GABIN, JEAN

(1904-1976)

Actor. Born Jean Gabin Alexis Moncorgé into a family of entertainers, Jean Gabin first tried to avoid becoming one himself. Both of his parents were performers in the café-concerts, and Jean, in his early life, tried other careers, including construction, before coming back to the theater to join his parents. He got his start at the Folies-Bergères in 1922 and remained in live entertainment until 1930, when he debuted in René Pujol'sChacun sa chance. Film work came steadily after that, but it was not until Gabin's role inJulien Duvivier'sMaria Chapdelainein 1933 that he really became a force on the screen.

From 1933 until the war, Gabin was probably the biggest male star on the screen in France. He was, in many ways, the face of theLe Réalisme poétiqueor poetic realism, playing real-world tragic characters and conveying as much through facial expression as through dialogue. He worked with Duvivier inLa Bandera(1935),Golgotha(1935),La Belle équipe(1936), andPépé le Moko(1937), withJean RenoirinLes Bas-fonds(1936),La Grande illusion(1937), andLa Bête humaine(1938), withMarc AllégretinZouzou(1934), and withMarcel CarnéinLe Quai des brumes(1938) andLe Jour se lève(1939).

The types of characters Gabin played in these films, particularly the Carné films, typify his work from the 1930s and 1940s. He was very often an everyman type of character, strong, silent, often brooding, more often than not caught in circumstances well beyond his control. His best-known roles from the period are probably that of Jean, the silent former soldier in Carné'sLe Quai des brumes(1938), François, the factory worker caught in a tragic love relationship that leads to murder inLe Jour se lève(1939), Pépé, the gangster trapped in the medina of Algiers in Duvivier'sPépé le Moko(1937), and Lieutenant Maréchal, the prisoner of war in Renoir's classic,La Grande illusion(1937).Gabin's other noteworthy roles from this period includeJean Grémillion'sGuele d'amour(1937) andRemorques(1941). Other films in which he appeared include Hans Behrendt and Yvan Noé'sGloria(1931), Jean Godard'sPour un soir(1931), Jacques Tourneur'sTout ça ne vaut pas l'amour(1931), Harry Lachman'sLa Belle marinière(1932), Anatole Litvak'sCœur de lilas(1932), John Daumery and Howard Hawks'sLa Foule hurle(1932),Serge de Poligny'sL'Étoile de Valencia(1933), and Maurice Gleize'sLe Récif de corail(1939).

Gabin left France at the time of the German Occupation during World War II to fight with the Free French. He also tried his hand at acting in Hollywood, but his two English-language films,Moontide(1942) andThe Imposter(1944), were unremarkable. Gabin returned to France after the war but had some difficulty restarting his career. He starred inGeorges Lacombe'sMartin Roumignac(1946), Raymond Lamy'sMiroir(1947), andRené Clement'sAudelà des grilles(1949). Gabin's film career did not begin to pick up momentum until 1952, when he was again offered memorable roles in memorable films. His films that year includedMax Ophuls'sLe PlaisirandHenri Decoin'sLa Vérité sur Bébé Dongé. The following year, Gabin starred inJacques Becker's classic noir filmTouchez pas au grisbi(1953), and his second star turn was cemented.

In its second phase, his career was characterized by three types of roles. He frequently played detectives (most notably Maigret) inpolarsor crime films. Examples include Gilles Grangier'sLe Sang à la tête(1956),Le Rouge est mis(1957), andMaigret voit rouge(1963),Jean Delannoy'sMaigret tend un piège(1958) andMaigret et l'affaire Saint-Fiacre(1959). Alternatively, he played tough guys in crime films or occasionally parodied them in comedies. Examples include, of course, Becker'sTouchez pas au grisbi(1953), Decoin'sRazzia sur le Chnouf(1955), Duvivier'sVoici le temps des assassins(1956), Grangier'sLe Cave se rebiffe(1961), Denys de la Patellière'sDu riff à Paname(1966), andHenri Verneuil'sLe Clan des Siciliens(1969).

The other type of role that dominated was that of the distinguished gentleman, in which Gabin would play a mature and grounded older man of means. Films that feature him in this capacity include Decoin'sLa Vérité sur Bébé Dongé(1952),Claude Autant-Lara'sEn cas de Malheur(1958), Delannoy'sLe Baron de l'écluse(1960),Jean-Paul Le Chanois'sMonsieur(1964), Pierre Granier-Deferre'sLa Horse(1970), and Verneuil'sLe Président(1973). There were also occasional roles as the everyman, as in Le Chanois'sLes Misérables, in which Gabin gave the screen one of its most memorable incarnations of Jean Valjean.

The tone for the second career was, no doubt, set by the success of the 1952 Decoin and Becker films, which broke with Gabin's earlier association with the tragic everyman figure and greatly broadened his range. It is also no doubt the result of the fact that such roles better suited the older Gabin. Gabin also continued to act in theater throughout his career. His last film wasL'Année sainte(1976), released the year of his death.

It is difficult to summarize Gabin's career except to say that he was and is probably the most beloved actor to have graced the screen in France, that he had and has a very intimate connection to several generations of moviegoers, and that the face and the persona that each generation associates with him is different. One element that holds true for all generations, inside and outside of France, however, is that he is one of the most recognizable and one of the most legendary actors to have worked in cinema. It is also true that whether he is remembered forLa Grande illusion(1937) or forMélodie en sous-sol(1963), or for any of his other films, what made Gabin so memorable was his quiet, yet forceful way of capturing the human experience.