Paul Bonifas

Born: 1902-06-03

Paul Bonifas (3 June 1902 – 9 November 1975) was a French actor, born in Paris. In the 1920s, while working for the French customs service, Bonifas took classes in acting at the Conservatoire de Paris in his spare time. He left with the first prize for comedy, which allowed him to join the Odéon Theatre in 1933, then the Comédie-Française in 1938. He made his first film appearance in 1935 in a version of Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment, directed by Pierre Chenal. During World War II he served as a lieutenant in the artillery, was badly wounded, and evacuated from Dunkirk with his unit. In London he joined the Free French, and worked for Radio Londres broadcasting to occupied France. In 1942 he appeared in the film The Foreman Went to France. In 1943 he formed "The Molière Players", who staged a repertoire of mainly Molière works in London theatres, as well as in regional towns and at French army barracks. In 1944 "The Molière Players" appeared in the short film Aventure malgache directed by Alfred Hitchcock. This was written by, and based on the experiences of, Jules Francois Clermont, an actor in Bonifas' troupe working under the name of Paul Clarus, who had operated an illegal radio station Madagascar Libre in Madagascar while the island was under Vichy control. Bonifas then appeared in a number of other British films, including Two Fathers with Bernard Miles, directed by Anthony Asquith, and had minor roles in the musicals Heaven Is Round the Corner and Champagne Charlie, the action adventure film The Man from Morocco, the comedy-drama Johnny Frenchman and the horror film Dead of Night. Bonifas returned to France in 1946 and resumed his career in theatre, specializing in comedy, but also taking dramatic roles. His later film career included appearances in Trapeze (1956), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1956), Fanny (1961), Charade (1963), Greed in the Sun (1964), The Train (1964), Is Paris Burning? (1966), Triple Cross (1966), and The Return of the Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe (1974). Bonifas died on 9 November 1975 at Vernouillet, Yvelines, France. Source: Article "Paul Bonifas" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.  


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Charade

as Mr. Felix
Released: 1963-12-01

After Regina Lampert falls for the dashing Peter Joshua on a skiing holiday in the French Alps,...

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The Train

as Spinet
Released: 1964-09-24

As the Allied forces approach Paris in August 1944, German Colonel Von Waldheim is desperate to...

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The Hunchback of Notre Dame

as Master Lecornu
Released: 1956-12-19

Paris, 1482. Today is the festival of the fools, taking place like each year in the square...

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Les Misérables

as Le médecin de l'hôpital
Released: 1958-03-11

In 19th century France, Jean Valjean, a man imprisoned for stealing bread, must flee a...

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Cold Sweat

as The doctor
Released: 1970-12-18

During the Korean War, Joe Moran, is convicted for striking a colonel. Imprisoned in Germany he...

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The Return of the Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe

as le père de François Perrin
Released: 1974-11-12

With "little captain" Cambrai raising serious doubts about the reality of the so-called "super...

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Triple Cross

as Charlie
Released: 1966-12-09

A safecracker turns double agent during WWII.

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Love in the Afternoon

as Police Chief (uncredited)
Released: 1957-05-29

Lovestruck conservatory student Ariane pretends to be just as much a cosmopolitan lover as the...

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Dead of Night

as French Nightclub Patron (Segment "The Ventriloquist's Dummy") (Uncredited)
Released: 1945-09-09

Architect Walter Craig, seeking the possibility of some work at a country farmhouse, soon finds...

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The Common Man

as Le Maire
Released: 1975-02-26

Georges Lajoie is a Parisian café owner. As every summer, Georges, his wife Ginette and grown-up...

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The Truth

as Un greffier
Released: 1960-11-02

As Dominique Marceau is being tried for the murder of Gilbert Tellier, accounts by different...

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Greed in the Sun

as Doctor Magnart, former professor in Lyon
Released: 1964-04-17

A truck driver ventures into the Moroccan desert to retrieve a stolen truck, facing danger, bad...

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Madagascar Landing

as Michel
Released: 1944-01-01

A former leader of the French Resistance finds that one of his fellow actors looks like a...

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The Last Train

as Le voisin
Released: 1973-10-31

Two people, a Frenchman and a Jewish German woman, meet on a train while escaping the German...

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The Christmas Tree

as (uncredited)
Released: 1969-09-25

A French-American millionaire, his girlfriend and his war buddy try to grant his dying son's...

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Fanny

as The Postman
Released: 1961-06-28

Almost 19-year-old Marius feels himself in a rut in Marseille, his life planned for him by his...

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Sundays and Cybele

as Grocer
Released: 1962-11-12

The tragic story of a young orphan girl who is befriended by an innocent but emotionally...

