born on 26 October 1934 in Angers, Maine-et-Loire, France. He was a composer and actor, known for Inglourious Basterds (2009), Dark of the Sun (1968) and The Informer (1962). He was married to Elizabeth Note and Sylvie de Tournemire. He died on 5 March 2019 in Blois, Loir-et-Cher, France.- Aude Amiot was born on 23 January 1964 in Saint-Symphorien, Indre-et-Loire, France. She was an actress, known for Oh, Woe Is Me (1993), Drancy Avenir (1997) and Nos amours retardataires (1994). She died on 30 August 2012 in Tours, Indre-et-Loire, France.
- Director
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
- Writer
Jacques Besnard was born on 15 July 1929 in Le Petit-Quevilly, Seine-Inférieure [now Seine-Maritime], France. He was a director and assistant director, known for Le fou du labo IV (1967), What's Cooking in Paris (1966) and C'est pas parce qu'on n'a rien à dire qu'il faut fermer sa gueule... (1975). He died on 9 November 2013 in Boutigny-Prouais, Eure-et-Loir, France.- Rosine Deréan was born on 23 February 1910 in Paris, France. She was an actress, known for Let's Make a Dream (1936), Ladies Lake (1934) and L'or (1934). She was married to Claude Dauphin. She died on 14 March 2001 in Genille, Indre-et-Loire, France.
- Coralie Clément was born on 14 August 1956 in Paris, France. She was an actress, known for See Here My Love (1978), Peppermint Soda (1977) and The Last Romantic Lover (1978). She died on 12 September 2002 in Mâcon, Saône-et-Loire, France.
- Jean-Claude Bouillaud was born on 7 June 1927 in Le Havre, Seine-Inférieure [now Seine-Maritime], France. He was an actor, known for The Professional (1981), Au théâtre ce soir (1966) and A Heart in Winter (1992). He died on 20 June 2008 in Angers, Maine-et-Loire, France.
- François-Xavier Leuridan was born on 1 January 1989 in La Baule-Éscoublac, Loire-Atlantique, Pays-de-la-Loire, France. He died on 9 August 2011 in Bouée, Loire-Atlantique, France.
- The youngest of no less than sixteen children, Gabriel Gabrio was born in Reims in 1887. His father worked for the Pommeray Champagne cellars but his son was soon more attracted to the theater than to the bubbles of the famous French sparkling white wine. Puppet theater was his first passion. He was only seven. Later on, after being an apprentice stained glass window painter, he made his first appearance at the Casino of his home town. He also played for five years at the Kursaal. This fledgling career was only half interrupted by World War I since soldier Gabrio played for the troops as soon as it was possible. And he did it for the whole of the four years of the conflict! He resumed civilian work immediately after the end of hostilities, but in Paris this time. He trod the boards of such theaters as the Théâtre des Ambassadeurs, Gaîté Rochechouart, Comédie Montaigne, Gymnase, Odéon, Marigny ... in plays by Shaw, Shakespeare, Bernstein and de la Fouchardière among others. In 1924, he was given the opportunity to shine on the big screen where his second movie 'Les Misérables' made him a star as Javert, the resentful policeman who relentlessly pursues Jean Valjean. From 1928, and for several years, his career became international: he starred in German, English and Spanish films. Unfortunately most of the movies he made in twenty years' time were just commercial. Nevertheless some of the roles this stout burly actor with a boxer's face played besides hosts of gangsters and other brutes, are memorable, mainly the tough characters he embodied in such classics as Raymond Bernard's 'Les Croix de Bois' (as the grumpy soldier), Gance's 'Lucrèce Borgia' (as the redoubtable Cesare Borgia), Duvivier's 'Pépé le Moko' (as Carlos) or Carné's 'Les Visiteurs du Soir' (as the executioner). He was at his best in his only foray into the universe of Marcel Pagnol (and Jean Giono for that matter) as Panturle, the last inhabitant of Aubignane who manages to revive his dying village. His poor health caused him to interrupt his activities prematurely and he retired into the village of Berchères-sur-Vesgre, in the West of France, where a street has been named after him. He died in 1946 aged only 59. Gabriel Gabrio is unjustly forgotten and his 'hefty' contribution to the French cinema should be re-appraised.
