Charles Denner
Encyclopedia
Charles Denner was a French actor born to a Jewish family in Poland. During his 30-year career he worked with some of France's greatest directors
of the time, including Louis Malle
, Claude Chabrol
, Jean-Luc Godard
, Costa-Gavras
, Claude Lelouch and François Truffaut
who gave him two of his most memorable roles, as Fergus in The Bride Wore Black
(1968) and Bertrand Morane in The Man Who Loved Women
(1977).
in south-eastern Poland, before emigrating with his family to France at the age of four. During World War II
, his family took refuge in Brive-la-Gaillarde
, where they were helped by Rabbi David Feuerwerker
. Passionate with theatre from his childhood, Denner became a student of Charles Dullin
, a famous theatre teacher of his time, under whose guidance he remained until 1945. Another great personality of French theatre, Jean Vilar
, impressed by Denner's performance at Les mamelles de Tirésias
(The Breasts of Tiresias) called him four years after he left Vilar to join the Théâtre National Populaire
(TNP). It was there that he gave some of his most early stage performances in plays such as Heinrich von Kleist's
Prinz Friedrich von Homburg
and Alfred de Musset's
Lorenzaccio
, among others.
offered Denner a small role in La Meilleure part (The Best Part), thus introducing him for the first time to cinema audiences. Two years later, in 1957, he secured another secondary role in Louis Malle's
legendary Elevator to the Gallows
, next to Jeanne Moreau
, a co-performer of his from the days of the TNP; however, it was not until 1963 that Denner was offered his first leading role by Claude Chabrol
in Landru, a film considered by many as his greatest on-screen performance. Despite his growing recognition on the big screen, the stage remained his true passion and the place where he gave his most memorable performances in plays like Molière's
Les Fourberies de Scapin
(Scapin's Schemings) and Brecht's
Drums in the Night
.
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
of the time, including Louis Malle
Louis Malle
Louis Malle was a French film director, screenwriter, and producer. He worked in both French cinema and Hollywood. His films include Ascenseur pour l'échafaud , Atlantic City , and Au revoir, les enfants .- Early years in France :Malle was born into a wealthy industrialist family in Thumeries,...
, Claude Chabrol
Claude Chabrol
Claude Chabrol was a French film director, a member of the French New Wave group of filmmakers who first came to prominence at the end of the 1950s...
, Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard is a French-Swiss film director, screenwriter and film critic. He is often identified with the 1960s French film movement, French Nouvelle Vague, or "New Wave"....
, Costa-Gavras
Costa-Gavras
Costa-Gavras, is a Greek filmmaker, who lives and works in France, best known for films with overt political themes, most famously the fast-paced thriller, Z...
, Claude Lelouch and François Truffaut
François Truffaut
François Roland Truffaut was an influential film critic and filmmaker and one of the founders of the French New Wave. In a film career lasting over a quarter of a century, he remains an icon of the French film industry. He was also a screenwriter, producer, and actor working on over twenty-five...
who gave him two of his most memorable roles, as Fergus in The Bride Wore Black
The Bride Wore Black
The Bride Wore Black is a 1968 French film directed by François Truffaut and based on the novel of the same name by William Irish, a pseudonym for Cornell Woolrich. It stars Jeanne Moreau, Charles Denner, Alexandra Stewart, Michel Bouquet, Michael Lonsdale, Claude Rich and Jean-Claude Brialy.It is...
(1968) and Bertrand Morane in The Man Who Loved Women
The Man Who Loved Women (1977 film)
The Man Who Loved Women is a 1977 French comedy/drama film directed by François Truffaut and starring Charles Denner, Brigitte Fossey and Nelly Borgeaud. In 1983, it was remade in Hollywood under the same title. The film had a total of 955,262 admissions in France. -Plot:Montpellier: December 1976...
(1977).
