Jean-Claude Brialy(1933-2007)
- Actor
- Director
- Writer
One of the most popular and respected actors to come from the French
"New Wave" film movement, Jean-Claude Brialy was born to a military
family, which included one brother, in French colonial Algeria on March
30, 1933. Residing in various places while his father, a colonel with
the French Army, went through the paces of his career, Brialy attended
military school in 1946 and also worked in the theatre as a youth. He
studied dramatics at a conservatory in Strasbourg, France, the
Saint-Etienne Episcopal College.
Following time spent in the theatre, he moved to Paris in 1954 to
pursue his career, without the support of his family, and worked
various odd jobs before entering military service in Germany. Mixing in
with a revolutionary group of artists that included
Claude Chabrol and
Jean-Luc Godard, he appeared as an extra
in Jean Renoir's
Elena and Her Men (1956)
[Paris Does Strange things] and befriended other such rising film
radicals as Éric Rohmer and
Jacques Rivette while appearing in their
short films. He grew in stature with featured roles in
Girl in His Pocket (1957) [Girl
in His Pocket] and
L'ami de la famille (1957)
[A Friend of the Family], but it was his friend Chabrol who provided
him the leap to stardom with
Le Beau Serge (1958), which is
(arguably) considered the forerunner in "New Wave" filming. Co-starring
Gérard Blain in the title role, Brialy
played a city boy sophisticate returning to his simplified home village
just to find that everything had changed and that his once promising
friend (Blain) had become a chronic drunkard. He and Blain furthered
their stars next playing each other's kin in Chabrol's
The Cousins (1959), with Blain the
innocent and Bialy the darkly disillusioned cousin. Bialy's association
with other French avant-garde directors, including Godard,
'Francois Truffaut' and
Louis Malle, placed him in excellent "New
Wave" company alongside
Jean-Paul Belmondo,
Jean-Pierre Léaud and the
afore-mentioned Blain, as strong, influential leading men.
Known for his lightness, passion, charm and subtlety of performance,
Bialy's versatility in films ranged from stark melodrama to comedy
farce. While essaying the elegant boulevardier with great
sophistication and sympathy, he could just as easily slip into a
character's dark and deep cynicism and/or contempt. He starred opposite
a fantasia of Europe's loveliest leading ladies including
Rosanna Schiaffino,
Danielle Darrieux,
Nadja Tiller,
Elsa Martinelli,
Françoise Dorléac,
Geneviève Page and
Dawn Addams. He ended the 60s notably paired
with the enigmatic Jeanne Moreau in
Truffaut's stylish Hitchockian thriller
The Bride Wore Black (1968)
[The Bride Wore Black].
In the 1970s Brialy extended his talents to include writing and
directing, which included his debut film, the award-winning
Églantine (1972). Most of the works he
helmed were delightfully nostalgic and family-oriented in fashion. He
also entered a newer phase of supporting character roles that also went
on to court awards. After beginning the decade in one of his best film
leads with
Claire's Knee (1970)
[Claire's Knee] for director/friend Rohmer, he earned a supporting
César nomination for
The Judge and the Assassin (1976)
and then won the trophy a decade later for his secondary work in
Les innocents (1987). During this
time he also organized or supported several film and theatre festivals.
He was the director of both the Théâtre Hébertot (1977) and the Théâtre
des Bouffes-Parisiens (1986). A long time artistic director of the
Festival of Anjou (1985-2001), he was also the creator and artistic
director of the Festival of Ramatuelle from 1985. His work also
included radio and extensive TV.
Off stage Brialy was a witty raconteur and bon vivant. He was also one
of the select few French stars to be openly gay. It was most fitting
that two of his more notable roles came late in life -- as the gay
uncle in Chabrol's
Inspector Lavardin (1986),
and as the poet Max Jacob in
Monsieur Max (2007), a
homosexual Jew who converted to Catholicism before perishing in a
Gestapo prison camp.
An occasional yet prolific writer on film, Brialy penned his
autobiography Le ruisseau des singes (auto) in 2000 and his memoir,
J'ai oublié de vous dire, in 2004. He owned a restaurant, L'Orangerie,
in the Saint Louis Island of Paris and died on May 30, 2007, after a
extended bout with cancer. Among his many honors: The Commander of the
Legion of Honor and the National Order of Merit.