- Director
- Writer
André Antoine was born on 31 January 1858 in Limoges, Haute-Vienne, France. He was a director and writer, known for La terre (1921), Mademoiselle de La Seiglière (1921) and The Swallow and the Titmouse (1924). He died on 19 October 1943 in Le Pouliguen, Loire-Atlantique, France.- Odile Poisson was born on 4 March 1935 in Nantes, France. She was an actress, known for Beau masque (1972), The Last Adventure (1967) and Life Is a Bed of Roses (1983). She died on 24 May 2008 in La Boulaye, Saône-et-Loire, France.
- Sound Department
- Director
- Writer
Jean-Claude Laureux was born on 8 July 1939 in Toulouse, Haute-Garonne, France. He was a director and writer, known for Three Colors: Blue (1993), Goodbye, Children (1987) and Three Colors: Red (1994). He died on 20 May 2020 in Yvoy-le-Marron, Loir-et-Cher, France.- Serge Lecointe was born on 26 April 1939 in Paris, France. He was an actor, known for Speaking of Murder (1957), La bella Otero (1954) and Jeunes mariés (1953). He died on 1 February 2021 in Le Coudray, Eure-et-Loir, Centre-Val de Loire, France.
- Composer
- Music Department
- Actor
Étienne Perruchon was born on 23 October 1958 in Suresnes, Hauts-de-Seine, France. He was a composer and actor, known for Les arcandiers (1991), Les percutés (2002) and Voir la mer (2011). He died on 14 May 2019 in Nantes, Loire-Atlantique, France.- Actor
- Additional Crew
Michel Ruhl was born on 2 February 1934 in France. He was an actor, known for Wild Reeds (1994), Les enquêtes du commissaire Maigret (1967) and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (2015). He died on 15 January 2022 in Guérande, Pays de la Loire, France.- Director
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Cinematographer
Michel Parbot was born on 27 August 1938 in Boulogne-Billancourt, Hauts-de-Seine, France. He was a director and cinematographer, known for Caméra une première (1979), Oh! America (1975) and À bout portant (1968). He died on 3 August 2008 in Mainvilliers, Eure-et-Loir, France.- Writer
- Producer
François Debré was born on 3 April 1942 in Toulouse, Haute-Garonne, France. He was a writer and producer, known for Les cinq dernières minutes (1958), Portrait (1977) and L'homme de pouvoir (1985). He was married to Maylis Ybarnegaray. He died on 14 September 2020 in Montlouis-sur-Loire, Indre-et-Loire, France.- Jeremy James was born on 12 March 1936 in Bristol, England, UK. He was married to Gillian Molteno. He died on 23 August 2015 in Saint-Maurice-de-Lignon, Haute-Loire, France.
- Composer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Franck Barcellini was born on 11 May 1920 in Lyon, Rhône, France. He was a composer, known for Munich (2005), Liebe ist ja nur ein Märchen (1955) and My Uncle (1958). He died on 16 October 2012 in Saint-Nazaire, Pays-de-la-Loire, France.- Director
- Producer
- Writer
Gérard Patris was a director and producer, known for L'anthropographe (1991), Un homme de Russie (1970) and My Name Is Stern (1972). He died on 28 February 1990 in Chailles, Loir-et-Cher, France.- Writer
- Actor
- Director
Alain Quercy was born on 26 April 1928 in Paris, France. He was a writer and actor, known for La vie des autres (1980), Sins of Pompeii (1950) and Le premier juré (1973). He was married to Hélène Vallier. He died on 24 June 2012 in Blois, Loir-et-Cher, France.- Pierre Troisgros was born on 3 September 1928 in Chalon-sur-Saône, Saône-et-Loire, France. He was married to Olympe Forté. He died on 23 September 2020 in Coteau, Loire, France.
- Charles Exbrayat was born on 5 May 1906 in Planfoy, Loire, France. He was a writer, known for La femme que j'ai assassinée (1948), L'Homme de Londres (1943) and Danger de mort (1947). He died on 8 March 1989 in Saint-Étienne, Loire, France.
- Maurice Vinot was born on 3 November 1888 in Paris, France. He was an actor, known for Le proscrit (1912), La châtelaine (1914) and Le fou (1909). He was married to Marthe Vinot. He died on 23 June 1916 in Pontlevoy, Loir-et-Cher, France.