Early life
Denner was born in 1926 in the city of TarnówTarnów
Tarnów is a city in southeastern Poland with 115,341 inhabitants as of June 2009. The city has been situated in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship since 1999, but from 1975 to 1998 it was the capital of the Tarnów Voivodeship. It is a major rail junction, located on the strategic east-west connection...
in south-eastern Poland, before emigrating with his family to France at the age of four. During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, his family took refuge in Brive-la-Gaillarde
Brive-la-Gaillarde
Brive-la-Gaillarde is a commune of France. It is a sub-prefecture of the Corrèze department. The population of the urban area was 89,260 as of 1999. Although it is by far the biggest commune in Corrèze, the capital is Tulle.-History:...
, where they were helped by Rabbi David Feuerwerker
David Feuerwerker
- Born in Geneva :He was born on October 2, 1912, at 11 Rue du Mont-Blanc, in Geneva, Switzerland. He was the seventh of eleven children. His father Jacob Feuerwerker was born in Sighet, now Sighetu Marmatiei, Maramureş, then Hungary, now Rumania...
. Passionate with theatre from his childhood, Denner became a student of Charles Dullin
Charles Dullin
Charles Dullin was a French actor, theater manager and director.-Life:Dullin was a student of Jacques Copeau...
, a famous theatre teacher of his time, under whose guidance he remained until 1945. Another great personality of French theatre, Jean Vilar
Jean Vilar
Jean Vilar was a French man of the theatre, who created in 1947 the Avignon theatre festival.After he gave up his literature studies, in 1932 he followed in Paris a course of philosophy of Alain and the theatre courses of Charles Dullin...
, impressed by Denner's performance at Les mamelles de Tirésias
Les mamelles de Tirésias
Les mamelles de Tirésias is a surrealist two-act opéra bouffe by Francis Poulenc, based on the play of the same title by Guillaume Apollinaire, which was written in 1903 but first performed in 1917...
(The Breasts of Tiresias) called him four years after he left Vilar to join the Théâtre National Populaire
Théâtre National Populaire
The Théâtre National Populaire is a theatre now at Villeurbanne, France. It was founded in 1920 by Firmin Gémier in Paris. The theater's policy is to deliver quality entertainment accessible to the general public....
(TNP). It was there that he gave some of his most early stage performances in plays such as Heinrich von Kleist's
Heinrich von Kleist
Bernd Heinrich Wilhelm von Kleist was a poet, dramatist, novelist and short story writer. The Kleist Prize, a prestigious prize for German literature, is named after him.- Life :...
Prinz Friedrich von Homburg
The Prince of Homburg (play)
The Prince of Homburg is a play by Heinrich von Kleist written in 1809-10, but not performed until 1821, after the author's death. A performance during his lifetime was not possible because Princess Marianne of Prussia , by birth a member of the Hesse-Homburg family, to whom Kleist had given sight...
and Alfred de Musset's
Alfred de Musset
Alfred Louis Charles de Musset-Pathay was a French dramatist, poet, and novelist.Along with his poetry, he is known for writing La Confession d'un enfant du siècle from 1836.-Biography:Musset was born on 11 December 1810 in Paris...
Lorenzaccio
Lorenzaccio
Lorenzaccio is a French play of the Romantic period written by Alfred de Musset in 1834, set in 16th-century Florence, and depicting Lorenzino de' Medici, who killed Florence's tyrant, Alessandro de' Medici, his cousin. Having engaged in debaucheries to gain the Duke's confidence, he loses the...
, among others.
Career
In 1955, director Yves AllégretYves Allégret
Yves Allégret was a French film director in the film noir genre.He is noted as having been the husband of actress Simone Signoret between the years 1944–1949.-Selected filmography:...
offered Denner a small role in La Meilleure part (The Best Part), thus introducing him for the first time to cinema audiences. Two years later, in 1957, he secured another secondary role in Louis Malle's
Louis Malle
Louis Malle was a French film director, screenwriter, and producer. He worked in both French cinema and Hollywood. His films include Ascenseur pour l'échafaud , Atlantic City , and Au revoir, les enfants .- Early years in France :Malle was born into a wealthy industrialist family in Thumeries,...
legendary Elevator to the Gallows
Elevator to the Gallows
Ascenseur pour l'échafaud is a 1958 French film directed by Louis Malle. It was released as Elevator to the Gallows in the USA and as Lift to the Scaffold in the UK. It stars Jeanne Moreau and Maurice Ronet as criminal lovers whose perfect crime begins to unravel when Ronet is trapped in an elevator...
