DEED, ANDRÉ

(1879-1938)

Actor. André Deed was born André de Chapais, the son of a customs inspector. He seemed, early on, to follow the appointed bourgeois path that had been set out for him, studying at lycée, then at various postsecondary institutions, finally becoming a clerk in a bank. Deed, however, was restless, and gave up the quiet life, at first for the sea, then for the theater, or more particularly the café-concerts. He performed as both a singer and an acrobat before being hired on at the Folies-Bergères, and then the Châtelet. He appeared in several earlyGeorges Mélièsfilms, includingDislocation mystérieuse(1901),Les Aventures de Robinson Crusoe(1902),Le Royaume des fées(1903), andLe Barbier de Seville(1904).

Around 1905, Deed was hired on atPathébyCharles Pathé, who was scouring the café-concerts at the time looking for potential talent for his films. Deed was at Pathé from 1905 to 1908. At the beginning of his time at Pathé, he made several films withGeorges Hatot, includingLes Débuts d'un chauffeur(1906) andLa Course à la perruque(1906), a classic early chase film. However, Deed's most important contribution to cinema at Pathé came in his development of the "Boireau" character. Appearing for the first time in the filmLa Course à la perruque, Boireau was a fool or idiot character at the center of burlesque silent-film comedies and was one of the first regular and reappearing characters in cinema. The character and the comedies in which he appeared were also some of the first film comedies and are seen as central to the development of the genre in film.

Boireau would reappear in series of films, many of them bearing the character's name, which was also quite unusual at the time. The first of these sequels wasBoireau démenage(1906).Major titles in the first series (during Deed's initial term at Pathé from 1905 to 1908) includeLes Apprentissages de Boireau(1907),Les Débuts d'un canotier(1907), both directed byAlbert Capellani, andBoireau fait la noce(1908). Deed also starred in a number of non-Boireau films during his time at Pathé, includingLe Chevalier mystère(1908) andLes Tribulations du roi Têtaclaque(1908), both directed bySegundo de Chomon, andApaches mal avisés(1908), among others.

In 1909, Deed left Pathé for Italy, hired away by Itala Film due to the success of Boireau (in Italy called "Beoncelli"). His departure was a blow to Pathé, since Boireau was, at the time, a bigger draw even thanMax Linder. In Italy, Deed created the character of "Cretinetti" (called "Gribouille" in French), and made some seventy films with that character for Itala Film. He also directed films while in Italy. Pathé meanwhile tried, in vain, to continue theBoireauseries without Deed, hiring another actor, Paul Bertho, to play Boireau. They made four films with Bertho and then gave up. The type, however, remained in film.Roméo Bosetti, among others, created Boireau-inspired characters, most notably "Calino" and "Romeo." Boireau's influence on film comedy lasted well beyond 1909.

Deed remained in Italy until 1912, at which time he returned to France, lured back by Pathé. He again reincarnated the Boireau character for Pathé, who cleverly debuted him in a film titledGribouille redevient Boireau(1912). To add a bit of farce to the mix, Pathé paired Deed with the Italian actress Valentina Frascaroli. The pair was a hit and would appear together in many of the twenty or so films Deed would make for Pathé between 1912 and 1915. Of these, the best known includeBoireau se venge(1912),La Fête de Boireau(1912),Boireau et Gribouillette s'amusent(1912),Boireau magistrat(1912), andBoireau empoisonneur malgré lui(1913).

Deed seems to have left Pathé again for Itala, around 1915. He made five films with Valentina Frascaroli in 1915 and 1916 and may afterwards have been mobilized for war, and possibly injured. In any case, he seems to have returned to France and continued his career, which, at that point, had gone into decline. He made a handful of films in the 1920s and early 1930s, appearing inGaston Ravel'sTâo(1923) andMonsieur de Pourceaugnac(1932), Georges Pallu'sPhi-Phi(1926) andLa Rose effeuillée(1936),Georges Monca'sMiss Helyett(1927), and Bernard-Deschamps'Le Rosier de Madame Husson(1931), among others. He also wrote, directed, and starred, alongside Frasacaroli, in an early science-fiction film titledL'Uomo Meccanico(1921), which exists in a fragment. He seems to have disappeared after 1936 and died more or less forgotten.