Daniel Gélin

Biography

Daniel Gélin (Angers, 1921 – Paris, 2002) was a French actor for the stage and screen, who also occasionally directed and wrote. He was one of the leading men of French cinema in the 1950s and later became a recognisable character actor.

He grew up in Saint-Malo, where his family moved when he was ten. After being expelled from school, he worked for a time in a shop selling cans of fish. What drew him towards acting was watching the shoot of Marc Allégret's Entrée des artistes. He trained with René Simon and at the Conservatoire national d'art dramatique, where he met Louis Jouvet, and began his career on stage.

He made his film debut in 1940 with Miquette and for several years took small roles. His first leading part came in 1949 with Rendez-vous de juillet. In the 1950s he worked with Max Ophüls on La Ronde and Le Plaisir, with Sacha Guitry on Napoléon, and with Alfred Hitchcock on The Man Who Knew Too Much. The arrival of the New Wave reduced his prominence, and in the 1970s and 1980s he returned in character roles, often cynical or grumpy, on screen and television, including Murmur of the Heart and That Night in Varennes.

He had several children, among them the filmmaker Xavier Gélin and the actors Fiona and Manuel Gélin. His relationship with Maria Schneider, daughter of his affair with the model Marie Christine Schneider, was difficult: he did not acknowledge her until she was a teenager. He continued to work in the theatre for decades. He died in Paris in 2002 of kidney failure and was buried in Saint-Malo. He is remembered mainly for his presence in postwar French cinema and for his move into character parts.

Key films

• La Ronde (1950), directed by Max Ophüls, from the peak of his leading-man years in French cinema.
• Napoléon (1955), by Sacha Guitry, one of the historical spectacles he took part in.
• The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956), by Alfred Hitchcock, a suspense film that took him beyond French production.
• Murmur of the Heart (1971), one of his notable roles during his years as a character actor.
• That Night in Varennes (1982), a late prestige appearance in French cinema.