CINEFILER

Jean-Louis Barrault

Born
September 8, 1910
Died
January 22, 1994
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.​
Known For
The Longest Day
(1962)
Father Louis Roulland
Children of Paradise
(1945)
Baptiste Debureau
La Ronde
(1950)
The Poet
Full Filmography
Acting
Happy Days
(1935)
René
Jenny
(1936)
le Dromadaire
Under Western Eyes
(1936)
Haldin
Hélène
(1936)
Pierre Régnier
The Pearls of the Crown
(1937)
Bonaparte jeune
Bizarre, Bizarre
(1937)
William Kramps, le tueur de bouchers
Street of Shadows
(1937)
le client fou
The Life and Loves of Beethoven
(1937)
Karl van Beethoven
À nous deux, madame la vie
(1937)
Paul Briançon
Social Police
(1937)
Scoppa
The Puritan
(1938)
Francis Ferriter
Orage
(1938)
L'Africain
Mirages
(1938)
Pierre Bonvais
Youth in Revolt
(1938)
Armand
The Southern Trail
(1938)
Olcott
I Accuse
(1938)
L'Or dans la montagne
(1939)
Maurice Farinet, le jeune paysan
Mlle. Desiree
(1941)
Napoléon Bonaparte
Montmartre on the Seine
(1941)
Michel Courtin
Parade in 7 Nights
(1941)
Lucien Ardouin
La Symphonie fantastique
(1942)
Hector Berlioz
Angel of the Night
(1944)
Jacques Martin, le jeune sculpteur
Children of Paradise
(1945)
Baptiste Debureau
Blind Desire
(1945)
Michel Kremer
La Rose et le réséda
(1947)
Narrator (voice)
Man to Men
(1948)
Henri Dunant
La Ronde
(1950)
The Poet
Vagabonds imaginaires
(1950)
Narrator (segment 'Le bateau ivre') (voice)
Venom and Eternity
(1951)
Self
With André Gide
(1952)
Self
Royal Affairs in Versailles
(1954)
Fénelon
Musée Grévin
(1958)
Self
The Doctor's Horrible Experiment
(1960)
Dr. Cordelier / Opale
The Dialogue of the Carmelites
(1960)
Blood on His Sword
(1961)
Louis XI
The Longest Day
(1962)
Father Louis Roulland
The Big Scare
(1964)
Chappaqua
(1966)
Dr. Benoit
The Birth of Children of Paradise
(1967)
Self
The Night of Varennes
(1982)
Nicolas Edmé Restif de la Bretonne
To Be Hamlet
(1985)
Self
Le Fantôme de Laurent Terzieff
(2020)
Self (archive footage)
Writing
Data provided by TMDB