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Jean-Louis Barrault

Jean-Louis Barrault

Born on September 8th, 1910

Le Vésinet, Yvelines, Île-de-France, France

Died on January 22nd, 1994

Biography

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.​

Filmography

Le Fantôme de Laurent Terzieff

2020

Self (archive footage)

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La lumière du lac

1988

Le vieux

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To Be Hamlet

1985

Self

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The Night of Varennes

1982

Nicolas Edmé Restif de la Bretonne

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The Birth of Children of Paradise

1967

Self

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Chappaqua

1966

Dr. Benoit

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The Big Scare

1964

Character TBA

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The Longest Day

1962

Father Louis Roulland

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Blood on His Sword

1961

Louis XI

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Experiment in Evil

1960

Dr. Cordelier / Opale

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The Dialogue of the Carmelites

1960

Mime

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Musée Grévin

1958

Self

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Royal Affairs in Versailles

1954

Fénelon

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With André Gide

1952

Self

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Venom and Eternity

1952

Self

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La Ronde

1950

The Poet

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Vagabonds imaginaires

1950

Narrator (segment 'Le bateau ivre') (voice)

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Man to Men

1948

Henri Dunant

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La Rose et le réséda

1947

Narrator (voice)

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Blind Desire

1945

Michel Kremer

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Children of Paradise

1945

Baptiste Debureau

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Angel of the Night

1944

Jacques Martin, le jeune sculpteur

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La Symphonie fantastique

1942

Hector Berlioz

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Montmartre on the Seine

1941

Michel Courtin

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Parade in 7 Nights

1941

Lucien Ardouin

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Mlle. Desiree

1941

Napoléon Bonaparte

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L'Or dans la montagne

1939

Maurice Farinet, le jeune paysan

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The Southern Trail

1938

Olcott

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Youth in Revolt

1938

Armand

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Orage

1938

L'Africain

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Mirages

1938

Pierre Bonvais

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I Accuse

1938

Character TBA

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The Puritan

1938

Francis Ferriter

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Bizarre, Bizarre

1937

William Kramps, le tueur de bouchers

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The Pearls of the Crown

1937

Bonaparte jeune

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Street of Shadows

1937

le client fou

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Social Police

1937

Scoppa

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À nous deux, madame la vie

1937

Paul Briançon

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The Life and Loves of Beethoven

1937

Karl van Beethoven

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Hélène

1936

Pierre Régnier

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Jenny

1936

le Dromadaire

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Under Western Eyes

1936

Haldin

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Happy Days

1935

René

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