, next to Jeanne Moreau
Jeanne Moreau
Jeanne Moreau is a French actress, singer, screenwriter and director.She made her theatrical debut in 1947, and established herself as one of the leading actresses of the Comédie-Française...
, a co-performer of his from the days of the TNP; however, it was not until 1963 that Denner was offered his first leading role by Claude Chabrol
Claude Chabrol
Claude Chabrol was a French film director, a member of the French New Wave group of filmmakers who first came to prominence at the end of the 1950s...
in Landru, a film considered by many as his greatest on-screen performance. Despite his growing recognition on the big screen, the stage remained his true passion and the place where he gave his most memorable performances in plays like Molière's
Molière
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, known by his stage name Molière, was a French playwright and actor who is considered to be one of the greatest masters of comedy in Western literature...
Les Fourberies de Scapin
Les Fourberies de Scapin
Les Fourberies de Scapin is a three-act comedy by French playwright Molière. The title character Scapin is similar to the archetypical Scapino character. The play was first staged in 1671 in Paris....
(Scapin's Schemings) and Brecht's
Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director.An influential theatre practitioner of the 20th century, Brecht made equally significant contributions to dramaturgy and theatrical production, the latter particularly through the seismic impact of the tours undertaken by the...
Drums in the Night
Drums in the Night
Drums in the Night is a play by the German modernist playwright Bertolt Brecht. Brecht wrote it between 1918 and 1920, and it received its first theatrical production in 1922. It is in the expressionist style of Ernst Toller and Georg Kaiser...
.
Filmography
- Poisson d'avril (1954) by Gilles Grangier
- Les Hommes en blanc (1955) by Ralph Habib
- La Meilleure part (1956) by Yves AllégretYves AllégretYves Allégret was a French film director in the film noir genre.He is noted as having been the husband of actress Simone Signoret between the years 1944–1949.-Selected filmography:...
- Elevator to the GallowsElevator to the GallowsAscenseur pour l'échafaud is a 1958 French film directed by Louis Malle. It was released as Elevator to the Gallows in the USA and as Lift to the Scaffold in the UK. It stars Jeanne Moreau and Maurice Ronet as criminal lovers whose perfect crime begins to unravel when Ronet is trapped in an elevator...
(1958) by Louis MalleLouis MalleLouis Malle was a French film director, screenwriter, and producer. He worked in both French cinema and Hollywood. His films include Ascenseur pour l'échafaud , Atlantic City , and Au revoir, les enfants .- Early years in France :Malle was born into a wealthy industrialist family in Thumeries,... - Les Perses (1961) by Jean PratJean PratJean Prat was French rugby union footballer. He was awarded the Légion d'honneur in 1959. He played over 50 times for France and is a member of both the International Rugby Hall of Fame and IRB Hall of Fame, being inducted in 2001 and 2011 respectively...
- Loin de Rueil (1961) by Claude BarmaClaude BarmaClaude Barma , is a French-Italian director and screenwriter, and an early creator of French television programmes.-Biography:...
- Landru (1963) by Claude ChabrolClaude ChabrolClaude Chabrol was a French film director, a member of the French New Wave group of filmmakers who first came to prominence at the end of the 1950s...
- Les Rustres (1963) by Jean Pignol
- Les Plus belles escroqueries du mondeLes plus belles escroqueries du mondeLes plus belles escroqueries du monde is a 1964 film composed of four segments, each of which was created with a different set of writers, directors, and actors.-Cast:...
