Jean-Louis Barrault

Jean-Louis Bernard Barrault (French: [ʒɑ̃ lwi bɛʁnaʁ baʁo]; 8 September 1910 – 22 January 1994) was a French actor, director and mime artist who worked on both screen and stage.

Jean-Louis Barrault
Barrault, photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1952
Born	(1910-09-08)8 September 1910 Le Vésinet, France
Died	22 January 1994(1994-01-22) (aged 83) Paris, France
Spouse	Madeleine Renaud ​ (m. 1940)​

Biography

Barrault was born in Le Vésinet in France in 1910. His father was 'a Burgundian pharmacist who died in the First World War.'^[1]:87 He studied at the Collége Chaptal until 1930, when he began his studies at the École du Louvre.^[1]:87

Theatre

From 1931 to 1935 Barrault studied and acted at Charles Dullin's L'Atelier.^[2]:32 His first performance was a small role in Ben Jonson's Volpone. At the time, Barrault was unable to afford rent and Dullin allowed him to sleep in the theatre on Volpone's bed.^[3]:16 It was L'Atelier that he first met and studied under Étienne Decroux,^[4]:41 with whom he would create the pantomime La Vie Primitive in 1931.^[1]:87

He was a member of the Comédie-Française from 1942 to 1946, performing lead roles in Shakespeare's Hamlet and Corneille's Le Cid.^[2]:32 He and his wife, actress Madeleine Renaud, formed their own troupe, Compagnie Renaud-Barrault, in 1946 at Paris' Théâtre Marigny.^[5]:161 In 1951 he published his memoirs, Reflections on the Theatre.^[6]

He was made director of Théâtre de France in 1959, and remained in the role until 1969. In 1971 he was reappointed director of Théâtre des Nations. He retired from theatre in 1990.^[1]:87

Film

In 1935 he had his first film role in Marc Allégret's Les Beaux Jours.^[1]:87 He would go on to act in nearly 50 movies over the course of his career. One of his most famous performances was in Marcel Carné's film Les Enfants du Paradis (1945), in which he played the mime Jean-Gaspard Deburau.^[5]:161

He was the uncle of actress Marie-Christine Barrault and sometime sponsor of Peter Brook.^{[citation needed]} In 1940, he married the actress Madeleine Renaud. They founded a number of theaters together and toured extensively, including in South America.^{[citation needed]}

Barrault died from a heart attack in Paris on 22 January 1994, at the age of 83.^[1]:87 He is buried with his wife Renaud in the Passy Cemetery in Paris.^{[citation needed]}

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Director	Notes
1935	Beautiful Days	René	Marc Allégret
1936	Mayerling	Student	Anatole Litvak	Uncredited
	Under Western Eyes	Haldin	Marc Allégret
	Jenny	Le Dromadaire	Marcel Carné
	Helene	Pierre Régnier	Jean Benoît-Lévy
	Beethoven's Great Love	Karl van Beethoven	Abel Gance
1937	À nous deux, madame la vie	Paul Briançon	René Guissart and Yves Mirande
	Police mondaine	Scoppa	Michel Bernheim and Christian Chamborant
	Street of Shadows	Le client fou	G. W. Pabst
	The Pearls of the Crown	young Napoleon	Sacha Guitry and Christian-Jaque
	Bizarre, Bizarre	William Kramps	Marcel Carné
1938	Orage	the African	Marc Allégret
	Le puritain	Francis Ferriter	Jeff Musso
	J'accuse!		Abel Gance
	Mirages	Pierre Bonvais	Alexandre Ryder
	Altitude 3.200	Armand	Jean Benoît-Lévy and Marie Epstein
	La Piste du sud	Olcott	Pierre Billon
1939	Farinet ou l'or dans la montagne	Maurice Farinet	Max Haufler
1941	Parade en sept nuits	Lucien Ardouin	Marc Allégret
	Montmartre-sur-Seine	Michel Courtin	Georges Lacombe
1942	La Symphonie fantastique	Hector Berlioz	Christian-Jaque
	Le Destin fabuleux de Désirée Clary	Napoléon Bonaparte	Sacha Guitry
1944	L'Ange de la nuit	Jacques Martin	André Berthomieu
1945	Children of Paradise	Baptiste Deburau	Marcel Carné
	Blind Desire	Michel Kremer	Jean Delannoy
1947	Le Cocu magnifique	Bruno	E.G. de Meyst
1948	Man to Men	Henri Dunant	Christian-Jaque
1950	Vagabonds imaginaires	Le récitant	Alfred Chaumel and Jacques Dufilho	Voice, (segment 'Le bateau ivre')
	La Ronde	Robert Kuhlenkampf, the poet	Max Ophüls
1951	Traité de bave et d'éternité	Himself	Isidore Isou
1954	Royal Affairs in Versailles	Fénelon	Sacha Guitry
1959	The Doctor's Horrible Experiment	Doctor Cordelier / Opale	Jean Renoir	TV movie
1960	Le dialogue des Carmélites	Le mime	Philippe Agostini and Raymond Leopold Bruckberger
1961	Le Miracle des loups	Louis XI of France	André Hunebelle
1962	The Longest Day	Father Roulland	Ken Annakin
1964	La grande frousse	Douve	Jean-Pierre Mocky
1966	Chappaqua	Doctor Benoit	Conrad Rooks
1977	Jacques Prévert	Himself	Jean Desvilles
1980	The Lovers' Exile	Introducer	Marty Gross
1982	That Night in Varennes	Nicolas-Edme Rétif	Ettore Scola
1988	La Lumière du lac	Le vieux	Francesca Comencini

References

1. Lust, Annette (19 November 2002). From the Greek Mimes to Marcel Marceau and Beyond: Mimes, Actors, Pierrots, and Clowns : a Chronicle of the Many Visages of Mime in the Theatre. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0-8108-4593-0.
2. Osnes, Beth; Osnes, Mary (2001). Acting: An International Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-0-87436-795-9.
3. Arnold, Paul; Cohn, Ruby (1963). "The Artaud Experiment". The Tulane Drama Review. 8 (2): 15–29. doi:10.2307/1124697. ISSN 0886-800X. JSTOR 1124697.
4. Leabhart, Thomas (15 September 1989). Modern and Post-Modern Mime. Macmillan International Higher Education. ISBN 978-1-349-20192-1.
5. Murray, Simon (14 December 2017). Jacques Lecoq. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-351-33549-2.
6. Jean-Louis Barrault, Reflections on the Theatre. London: Rockcliff, 1951

External links

• Jean-Louis Barrault at IMDb
• Jean-Louis Barrault at Find a Grave
• Barrault Photo Collection