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Who Are You, Polly Maggoo?

as uncredited
Released: 1966-10-21

In this excoriating satire of the fashion industry, Polly Maggoo is a 20-year-old Brooklyn-born...

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Goodbye Again

as Cellarman
Released: 1961-05-23

Middle-aged businesswoman Paula Tessier rejects the advances of her client's amusing 25-year-old...

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Love and the Frenchwoman

as Le père de Ginette (segment "La Virginité")
Released: 1960-09-16

The seven stages in the life of the modern Frenchwomen are disclosed by seven directors in a...

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Juliette, or Key of Dreams

as La capitaine du cargo
Released: 1951-05-18

Michel has stolen from his employer, Mr Bellanger, for the love of Juliette. He is now in jail....

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Blood on His Sword

as Le chirurgien / Doctor of Louis XI
Released: 1961-09-06

Charles le Temeraire asks in marriage Jeanne de Beauvais, daughter of King Louis XI, wishing to...

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The Case of Dr. Laurent

as Guillaumin
Released: 1957-04-03

Le Cas Du Dr. Laurent (The Case of Dr. Laurent) stars Jean Gabin as a Paris-based doctor who...

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Love Me Strangely

as Le portier de l'hôtel
Released: 1971-02-10

Alain Revent, a seductive and refined man, derives a peculiar satisfaction from debasing his...

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The Truth About Bebe Donge

as uncredited
Released: 1952-02-13

François Donge, a rich industrialist and womaniser, meets a girl nicknamed Bébé who he marries....

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The Horse

as Witness to car accident
Released: 1970-02-22

Auguste Maroilleur, an elderly farmer, exploits 400 hectares of crop land with the help of his...

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Candlelight in Algeria

as French Proprietor
Released: 1944-03-19

Candlelight in Algeria is a 1944 British war film directed by George King and starring James...

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The Green Glove

as Inspector
Released: 1952-02-28

In World War II France, American soldier Michael Blake captures, then loses Nazi-collaborator...

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A Woman Like Satan

as Innkeeper
Released: 1958-12-19

Handsome and rich Spanish gentleman abandons his wife and riches for his love of a young girl of...

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Bedelia

as Insurance Manager (as Paul Boniface)
Released: 1946-07-08

Bedelia Carrington is living happily, it appears, in Monte Carlo with her husband Charlie...

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Jeff Gordon, Secret Agent

as Le notaire
Released: 1964-03-11

Jeff Gordon, FBI agent, infiltrates a gang and finds himself in the midst of a gang war.

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Sinners of Paris

as L'inspecteur Renaud
Released: 1958-01-15

Michel Piccoli plays a police inspector whose best friend is murdered on the orders of gang boss...

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Frou-Frou

as Le réceptionniste de l'hôtel (uncredited)
Released: 1955-06-19

A story of the love of Frou-Frou - an actress and singer in the in the beginning of her career.

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Keep Talking, Baby

as uncredited
Released: 1961-10-06

Ex-boxer Eddie is framed for murder. While serving time, he tries to clear his name and uncover...

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Holiday for Henrietta

as The Newsagent (uncredited)
Released: 1952-12-17

Two scriptwriters argue about the fate of Henrietta, a charming and gamine shopgirl. One favors...

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The Trip to Biarritz

as uncredited
Released: 1963-03-15

Guillaume Dodut is a stationmaster in rural France at a station where trains no longer stop. His...

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The Foreman Went to France

as Prefect of Rouville
Released: 1942-06-22

Based on the true story of Melbourne Johns, an aircraft factory foreman sent to France to...

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The Enemy General

as Mayor
Released: 1960-10-18

OSS agent, working with the French underground, ambushes Nazi convoy with high-ranking general,...

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Mademoiselle and Her Gang

as Marcel, owner of the hotel
Released: 1957-07-11

Author of the best-selling crime novel Le Poulet se mange froid (Chicken Eats Cold) under the...

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A Legitimate Defense

as le président de la cour
Released: 1958-06-11

Two friends from the last war, Pierrot, a bar owner, and Gustave, a police inspector, are in...

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The Man from Morocco

as French Mayor
Released: 1945-04-17

With the ending of the Spanish Civil War, a dispirited band of volunteers from the International...

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Lucky Jo

as Légiste (uncredited)
Released: 1964-11-12

Lucky Jo and his three friends are little criminals, who try to live from small burglaries. But...

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English Without Tears

as Monsieur Rolland
Released: 1944-07-28

While Lady Christabel Beauclark, a bird fancier, is scurrying about demanding certain...

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Their Last Night

as le commissaire principal
Released: 1953-10-23

Arriving in Paris, Madeleine Marsan rents a room in a guesthouse where she makes the...