(1964) (segment "Le Grand escroc") by Jean-Luc GodardJean-Luc GodardJean-Luc Godard is a French-Swiss film director, screenwriter and film critic. He is often identified with the 1960s French film movement, French Nouvelle Vague, or "New Wave".... - Pieds nickelés (1964) by Jean-Claude Chambon
- La Vie à l'envers (1964) by Alain JessuaAlain JessuaAlain Jessua is a French film director and screenwriter. He directed ten films between 1956 and 1997. His 1967 film Jeu de massacre was entered into the 1967 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the award for Best Screenplay....
- Mata-Hari (1964) by Jean-Louis RichardJean-Louis Richard-Biography:Born as Jean Marius Richard in Paris, Richard was Jeanne Moreau's first husband from 1949 to 1951.-Selected Filmography:* 2003 : Mister V. by Émilie Deleuze : Patrice Lemoigne* 2003 : Mauvais esprit by Patrick Alessandrin...
- Marie-Chantal contre le docteur KhaMarie-Chantal contre le docteur KhaMarie-Chantal contre le docteur Kha is a 1965 spy film directed by Claude Chabrol.-Cast:*Marie Laforêt : Marie-Chantal*Francisco Rabal : Paco Castillo*Serge Reggiani : Ivanov*Charles Denner : Johnson*Akim Tamiroff : Dr...
(1965) by Claude ChabrolClaude ChabrolClaude Chabrol was a French film director, a member of the French New Wave group of filmmakers who first came to prominence at the end of the 1950s... - Compartiment tueursThe Sleeping Car MurdersThe Sleeping Car Murders is a 1965 French film directed by Costa Gavras from the novel by Sébastien Japrisot. It stars Simone Signoret, Michel Piccoli, Yves Montand, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Catherine Allégret, Jacques Perrin, Charles Denner and Pascale Roberts.- Plot :Six people travel by train...
(1965) by Costa-GavrasCosta-GavrasCosta-Gavras, is a Greek filmmaker, who lives and works in France, best known for films with overt political themes, most famously the fast-paced thriller, Z... - YUL 871 (1966) by Jacques GodboutJacques GodboutJacques Godbout, CQ is a Canadian novelist, essayist, children's writer, journalist, filmmaker and poet. By his own admission a bit of a dabbler , Godbout has become one of the most important writers of his generation, with a major influence on post-1960 Quebec intellectual life.-Biography:Born in...
- The Thief of ParisThe Thief of ParisThe Thief of Paris is a 1967 French film directed by Louis Malle and starring Jean-Paul Belmondo as a professional thief at the turn of the century in Paris. The movie is based on a book of the same title by Georges Darien. The story centers on his burglaries as well as his ongoing relationship...
(1967) (Le voleur) by Louis MalleLouis MalleLouis Malle was a French film director, screenwriter, and producer. He worked in both French cinema and Hollywood. His films include Ascenseur pour l'échafaud , Atlantic City , and Au revoir, les enfants .- Early years in France :Malle was born into a wealthy industrialist family in Thumeries,... - Le vieil homme et l'enfantThe Two of Us (1967 film)The Two of Us is a 1967 French film. It starred Michel Simon, Charles Denner and Alain Cohen, and was the first film Claude Berri directed. The film was entered into the 17th Berlin International Film Festival, where Michel Simon won the Silver Bear for Best Actor award.- Plot :Claude is an...
(1967) by Claude BerriClaude BerriClaude Berri , born Claude Berel Langmann, was one of the great all-rounders of French cinema: an actor, writer, producer, director and distributor. "Out of my failure as an actor was born my desire to direct. Then my relative failure as a director forced me to become a producer. In order to get my... - Héraclite l'obscur (1967) by Patrick Deval
- La Trêve (1968) by Claude Guillemot
- The Bride Wore BlackThe Bride Wore BlackThe Bride Wore Black is a 1968 French film directed by François Truffaut and based on the novel of the same name by William Irish, a pseudonym for Cornell Woolrich. It stars Jeanne Moreau, Charles Denner, Alexandra Stewart, Michel Bouquet, Michael Lonsdale, Claude Rich and Jean-Claude Brialy.It is...
