Gabriel Axel
Gabriel Axel | |
---|---|
Born | Axel Gabriel Erik Mørch 18 April 1918 Aarhus, Denmark |
Died | 9 February 2014 Bagsværd (near Copenhagen), Denmark | (aged 95)
Nationality | Danish |
Education | Actor |
Alma mater | Royal Danish Theatre |
Occupation(s) | Film director, actor, writer, producer |
Years active | 1945–2001 |
Known for | Babette's Feast |
Spouse | Lucie Juliette Laraignou (m. 1948–1996) |
Children | 4[1] |
Awards | Academy Award Rungstedlund Award |
Axel Gabriel Erik Mørch better known as Gabriel Axel (18 April 1918 – 9 February 2014)[2] was a Danish film director, actor, writer and producer, best known for Babette's Feast (1987), which he wrote and directed.[3][4]
Biography
Born in Aarhus, Denmark, on 18 April 1918,[5] Axel spent most of his childhood in Paris in a wealthy Danish manufacturer's family.
In 1935, at age 17 following the family's economic collapse, he moved to Denmark and trained as a cabinet maker.[6] In 1942, Axel was admitted to the acting school at the Royal Danish Theatre in Copenhagen. After graduating in 1945, he returned to France, where he spent five years on stage in Paris, including at the Théâtre de l'Athénée under theatre director Louis Jouvet. During the winter of 1948–1949 he produced Ludvig Holberg's Diderich Menschenskraek (Diderich the Terrible) at Théâtre de Paris.[7][8][9]
Axel returned to Denmark in 1950, and broke through as a stage director in the early 1950s. His productions included La tête des autres (Other People's Heads) by Marcel Aymé, Le Cid by Pierre Corneille, and Pour Lucrèce by Jean Giraudoux.[10][11][12][13] Axel started directing for television in 1951, and, from 1951 to 1968, did some 48 television dramas.[14]
From 1955, Axel was a director at Nordisk Film.[15] His debut feature, the social-realist drama Nothing But Trouble (1955), was highly praised, and the breakthrough came with the TV film A Woman Not Wanted in 1957.[16][17]
He went on to direct a string of lighter comedies and farces before making the epic Nordic saga The Red Mantle in 1967,[18] which was selected for Cannes Film Festival competition and won a Technical Prize (Mention spéciale du grand prix technique) at the 1967 Cannes Film Festival.[19][20] His other films include the popular comedy The Goldcabbage Family (1975) and its sequel, and a series of sexually oriented features including the campaigning Det kære legetøj (1968) which advocated the legalisation of pornography in Denmark.[21][22]
With some 16 feature films to his credits Axel returned to France in 1977, where he directed several large projects for French television, culminating in 1985 with a historical five-episode series, Les Colonnes du ciel (Heaven's Pillars).
In 1987, Axel returned to Denmark to direct what had been his dream project for over 15 years, and is considered his masterpiece, an adaptation of
His next films, the youth drama (2001), a love story set in Morocco, failed to achieve the same international resonance.
Alongside his directing career, Axel acted in a dozen Danish films, mostly in colourful supporting roles in popular comedies in the 1950s and 60s. He played the lead as the elegant charlatan Marcel de Sade in The Reluctant Sadist (1967).[25][26][27][28]
Axel in 1995, was made a Knight of the French
Axel died in his sleep on 9 February 2014 at the age of 95.[32][1]
Selected filmography
Year | Title | Credits | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1955 | Altid ballade | Director | |
1955 | Der kom en dag | Actor | |
1956 | Kispus | Actor | |
1957 | En kvinde er overflødig | Director | |
1958 | The Girls Are Willing | Director | |
1958 | Styrmand Karlsen | Actor | |
1959 | Helle for Helene | Director | |
1960 | Flemming og Kvik | Director | |
1962 | Peters baby | Actor | |
1962 | Oskar | Director | |
1962 | Han, hun, Dirch og Dario | Actor | |
1962 | Crazy Paradise | Director | |
1963 | Vi har det jo dejligt | Director | |
1963 | Three Girls in Paris | Director, actor | |
1963 | Paradise and Back | Director | |
1965 | En ven i bolignøden | Actor | |
1966 | Dyden går amok |
Actor | |
1967 | Hagbard and Signe | Director | |
1967 | The Reluctant Sadist | Actor | |
1968 | Det kære legetøj | Director | |
1970 | Amour | Director | |
1971 | Med kærlig hilsen | Director | |
1972 | Soft Shoulders, Sharp Curves | Director | |
1972 | Nu går den på Dagmar | Actor | |
1975 | Familien Gyldenkål | Director | |
1976 | Familien Gyldenkål sprænger banken |
Director | |
1977 | Going for Broke | Director | |
1987 | Babette's Feast | Director | Academy Award |
1989 | Christian | Director | |
1994 | Prince of Jutland | Director | |
1995 | Lumière and Company | Director | Segment |
2001 | Leïla | Director |
References
- ^ a b Hansen, Af: Helle Kastholm. "Gabriel Axel sang franske sange aftenen, før han døde". ekstrabladet.dk.
- ^ Ronald Bergan Obituary: Gabriel Axel, The Guardian, 10 February 2014
- ^ "Babette's Feast director Gabriel Axel dies". BBC News. Retrieved 10 February 2014.
- ^ a b ""Babette's Feast and the Goodness of God" by Thomas J. Curry". Archived from the original on 15 February 2013.
- ISBN 978-87-02-06775-0.
- ^ "Halv franskmand, halv dansker, hel ildsjæl". Information.
- ISSN 0006-2510.
- ^ Billboard. Billboard Publications. September 1949.
- ISBN 9788772251820.
- ISBN 978-2-251-44107-8.
- ^ Cahiers Jean Giraudoux (in French). B. Grasset. 1981. p. 231.
- ^ Perspektiv (in Danish). H. Reitzel. 1954. p. 51.
- ^ Harald Engberg (1958). Dansk teater i halvtredserne (in Danish). Carit Andersen forl. p. 63.
- ISBN 978-87-02-02104-2. Retrieved 19 February 2018.
- ISBN 978-87-11-11311-0.
- ISBN 978-1-84150-841-2.
- ISBN 978-87-593-1598-9.
- ISBN 978-0-7407-9217-5.
- ^ Danish Films. Danish Film Institute. 1994. p. 18.
- ^ "Festival de Cannes: Hagbard and Signe". festival-cannes.com. Retrieved 8 March 2009.
- ISBN 978-87-593-1629-0.
- ^ "Dansk films seje overlever". Information.
- ISBN 978-1-101-60955-2.
- ISBN 978-3-8258-5578-9.
- ^ "Gabriel Axel er død". www.ekkofilm.dk.
- ISBN 978-0-8108-5524-3.
- ISBN 978-2-304-23419-0.
- ^ "Ugeavisen.dk → Din indgang til alle ugeaviserne under Jysk Fynske Medier | Ugeavisen.dk". ugeavisen.dk.
- ^ Boas, Kirsten (18 October 2003). "Gabriel Axel hædret med Frankrigs fineste orden". Kristeligt Dagblad (in Danish). Retrieved 19 February 2018.
- ^ "'Babette's Feast' Director Gabriel Axel Dead At 95". Variety.
- ^ "THE RUNGSTEDLUND FOUNDATION". Archived from the original on 26 December 2014.
- Danmarks Radio. Retrieved 10 February 2014.
External links
- Gabriel Axel at IMDb
- Gabriel Axel in the Danish Film Database