Jean-Louis Barrault
Jean-Louis Barrault (8 September 1910, Le Vésinet, Yvelines – 22 January 1994) was a French actor, director and mime artist, training that served him well when he portrayed the 19th-century mime Jean-Gaspard Deburau (Baptiste Debureau) in Marcel Carné's 1945 film Les Enfants du Paradis (Children of Paradise). Jean-Louis Barrault studied with Charles Dullin in whose troupe he acted from 1933 to 1935. At 25 years of age, he met and studied with the mime Étienne Decroux. From 1940 to 1946 he was a member of the Comédie-Française, where he directed productions of Paul Claudel's Le Soulier de satin and Jean Racine's Phèdre, two plays that made his reputation. Over his career, he acted in nearly 50 movies including Les beaux jours, Jenny, L'Or dans la Montagne and Sous les Yeux d'occident. In 1940, he married the actress Madeleine Renaud. They founded a number of theatres together and toured extensively, including in South America. He was the uncle of actress Marie-Christine Barrault and sometime sponsor of Peter Brook. He died from a heart attack in Paris at the age of 83. Jean-Louis Barrault is buried with his wife Madeleine Renaud in the Passy Cemetery in Paris. Jean-Louis Barrault, Reflections on the Theatre: "In fact it is the simplest things that are the most tricky to do well. To read, for example. To be able to read exactly what is written without omitting anything that is written and at the same time without adding anything of one's own. To be able to capture the exact context of the words one is reading. To be able to read!" Barrault from Melinda Camber Porter's Through Parisian Eyes: Reflections on Contemporary French Arts and Culture: "When I wake up in the morning I want to feel hungry for life. Desire is what drives me. When I go to sleep, I feel I have experienced a small death, so that I can wake up in the morning renewed and reborn." Description above from the Wikipedia article Jean-Louis Barrault, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
The retelling of June 6, 1944, from the perspectives of the Germans, US, British, Canadians, and...
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Children of Paradise
as Baptiste DebureauIn a chaotic 19th-century Paris teeming with aristocrats, thieves, psychics, and courtesans,...
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The Night of Varennes
as Nicolas Edmé Restif de la BretonneDuring the French Revolution, a surprising company shares a coach, trying to catch up something...
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La Ronde
as The PoetAn all-knowing interlocutor guides us through a series of affairs in Vienna, 1900. A soldier...
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Experiment in Evil
as Dr. Cordelier / OpaleDr. Cordelier, living in a suburb of Paris, withdraws from society to pursue research into the...
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Bizarre, Bizarre
as William Kramps, le tueur de bouchersA French farce set in Victorian London where a botanist and his wife get into trouble when they...
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The Dialogue of the Carmelites
as uncreditedThis drama about the Carmelite order of nuns is set during the French Revolution. A young woman...
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Royal Affairs in Versailles
as FénelonWitty narration follows the history of Versailles Palace; founded by Louis XIII, enlarged by...
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The Big Scare
as uncreditedTwo police inspectors pursue a dangerous counterfeiter on the run.
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Blood on His Sword
as Louis XICharles le Temeraire asks in marriage Jeanne de Beauvais, daughter of King Louis XI, wishing to...
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Mlle. Desiree
as Napoléon BonaparteJulie and Désirée Clary are courted by the brothers Joseph and Napoleon Bonaparte. Joseph...
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I Accuse
as uncreditedAfter serving in the trenches of World War I, Jean Diaz recoils with such horror that he...
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Venom and Eternity
as SelfIn this experimental film, Isidore Isou, the leader of the lettrist movement, lashes out at...
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La Symphonie fantastique
as Hector BerliozThe film is biographical, telling the story of the life and artistic struggles of the French...
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The Life and Loves of Beethoven
as Karl van BeethovenLyrical biography of the classical composer, depicted as a romantic hero, an accursed artist.
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The Pearls of the Crown
as Bonaparte jeuneThe story of the seven pearls of the English Crown, from Henry VIII to 1937 – three of them missing.
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Happy Days
as RenéSylvie, a rich girl, learns at the same time the death and the ruin of her father. Forced to...
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Man to Men
as Henri DunantThe story of the Swiss soldier, Henri Dunant, who was responsible for the founding of the Red...
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Jenny
as le DromadaireWhen her fiancé breaks off their engagement, Danielle leaves London and returns to her mother,...
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To Be Hamlet
as SelfDocumentary examination of the role of Hamlet, in which ten prominent actors who have played the...
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The Southern Trail
as OlcottAs Hélène is conveying her husband's body across the Sahara, her convoy is attacked by looters....
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Le Fantôme de Laurent Terzieff
as Self (archive footage)Laurent Terzieff was more than a good actor, after having been a real "star" in the cinema,...
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Under Western Eyes
as HaldinPolitical turmoil convulses 19th-century Russia as Razumov, a young student preparing for a...
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Montmartre on the Seine
as Michel CourtinMaurice loves Juliet and Michael loves Lily. Romance blossoms on the hill. They are workers,...
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Parade in 7 Nights
as Lucien ArdouinIn the pound, Pipo the dog recounts his adventures to his fellow inmates.
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Orage
as L'AfricainThe mistress of an engineer meets the man's pregnant wife and decides to give up the liaison.
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Blind Desire
as Michel KremerA violinist passes on to his daughter three rings which represent three passions of his romantic...
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The Puritan
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Chappaqua
as Dr. BenoitSemi-autobiographical story of Conrad Rooks, who travels to France to undergo a drug-withdrawal...
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Angel of the Night
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Street of Shadows
as le client fouA slippery femme fatale, a spy for Germany during the Great War, is sent to Thessaloniki in...
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Vagabonds imaginaires
as Narrator (segment 'Le bateau ivre') (voice)Jean-Louis Barrault, Charles Dullin and Roger Blin each say a poem. The actors do not appear on...
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Youth in Revolt
as Armand"Altitude 3.200" asks the question and provides the premise of what would happen if a group of...
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With André Gide
as SelfNobel-prize-winning author, social justice crusader, anti-colonialist, adventure traveler,...
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Mirages
as Pierre BonvaisA star of Les Folies Bergères has to choose between her career and her love for an engineer.
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Social Police
as ScoppaFor years now, Chief inspector Gustave Picard has been trying to bring down Salviati, the...
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Hélène
as Pierre RégnierHelene is based on Helene Wilfur, a novel by Vicki (Grand Hotel) Baum. Madeleine Renaud essays...
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À nous deux, madame la vie
as Paul BriançonTwo bank employees like Lucie, their colleague. They steal money from the cash register to...
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La lumière du lac
as Le vieuxAn urban gigolo on the run from a mobster hides out at the remote cabin of a female novelist in...
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Les Rendez-vous du dimanche
as SelfA talk show presented by Michel Drucker
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Midi Première
as SelfMidi Première is a French variety show presented by Danièle Gilbert, directed by Jacques Pierre...
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