Jean-Louis Barrault
Acting
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."
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Fullname:
Date of Birth:
1910-09-08
Country:
Le Vésinet, Yvelines, Île-de-France, France
Media of
Jean-Louis Barrault
Photos (21)
Filmography of
Jean-Louis Barrault
Self (archive footage)
... 2020
Self
... 1985
Nicolas Edmé Restif de la Bretonne
... 1982
... 1967
Dr. Benoit
... 1966
... 1964
Father Louis Roulland
... 1962
Louis XI
... 1961
Dr. Cordelier / Opale
... 1960
... 1960
Self
... 1958
Fénelon
... 1954
Self
... 1952
Self
... 1951
The Poet
... 1950
Narrator (segment 'Le bateau ivre') (voice)
... 1950
Henri Dunant
... 1948
Narrator (voice)
... 1947
Michel Kremer
... 1945
Baptiste Debureau
... 1945
Jacques Martin, le jeune sculpteur
... 1944
Hector Berlioz
... 1942
Michel Courtin
... 1941
Lucien Ardouin
... 1941
Napoléon Bonaparte
... 1941
Maurice Farinet, le jeune paysan
... 1939
Olcott
... 1938
Armand
... 1938
L'Africain
... 1938
Pierre Bonvais
... 1938
... 1938
Francis Ferriter
... 1938
William Kramps, le tueur de bouchers
... 1937
Bonaparte jeune
... 1937
le client fou
... 1937
Scoppa
... 1937
Paul Briançon
... 1937
Karl van Beethoven
... 1937
Pierre Régnier
... 1936
le Dromadaire
... 1936
Haldin
... 1936
René
... 1935