Jean-Claude Brialy

Jean-Claude Brialy

1933-03-30 – 2007-05-30 (age 74) Aumale, Alger, France [now Sour el Ghozlane, Algeria]
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Biography

Jean-Claude Brialy (30 March 1933 – 30 May 2007) was a French actor and film director.

Brialy was born in Aumale (now Sour El-Ghozlane), French Algeria, where his father was stationed with the French Army. Brialy moved to mainland France with his family in 1942. He was an alumnus of the Prytanée National Militaire. When he was 21 years old, he went to Paris to work as an actor.

In 1956, Brialy acted in his first role in the short film Le coup du berger (Fool's Mate) by Jacques Rivette.

By the late 1950s, he'd become one of the most prolific actors in the French nouvelle vague and a star. He appeared in films of nouvelle vague directors such as Claude Chabrol (Le Beau Serge, 1958; Les Cousins, 1959), Louis Malle (Ascenseur pour l'échafaud, 1958; Les Amants, 1958), François Truffaut (Les 400 Coups, 1959), Jean-Luc Godard, (Une femme est une femme, 1961), Éric Rohmer (Claire's Knee, 1970), as well as in films of other filmmakers such as Jean Renoir (Elena et les hommes 1958), Roger Vadim (La ronde, 1964), Philippe de Broca (Le Roi de cœur, 1966), Luis Buñuel (Le Fantôme de la liberté, 1974), and Claude Lelouch (Robert et Robert, 1978).

In 2006, he appeared in his last role, as the eponymous character of the TV film Monsieur Max, directed by Gabriel Aghion. Godard described him as "the French Cary Grant," while Brialy's self-described "life models" had reportedly been actor Sacha Guitry and director Jean Cocteau.

Brialy directed a number of films, including Églantine in 1971, which was loosely inspired by his own memories of a happy childhood spent in Chambellay with his grandparents, and Les volets clos (Closed shutters) in 1972.

He owned the restaurant L'Orangerie, on the Île Saint-Louis; he'd also worked as a TV presenter, a singer, and a radio host. During the presentation of one of his books, Brialy described himself this way: "I'm a boy who got lucky enough to do what I love in life".

Brialy, in 1959, acquired a château in the commune of Monthyon, near Paris. There, he accommodated and entertained many friends from the cinema and the theatre, such as Jean Marais, Pierre Arditi, and Romy Schneider whom he'd met during the 1958 production of the film Christine. Schneider, after the 1981 fatal accident of her son David, found a "refuge from the paparazzi" in Brialy's home. French singer Barbara would often sing at the piano. Director Jean-Pierre Melville used the château to shoot the last scenes of his 1970 crime film Le Cercle Rouge, where Alain Delon and Yves Montand are killed by the police.

In his books, the autobiographical Le Ruisseau des singes (The river of monkeys) (2000) and the memoir J'ai oublié de vous dire (I Forgot to Tell You) (2004), Brialy revealed that he was bisexual. ...

Source: Article "Jean-Claude Brialy" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA.

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Known For

The 400 Blows
The 400 Blows

1959

as L' Homme dans la rue

Cléo from 5 to 7
Cléo from 5 to 7

1962

as The Nurse (uncredited)

The Monster
The Monster

1994

as Roccarotta

As Luck Would Have It
As Luck Would Have It

2002

as Jean-Pierre Muller

Queen Margot
Queen Margot

1994

as Coligny

Elevator to the Gallows
Elevator to the Gallows

1958

as Le Jeune Homme du Motel (uncredited)

Christine
Christine

1958

as Theo Kaiser

The Lovers
The Lovers

1958

as Boy on a ride (uncredited)

The Lady Banker
The Lady Banker

1980

as Paul Cisterne

One Hundred and One Nights
One Hundred and One Nights

1995

as The Japanese Guide

Sentimental Education
Sentimental Education

1962

as Frédéric Moreau

The Accuser
The Accuser

1977

as Le Rantec

The Phantom of Liberty
The Phantom of Liberty

1974

as Mr. Foucault

Lamiel
Lamiel

1967

as Le comte d'Aubigné

The Devil and the Ten Commandments
Illegal Cargo
Illegal Cargo

1958

as Jean, le jeune journaliste assassiné

Stella
Stella

1983

as Roland

Sarah
Sarah

1983

as Gabriel Larcange

The Seven Deadly Sins
The Seven Deadly Sins

1962

as Arthur (segment "L'avarice")

The Innocents
The Innocents

1987

as Klotz