Pierre Fresnay (; 4 April 1897 – 9 January 1975) was a French stage and film actor.
Biography Born Pierre Jules Louis Laudenbach, he was encouraged by his uncle, actor Claude Garry, to pursue a career in theater and film. He joined the company at what later was the Théatre de Paris, only to shortly after at the Conservatoire, becoming a pensionnaire of the Comédie-Française in early 1915, returning to it after three years of military service in the French Army in 1919.Obituary: Pierre Fresnay. The Times, 11 January 1975. Before his departure from the Comédie-Française in 1926 Fresnay had played 80 parts in Paris, excelling especially in the works of Alfred de Musset. After playing small roles, in 1915 he was engaged as a pensionnaire without taking an audition at the Comédie-Française, moving up to Mario in Le Jeu de l'amour et du hasard and the title role in Britannicus. After the armistice he appeared as Clitandre in Les Femmes savantes, as well as other juvenile leads. These included Perdican (On ne badine pas avec l'amour by Musset), Valentin (Il ne faut jurer de rien by Musset, which he also directed), Fortunio (Le Chandelier by Musset).Pierre Fresnay on the Comédie-Française website accessed 28 October 2020.
Alongside contemporary creations, his Comédie-Française career continued with Chatterton (Vigny), becoming a valued member of the troupe due to his intelligent acting, the flexibility of his talent, and quality of his diction ("l'intelligence de son jeu, la souplesse de son talent et l'excellence de sa diction"). Upon leaving the Comédie-Française his stage work was found at the Variétés in Guitry plays, then as Marius in the Pagnol trilogy.
During the 1920s, Fresnay appeared in many popular stage productions. In 1927 Marion Fawcett was producing plays at the Theatre Royal in Huddersfield in her "International Masterpieces Seasons". She produced a play in which Fresnay delivered his lines in French. The play was "Game As He Played It".
He took the title role of Marcel Pagnol's Marius (1929), which ran for over 500 performances, also taking this role in the 1931 film adaptation of the play. He reprised the character in the next two parts of Marcel Pagnol's Marseilles Trilogy, Fanny (1932) and César (1936).British Film Institute page for Pierre Fresnay. Accessed 28 October 2020.
In 1932, Yvonne Printemps's marriage to Sacha Guitry broke up, and Printemps became Fresnay's personal and professional partner.Sharland, Elizabeth (2006). A Theatrical Feast in Paris: From Molière to Deneuve. Lincoln: iUniverse. , p. 86
He took over the lead role in Noël Coward's Conversation Piece when the author moved on in April 1934. Fresnay won excellent reviews, and his stage partnership with Printemps was greatly admired."Conversation Piece", The Observer, 29 April 1934, p. 17 In the same year Printemps and Fresnay had a screen hit in Abel Gance's La dame aux camélias. Between then and 1951 they appeared together in eight films."Printemps, Yvonne" Cimetières de France et d'ailleurs. Accessed 7 May 2013.
In 1934, he appeared briefly in Alfred Hitchcock's first version of The Man Who Knew Too Much. In 1937, he portrayed the aristocratic French military officer Captain de Boeldieu in Jean Renoir's masterpiece La Grande Illusion.
In 1947, he played Vincent de Paul in Monsieur Vincent, for which he won the Volpi Cup for Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival. His portrayal was described in Sight and Sound as "one of the most perfect pieces of work to be seen for many years in any clime".Rev. John A. V. Burke. "Religion and Films - Signs of a Renaissance", Sight and Sound, Vol 17 No 68, Winter 48/49, p. 176. He also portrayed Nobel Peace Prize laureate Albert Schweitzer in Il est minuit, Docteur Schweitzer (1952). La Valse de Paris gave Fresnay the chance to play in a "stylised musical" as a "delightful, lightly caricatured portrayal of Offenbach", alongside Printemps.Catherine de la Roche. Film Week in Cannes. Sight and Sound, Vol 19, No.3, May 1950, p. 106.
Soldier A soldier in the French Army during World War I, he returned to his career a hero. However, under the German occupation of World War II, he worked for the Franco-German film company Continental, making Henri-Georges Clouzot's Le Corbeau and other films.
Fresnay's appearances in films produced by German film company Continental during the war, especially Le Corbeau, caused his summons, brief imprisonment, and condemnation by a purge tribunal after the liberation. Because of the parallels between the poison-pen letters in Le Corbeau (in which he played the leading role) and the widespread letters of denunciation in Occupied France, Clouzot's film was banned in France for more than 20 years.Spotts F. The Shameful Peace. Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 2008, pp. 252-253.
Later years Printemps and Fresnay starred in Oscar Straus's Drei Walzer, given in French as Trois valses on the Parisian stage and on film (Les trois valses). The critic Richard Traubner commented in 2006 that because of the performances of Printemps and Fresnay the film still "hangs over anyone who dares revive the operetta on stage".Traubner, Richard. "Gallic Light Opera: From London, Paris, and New York", American Record Guide 69.4, July 2006, pp. 26–27
As well as theatre work covering 130 plays, he appeared in over 70 films, some still classics, and at the end of his life on television such as Le Neveu de Rameau.
