Henri Verneuil

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Henri Verneuil
Ottoman Turkey
Died11 January 2002(2002-01-11) (aged 81)
Bagnolet, Seine-Saint-Denis
OccupationDirector
Years active1940s – 2000s
Spouse(s)Françoise Bonnot, Veronique
ChildrenPatric, Sophie, Sevan, Gayane
AwardsCannes Film Festival, Golden Palm

1964

Oscar Award (Nominated)

1956
Mélodie en sous-sol
 (1961)

Henri Verneuil (French:

Honorary Cesar
awards.

According to one obituary:

For exactly 40 years, the prolific Verneuil made movies as mainstream and commercial as any to be found in America or Britain. In his best period – the 1950s and 1960s – he delivered films in the "tradition of quality" so despised by the

Nouvelle Vague. Many of them proved excellent vehicles for old-timers Jean Gabin and Fernandel, and newcomers such as Jean-Paul Belmondo and Alain Delon.[1]

Life and career

Early life

Verneuil was born Ashot Malakian (

Turkey.[2] In 1924, when Ashot was a little child his family fled to Marseille in France,[3] to escape persecution after the Armenian genocide.[2][1] He later recounted his childhood experience in the novel Mayrig, which he dedicated to his mother and made into a 1991 film with the same name, which was followed by a sequel, 588 Rue Paradis, the following year.[4]

Verneuil entered the

École Nationale d'Arts et Metiers
in Aix-en-Provence in 1942. After graduation, he worked as a journalist, then became editor of Horizon Armenian magazine.

Film career

In 1947, Verneuil managed to convince the established European film actor Fernandel to appear in his first film.[5]

In 1951 he directed his first feature, the black comedy

La Table aux crevés. His second film, Forbidden Fruit (1952), based on a Georges Simenon
novel, was even more acclaimed.

Later he also directed other movie stars including

Le clan des siciliens" in 1969[6]), Jean-Paul Belmondo ("Le Corps de mon ennemi" in 1976[7] and other films), Omar Sharif, Claudia Cardinale (Mayrig),[8] Yves Montand and Michèle Morgan. Verneuil has filmed almost all the great figures of French cinema, with the exception of Bourvil, as even Louis de Funès
has a small role in one of his films.

After the American experience (he was called the "most American of French directors"), in 1969 Verneuil "found" France. He was awarded a

César[9] in 1996 and he was elected a member of the Academy of Fine Arts in 2000. He died at Bagnolet
, a suburb of Paris, in 2002.

The opening of the seventh annual

Parajanov
's Thaler, for his father's contribution to cinema.

Filmography

References

  1. ^ a b Bergan, Ronald (25 January 2002). "Henri Verneuil. French mainstream film director given his chance by Fernandel". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 October 2013.
  2. ^
    ISBN 978-0773597204
    .
  3. ^ "To avoid persecution, his Armenian family fled to France when he was an infant in 1924". January 2002. Retrieved 25 April 2011.
  4. ^ "Towards the end of his career Verneuil made two more movies – labors of love – which reflect his own childhood and upbringing, MAYRIG (1991) and 588 RUE PARADIS (1992)". Retrieved 25 April 2011.
  5. ^ "He made his first film, a documentary on Marseilles, in 1947. He persuaded Fernandel to appear in it and read the commentary". The Independent. London. 15 January 2002. Archived from the original on 14 April 2011. Retrieved 25 April 2011.
  6. ^ "Le Clan Des Siciliens – 1969 – Henri Verneuil". Retrieved 25 April 2011.
  7. ^ "Le corps de mon ennemi". Retrieved 25 April 2011.
  8. ^ "Henri Verneuil very gentle and warm person, Claudia Cardinale says". Retrieved 25 April 2011.
  9. ^ "In 1996, Verneuil was awarded an honorary Cesar, France's equivalent of the Oscar, for lifetime achievement in film". Los Angeles Times. 12 January 2002. Retrieved 25 April 2011.

External links

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