FRESNAY, PIERRE

(1897-1975)

Actor. Born Pierre Laudenbach in Paris, Pierre Fresnay studied drama at the Paris Conservatoire d'art dramatique and then went on to begin his acting career on the stage. He established himself as a talented stage actor and was in residence at the Comédie Française from 1915 until 1929. Fresnay made his film debut during the silent-film era, appearing in such films asHenri Pouctal'sFrance d'abord(1915), Charles Burguet'sL'Essor(1920),Les Mystères de Paris(1922) and his seriesLa Bâillonnée(1922),André Hugon's seriesLe Diamant noir(1922), Charles Maudru's seriesRocambole(1924), and Luitz-Moratz'sLa Vièrge folle(1929). Fresnay married the actress Berthe Bovy in 1923, but the two divorced in 1929.

The breakthrough role in Fresnay's career came early in the sound era, however, whenMarcel Pagnolcast him as the lead inMarins(1931). Fresnay, not at all from the south, had to learn the Marseille accent for the role. However, his efforts were worth it, and the film made him an instant star. He reprised the role in two subsequent Pagnol films,Fanny(1932) andCésar(1936).

AfterMarius, Fresnay worked steadily in cinema, with one major role after another throughout the 1930s and 1940s. He had starring roles inAbel Gance'sLa Dame aux camélias(1934) andRoman d'un jeune homme pauvre(1935), Maurice Tourneur'sKônigsmark(1935) andLa Main du diable(1943),Marc Allégret'sSous les yeux d'occident(1935),Léon Mathot'sChéri-Bibi(1937), Pierre Billon'sLa Bataille silencieuse(1937),Jean Renoir'sLa Grande illusion(1937),Marcel L'Herbier'sAdrienne Lecouvreur(1938),Julien Duvivier'sLa Charette fantôme(1939),George Lacombe'sLe Dernier des six(1941),Le Journal tombe à cinq heures(1942), andL'Escalier sans fin(1943),Henri-Georges Clouzot'sL'Assassin habite au 21(1943) andLe Corbeau(1943), Jean Anouilh'sLe Voyageur sans bagages(1944),Henri Decoin'sLa Fille du diable(1946) andAu grand balcon(1949), Jean Dréville'sLe Visiteur(1946), Maurice Cloche'sMonsieur Vincent(1947), and Richard Pottier'sBarry(1949).Fresnay's costar in many of these films was the actress Yvonne Printemps, whom he married in 1934.

As evidenced by the sheer number of films in which he starred during the 1930s and 1940s, Fresnay was a major star on a par withJean Gabin. The two were very different actors, however, fulfilling different roles in cinema. This is, perhaps, best illustrated by the characters the two played in Renoir's classic film,La Grande illusion(1937). Fresnay's De Boeldieu is clearly an aristocrat, the last of a disappearing class, whereas Renoir's Maréchal is clearly a man of the people.

Fresnay, despite the broad range of characters he brought to the screen (including the very "man of the people" Marius), always had a classical air to his performances, a bit of a sophisticated edge, whereas Renoir, however refined his characters, was always of the people. BeyondLa Grande illusionand the Pagnol trilogy, Fresnay's best-known, and probably greatest, film is Clouzot'sLe Corbeau(1943), in which Fresnay played the very complex Dr. Rémy Germain. It is also worth noting that he had a very brief, but central, role as Louis Bernard in Hitchcock'sThe Man Who Knew Too Much(1934).

In the 1950s, Fresnay continued to act in films, but the roles became either less prominent or more difficult to find. He, like Gabin andArletty, was an icon of a previous age, of the classic era of French film, and cinema was trying to move in different directions. He appeared in such films asJean Delannoy's Dieu a besoin des hommes(1950) andLa Route Napoléon(1953),Henri Diamant-Berger'sMonsieur Fabre(1951),Jean-Paul Le Chanois'sLes Évadés(1955),Léo Joannen'sL'Homme aux clefs d'or(1956) andTant d'amour perdu(1958), Alex Joffé'sLes Fanatiques(1957), Allégret'sLes Affreux(1959), and Gilles Grangier'sLes Vieux de la vieille(1960), among other films. For the most part, however, Fresnay returned to working on the stage. He did not act in films after 1960, his only screen roles being on the small screen after that.