(1968) by François TruffautFrançois TruffautFrançois Roland Truffaut was an influential film critic and filmmaker and one of the founders of the French New Wave. In a film career lasting over a quarter of a century, he remains an icon of the French film industry. He was also a screenwriter, producer, and actor working on over twenty-five... - L' Idiot (1968) by André Barsacq
- ZZ (film)Z is a 1969 French language political thriller directed by Costa Gavras, with a screenplay by Gavras and Jorge Semprún, based on the 1966 novel of the same name by Vassilis Vassilikos. The film presents a thinly fictionalized account of the events surrounding the assassination of democratic Greek...
(1969) by Costa-GavrasCosta-GavrasCosta-Gavras, is a Greek filmmaker, who lives and works in France, best known for films with overt political themes, most famously the fast-paced thriller, Z... - Le Corps de Diane (1969) by Jean-Louis RichardJean-Louis Richard-Biography:Born as Jean Marius Richard in Paris, Richard was Jeanne Moreau's first husband from 1949 to 1951.-Selected Filmography:* 2003 : Mister V. by Émilie Deleuze : Patrice Lemoigne* 2003 : Mauvais esprit by Patrick Alessandrin...
- Le VoyouLe VoyouLe Voyou, also known as The Crook, is a highly stylized French action movie which follows Simon the Swiss during his largest heist. Directed by Claude Lelouch in 1970, and starring Jean-Louis Trintignant, the movie makes use of several cinematic techniques to convey the elusive nature of the title...
(1970) by Claude Lelouch - Les Mariés de l'an IIThe Married Couple of the Year TwoThe Married Couple of the Year Two is a 1971 French comedy film directed by Jean-Paul Rappeneau. It was entered into the 1971 Cannes Film Festival.-Cast:* Jean-Paul Belmondo - Nicolas Philibert* Marlène Jobert - Charlotte* Laura Antonelli - Pauline...
(1971) by Jean-Paul RappeneauJean-Paul RappeneauJean-Paul Rappeneau is a French film director, screenwriter, and actor.He started out in film as an assistant and screenwriter collaborating with Louis Malle on Zazie dans le metro in 1960 and Vie privee in 1961... - Les Assassins de l'ordre (1971) by Marcel CarnéMarcel Carné-Biography:Born in Paris, France, the son of a cabinet maker whose wife died when their son was five, Carné began his career as a film critic, becoming editor of the weekly publication, Hebdo-Films, and working for Cinémagazine and Cinémonde between 1929 and 1933. In the same period he worked in...
- L' Aventure, c'est l'aventure (1972) by Claude Lelouch
- Such a Gorgeous Kid Like MeSuch a Gorgeous Kid Like MeSuch a Gorgeous Kid Like Me is a 1972 French film directed by François Truffaut, starring Bernadette Lafont. It is based on Henry Farrell's 1967 novel Such a Gorgeous Kid Like Me. The film had a total of 684,539 admissions in France. -Plot:...
(1972) by François TruffautFrançois TruffautFrançois Roland Truffaut was an influential film critic and filmmaker and one of the founders of the French New Wave. In a film career lasting over a quarter of a century, he remains an icon of the French film industry. He was also a screenwriter, producer, and actor working on over twenty-five... - L' Héritier (1973) by Philippe LabroPhilippe LabroPhilippe Labro, is a French author, journalist and film director, born in Montauban on 27 August 1936. He has worked for RTL, Paris Match, TF1 and Antenne 2...
- Un officier de police sans importance (1973) by Jean Larriaga
- Défense de savoir (1973) by Nadine TrintignantNadine TrintignantNadine Trintignant is a French film director, producer, and screenwriter.-Career:She was a film director, producer, and screenwriter with extensive film credits from the 1960s to the present...