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Clara de Montargis

as uncredited
Released: 1951-06-20

Renaud, a young student who is camping alone at the moment, has a dream one night, in which the...

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The Depths

as Mons. Lapeyre
Released: 1963-06-05

A bourgeois family, who is harassed and humiliated, ruins their young maids without pay for...

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The Terror with Women

as uncredited
Released: 1956-11-23

Aimé Morin, a good-natured bookseller, is also one of the candidates in the local elections of...

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The Five Cents of Lavarede

as uncredited
Released: 1939-03-07

Some try to travel around the world with a time constraint, but Lavarède has to perform an even...

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Johnny Frenchman

as Jerome
Released: 1945-10-29

The fisherman from a Cornish village have a friendly rivalry with the fishermen (and one...

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The Gigolo

as (uncredited)
Released: 1960-10-18

Agathe Perrin, a wealthy widow in her forties, lives with her ailing father in an estate on the...

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Lisbon Story

as Stephan Corelle
Released: 1946-05-20

A musical cabaret singer meets a British agent and goes with him to Nazi occupied France to save...

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Duel à Dakar

as The Commander
Released: 1951-12-06

Robert Vernier is assigned by the Secret Service to unmask a band of gangsters determined to get...

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Champagne Charlie

as Targetino
Released: 1944-08-25

A man from the countryside becomes London’s newest music hall sensation, and competes with a...

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La séparation

as Prêtre
Released: 1968-09-17

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Dans la vie tout s'arrange

as Monsieur Bleubois
Released: 1952-08-01

A Boston school teacher fights with a group of impoverished Frenchmen for possession of an...

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An Artistic Couple

as uncredited
Released: 1970-01-01

A young student meets an elderly antiques-loving couple looking for a help. They like her very...

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Lettre ouverte

as Honoré, the father-in-law
Released: 1953-03-11

Martial, Colette 's husband, is madly jealous. One day, he catches his wife writing a letter and...

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Le père Amable

as Vatinol
Released: 1975-11-22

Celeste has failed with Victor and has a little boy. Césaire would still like to marry Céleste,...

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Piédalu fait des miracles

as uncredited
Released: 1952-10-10

The inhabitants of Marboue-Chambourcy want a swimming pool, and the difficulties in realizing...

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Maxim's Porter

as uncredited
Released: 1939-11-10

The hunter at Maxim's, whose family is unaware of the profession, turns around and plans to...

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The Sleeping Sentinel

as uncredited
Released: 1966-01-21

In 1812, Napoleon I set off for the Russian Campaign and planned to spend a night in...

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Ils sont dans les vignes...

as American
Released: 1952-10-31

In 1935, in the Burgundian village of Valromey, Commissioner Desbordes was the very unpopular...

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Amazing Monsieur Fabre

as Le ministre Victor Duruy
Released: 1951-09-26

It centres on the life of the entomologist Jean-Henri Fabre and his total devotion to studying...

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Secret World

as Gustave / servant
Released: 1969-07-09

Wendy is the British guest of a French couple and the daughter of the man who saved the host's...

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Le naïf amoureux

as 'Tonton Louis'
Released: 1965-06-26

Paul is an accomplished teacher at Janson-de-Sailly. A "good guy" who, having returned for the...

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Pardon My French

as Monsieur Bleubois
Released: 1951-08-10

A Boston school teacher fights with a group of impoverished Frenchmen for possession of an...

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Antigone

as le choeur
Released: 1974-12-21

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La parole est au témoin

as uncredited
Released: 1963-11-17

Mustapha, a cab driver in Paris, charges a customer in a hurry, without realizing that he is in...

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At Theatre Tonight

as Félix Ducotel
First aired: 1966-07-21

At Theater tonight is a TV show broadcasted from 25th August 1966 to 21st September 1985. The...

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Sherlock Holmes

as uncredited
First aired: 1954-10-18

The first American television series of Sherlock Holmes adventures aired in syndication in the...

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Les Dossiers de l'Agence O

as Le vieux Vick
First aired: 1968-03-11

L’Agence O is a famous Parisian private detective firm. Its premises are located in the Passage...

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Schlitz Playhouse of Stars

as uncredited
First aired: 1951-10-05

Schlitz Playhouse of Stars is an anthology series that was telecast from 1951 until 1959 on CBS....

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Illusions perdues

as Camusot
First aired: 1966-03-05

1819, Angouleme, France, a young ambitious poet, Lucien Chardon is introduced in the salon of...

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La Duchesse d'Avila

as L'aubergiste
First aired: 1973-07-04

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Maurin des Maures

as Pons
First aired: 1970-01-21

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Bayard

as Aymon Terrail
First aired: 1964-01-16

At the end of the 15th century and the beginning of the next, the great deeds of the "Knight...

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