In 1954, he published his memoirs, Je suis comédien (Eng. I am an actor). Fresnay continued to perform regularly in film and on stage through to the 1960s. In the 1970s, he appeared in a few films for television. From then on, he lived with the French actress and singer Yvonne Printemps for the rest of his life, co-directing the Théâtre de la Michodière in Paris with her until his death in 1975.
Death
He died of respiratory problems, aged 77, on 9 January 1975, at Neuilly-sur-Seine and he is interred alongside Printemps in the local cemetery. In his autobiography (My Name Escapes Me), Alec Guinness states that Fresnay was his favourite actor.Guinness, Alec (1998) My Name Escapes Me: The Diary of a Retiring Actor, p. 65, Penguin;
Other Asked how to say his name, he told The Literary Digest "I think my name is to be pronounced fray-nay. At least, it is the way I pronounce it." (Charles Earle Funk, What's the Name, Please?, Funk & Wagnalls, 1936).
Filmography Year Title Role Director Notes1916Quand mêmeHenri Pouctal1921L'essorCharles Burguet1922The Black DiamondBouvierAndré HugonThe Mysteries of ParisFrançois GermainCharles Burguet1924Le petit JacquesPaul LaverdacGeorges LannesLa mendiante de Saint-SulpiceCharles BurguetLes premières armes de RocamboleJean RobertCharles MaudruThe Loves of RocamboleJean RobertCharles Maudru1929A Foolish MaidenGaston de CharanceLuitz-Morat1930Ça aussi!... c'est ParisAntoine Mourre1931MariusMarius Olivier, César's sonAlexander Korda1932FannyMarius Olivier, César's sonMarc Allégret1933Âme de clownJackMarc Didier1934 The Lady of the CamelliasArmand DuvalFernand Rivers and Abel GanceThe Man Who Knew Too MuchLouis BernardAlfred Hitchcock1935KœnigsmarkRaoul Vignerte, French teacherMaurice Tourneur1936Le roman d'un jeune homme pauvreMaxime Hauterive de ChampceyAbel GanceUnder Western EyesRazumovMarc AllégretCésarMarius Olivier, César's sonMarcel Pagnol1937Street of ShadowsCaptain Georges CarrèreGeorg Wilhelm PabstLa Grande IllusionCaptain BoeldieuJean RenoirThe Silent BattleBordierPierre Billon1938The PuritanLe commissaire LavanJeff Musso Chéri-BibiFrancis dit Chéri-BibiLéon MathotAlert in the MediterraneanLe commandant LestailleurLéo JoannonAdrienne LecouvreurMaurice de SaxeMarcel L'HerbierThree WaltzesOctave, Philippe et Gérard de ChalenceyLudwig Berger1939 The Phantom Carriage David HolmJulien Duvivier1941Le DuelFather Daniel MaureyPierre Fresnay himself The Last of the SixLe commissaire Wensceslas Voroboevitch dit Monsieur WensGeorges Lacombe The Chain Breaker MarcusJacques Daniel-Norman1942The Strangers in the HouseLe narrateurHenri DecoinUncredited The Newspaper Falls at Five O'ClockLe reporter Pierre RabaudGeorges LacombeThe Murderer Lives at Number 21Monsieur WensHenri-Georges Clouzot1943La Main du diableRoland BrissotMaurice TourneurThe Stairs Without EndPierreGeorges LacombeI Am with YouFrançoisHenri DecoinLe CorbeauDoctor Rémy GermainHenri-Georges Clouzot1944Traveling LightGastonJean Anouilh1946The Devil's DaughterLudovic Mercier / SagetHenri Decoin The Visitor SauvalJean Dréville1947Monsieur VincentVincent de PaulMaurice Cloche1948Convicted Jean SéveracGeorges LacombeCombourg, visage de pierreFrançois-René de ChateaubriandJacques de CasembrootVoice1949BarryLe père ThéotimeRichard Pottier At the Grand BalconyGilbert CarbotHenri DecoinVient de paraîtreMoscatJacques Houssin1950The Paris WaltzJacques OffenbachMarcel AchardJustice Is DoneNarratorAndré CayatteUncredited God Needs MenThomas GourvennecJean Delannoy1951Monsieur FabreJean-Henri FabreHenri Diamant-Berger The Voyage to America Gaston FournierHenri LavorelGreat ManLe professeur Louis DelageYves Ciampi1952 It Is Midnight, Doctor SchweitzerLe docteur Albert SchweitzerAndré Haguet1953Napoleon RoadÉdouard MartelJean Delannoy1954The Unfrocked OneMaurice MorandLéo Joannon1955The FugitivesLt Pierre KellerJean-Paul Le ChanoisThe AristocratsMarquis de MaubrunDenys de La Patellière1956If All the Guys in the WorldNarratorChristian JaqueVoice, UncreditedL'homme aux clefs d'orAntoine FournierLéo JoannonThe Hunchback of Notre DameNarratorJean Delannoy1957 The Ostrich Has Two EggsHippolyte BarjusDenys de La Patellière A Bomb for a DictatorLuis VargasAlex Joffé1958 And Your Sister? Bastien du BoccageMaurice DelbezLe insaziabiliJoseph AndrieuLéo Joannon1959Les affreuxCésar DandieuMarc Allégret1960La 1000eme fenêtreArmand VallinRobert MénégozThe Old GuardBaptiste TalonGilles Grangier1969Dieu a choisi ParisRécitantPhilippe ArthuysVoice
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