Jean-Louis Barrault
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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Photos
Movies (51)
Morceaux de Cannes
2021
Le Fantôme de Laurent Terzieff
2020 · Self (archive footage)
Carné, Prévert : drôle de duo
2019 · Self (archive footage)
Les Renaud-Barrault, bâtisseurs de théâtre
1999
La lumière du lac
1988 · Le vieux
To Be Hamlet
1985 · Self
That Night of Varennes
1982 · Nicolas Edmé Restif de la Bretonne
The Birth of Children of Paradise
1967 · Self
Chappaqua
1966 · Dr. Benoit
Rhinocéros
1965
The Big Scare
1964
Les Fausses Confidences
1964 · Dubois
The Longest Day
1962 · Father Louis Roulland
Prosessen
1962 · Writer
Blood on His Sword
1961 · Louis XI
Experiment in Evil
1960 · Dr. Cordelier / Opale
The Dialogue of the Carmelites
1960 · Mime
La Répétition ou l'Amour puni
1958 · Le comte
Musée Grévin
1958 · Self
Royal Affairs in Versailles
1953 · Fénelon
With André Gide
1952 · Self
Venom and Eternity
1952 · Self
La Ronde
1950 · The Poet
Vagabonds imaginaires
1950 · Narrator (segment 'Le bateau ivre') (voice)
Man to Men
1948 · Henri Dunant
La Rose et le réséda
1947 · Narrator (voice)
The Magnificent Cuckold
1947 · Bruno
Blind Desire
1945 · Michel Kremer
Children of Paradise
1945 · Baptiste Debureau
Angel of the Night
1944 · Jacques Martin, le jeune sculpteur
Mlle. Desiree
1942 · Napoléon Bonaparte
La Symphonie fantastique
1942 · Hector Berlioz
Montmartre on the Seine
1941 · Michel Courtin
Parade in 7 Nights
1941 · Lucien Ardouin
L'Or dans la montagne
1939 · Maurice Farinet, le jeune paysan
The Southern Trail
1938 · Olcott
Youth in Revolt
1938 · Armand
Mirages
1938 · Pierre Bonvais
J'Accuse
1938
The Puritan
1938 · Francis Ferriter
Orage
1938 · The African
Bizarre, Bizarre
1937 · William Kramps, le tueur de bouchers
The Pearls of the Crown
1937 · Bonaparte jeune
Street of Shadows
1937 · le client fou
Social Police
1937 · Scoppa
À nous deux, madame la vie
1937 · Paul Briançon
The Life and Loves of Beethoven
1937 · Karl van Beethoven
Hélène
1936 · Pierre Régnier
Jenny
1936 · le Dromadaire
Under Western Eyes
1936 · Haldin
Happy Days
1935 · René
TV shows (12)
Encyclopédie audiovisuelle du cinéma
1978 · Self (archive footage)
Ciné regards
1978 · Self
Cérémonie des César
1976 · Self - President
30 millions d'amis
1976 · Self
Numéro un
1975 · Self
Les Rendez-vous du dimanche
1975 · Self
Midi Première
1975 · Self
Le Grand Échiquier
1972 · Self, Self - Main Guest
Samedi soir
1971 · Self
À bout portant
1968 · Self
Pour le plaisir
1964 · Self
Discorama
1959 · Self