"New Wave" film movement, Jean-Claude Brialy was born to a military
family, which included one brother, in French colonial Algeria on March
30, 1933. Residing in various places while his father, a colonel with
the French Army, went through the paces of his career, Brialy attended
military school in 1946 and also worked in the theatre as a youth. He
studied dramatics at a conservatory in Strasbourg, France, the
Saint-Etienne Episcopal College.
Following time spent in the theatre, he moved to Paris in 1954 to
pursue his career, without the support of his family, and worked
various odd jobs before entering military service in Germany. Mixing in
with a revolutionary group of artists that included
Claude Chabrol and
Jean-Luc Godard, he appeared as an extra
in Jean Renoir's
Elena and Her Men (1956)
[Paris Does Strange things] and befriended other such rising film
radicals as Éric Rohmer and
Jacques Rivette while appearing in their
short films. He grew in stature with featured roles in
Girl in His Pocket (1957) [Girl
in His Pocket] and
L'ami de la famille (1957)
[A Friend of the Family], but it was his friend Chabrol who provided
him the leap to stardom with
Le Beau Serge (1958), which is
(arguably) considered the forerunner in "New Wave" filming. Co-starring
Gérard Blain in the title role, Brialy
played a city boy sophisticate returning to his simplified home village
just to find that everything had changed and that his once promising
friend (Blain) had become a chronic drunkard. He and Blain furthered
their stars next playing each other's kin in Chabrol's
The Cousins (1959), with Blain the
innocent and Bialy the darkly disillusioned cousin. Bialy's association
with other French avant-garde directors, including Godard,
'Francois Truffaut' and
Louis Malle, placed him in excellent "New
Wave" company alongside
Jean-Paul Belmondo,
Jean-Pierre Léaud and the
afore-mentioned Blain, as strong, influential leading men.
Known for his lightness, passion, charm and subtlety of performance,
Bialy's versatility in films ranged from stark melodrama to comedy
farce. While essaying the elegant boulevardier with great
sophistication and sympathy, he could just as easily slip into a
character's dark and deep cynicism and/or contempt. He starred opposite
a fantasia of Europe's loveliest leading ladies including
Rosanna Schiaffino,
Danielle Darrieux,
Nadja Tiller,
Elsa Martinelli,
Françoise Dorléac,
Geneviève Page and
Dawn Addams. He ended the 60s notably paired
with the enigmatic Jeanne Moreau in
Truffaut's stylish Hitchockian thriller
The Bride Wore Black (1968)
[The Bride Wore Black].
In the 1970s Brialy extended his talents to include writing and
directing, which included his debut film, the award-winning
Églantine (1972). Most of the works he
helmed were delightfully nostalgic and family-oriented in fashion. He
also entered a newer phase of supporting character roles that also went
on to court awards. After beginning the decade in one of his best film
leads with
Claire's Knee (1970)
[Claire's Knee] for director/friend Rohmer, he earned a supporting
César nomination for
The Judge and the Assassin (1976)
and then won the trophy a decade later for his secondary work in
Les innocents (1987). During this
time he also organized or supported several film and theatre festivals.
He was the director of both the Théâtre Hébertot (1977) and the Théâtre
des Bouffes-Parisiens (1986). A long time artistic director of the
Festival of Anjou (1985-2001), he was also the creator and artistic
director of the Festival of Ramatuelle from 1985. His work also
included radio and extensive TV.
Off stage Brialy was a witty raconteur and bon vivant. He was also one
of the select few French stars to be openly gay. It was most fitting
that two of his more notable roles came late in life -- as the gay
uncle in Chabrol's
Inspector Lavardin (1986),
and as the poet Max Jacob in
Monsieur Max (2007), a
homosexual Jew who converted to Catholicism before perishing in a
Gestapo prison camp.
An occasional yet prolific writer on film, Brialy penned his
autobiography Le ruisseau des singes (auto) in 2000 and his memoir,
J'ai oublié de vous dire, in 2004. He owned a restaurant, L'Orangerie,
in the Saint Louis Island of Paris and died on May 30, 2007, after a
extended bout with cancer. Among his many honors: The Commander of the
Legion of Honor and the National Order of Merit.