- Les Gaspards (1974) by Pierre TcherniaPierre TcherniaPierre Tchernia was born Pierre Tcherniakowski on January 29, 1928 in Paris. In France known as "Magic" Tchernia and Monsieur Cinema, he is a cinema and television producer, screenwriter, presenter, animator and actor.- Career :...
- Toute une vie (1974) by Claude Lelouch
- Peur sur la ville (1975) by Henri VerneuilHenri VerneuilHenri Verneuil was a French-Armenian playwright and filmmaker, who enjoyed a successful career in France.-Biography:...
- Vous ne l'emporterez pas au paradis (1975) by François Dupont-Midi
- Si c'était à refaire (1976) by Claude Lelouch
- Mado (1976) by Claude SautetClaude SautetClaude Sautet was a French author and film director.-Biography:Born in Montrouge, Hauts-de-Seine, France, Claude Sautet first studied painting and sculpture before attending a film university in Paris where he began his career and later became a television producer...
- La Première fois (1976) by Claude BerriClaude BerriClaude Berri , born Claude Berel Langmann, was one of the great all-rounders of French cinema: an actor, writer, producer, director and distributor. "Out of my failure as an actor was born my desire to direct. Then my relative failure as a director forced me to become a producer. In order to get my...
- The Man Who Loved WomenThe Man Who Loved Women (1977 film)The Man Who Loved Women is a 1977 French comedy/drama film directed by François Truffaut and starring Charles Denner, Brigitte Fossey and Nelly Borgeaud. In 1983, it was remade in Hollywood under the same title. The film had a total of 955,262 admissions in France. -Plot:Montpellier: December 1976...
(1977) by François TruffautFrançois TruffautFrançois Roland Truffaut was an influential film critic and filmmaker and one of the founders of the French New Wave. In a film career lasting over a quarter of a century, he remains an icon of the French film industry. He was also a screenwriter, producer, and actor working on over twenty-five... - Kakemono hôtel (1978) by Franck Apprederis
- Robert et RobertRobert et Robert-Synopsis:Two singles apply to a dating agency. To start with, they are intimidated, but come round to the idea. That night, they imagine the meetings that will change their lives forever.-Details:*Director: Claude Lelouch*Music : Francis Lai, Jean-Claude Nachon...
(1978) by Claude Lelouch - La Verdad sobre el caso Savolta (1980) by Antonio Drove
- Le Coeur à l'envers (1980) by Franck Apprederis
- La Sourde oreille (1980) by Michel Polac
- Non-Lieu (1981) by Bruno Gantillon
- Mille milliards de dollars (1982) by Henri VerneuilHenri VerneuilHenri Verneuil was a French-Armenian playwright and filmmaker, who enjoyed a successful career in France.-Biography:...
- L' Honneur d'un capitaineA Captain's Honor-Plot:A courtroom-drama about a dead Captain whose memory is publicly accused by a historian on TV, twenty years after his death. The story follows his widow's struggle to prove that he was not a murderer and did not practise torture while he was leading a ground unit during the Algerian war.She...
(1982) by Pierre SchoendoerfferPierre SchoendoerfferPierre Schoendoerffer is a French film director, a screenwriter, a writer, a war reporter, a war cameraman, a renowned First Indochina War veteran, a cinema academician and since 2001 the President of the Académie des Beaux-Arts.-Family:... - Rock 'n Torah (1983) by Marc-Andre Grynbaum
- Le Château faible (1983) by Jean Larriaga
- Stella (1983) by Laurent Heynemann
- Zacharius (1984) by Claude Grinberg
- L'Unique (1986) by Jérôme Diamant-Berger
- Golden Eighties (1986) by Chantal AkermanChantal AkermanChantal Anne Akerman is a Belgian film director, artist, and professor of film at the European Graduate School. Akerman's best-known film, Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles , exemplifies a dedication to the ellipses of conventional narrative cinema.-Early life:Akerman was born to...