Gérard Blain

(1977) He began directing in the 1970s, becoming known for his ascetic style. His first film as a director, The Friends (1971) won the Golden Leopard at the Locarno Film Festival.

• Name — Gérard Blain • Born — 23 October 1930 • Birthplace — Paris, France • Died — 17 December 2000 • Place of death — Paris, France • Occupation — Actor, film director • Years Active — 1944–2000 • Spouse — * Estella Blain (1953–1956) (divorced) • Bernadette Lafont (1957–1959) (divorced) • Monique Sobieski (1960–2000) (his death)

Blain had a difficult childhood and adolescence after his father abandoned his family. He left school at aged 13 and became a street urchin. He had his first sexual experiences with older men and women while still a young teenager, a period later echoed in his semi-autobiographical film A Child in the Crowd (Un enfant dans la foule, 1976). Wishing to become an actor, Blain starting working as a film extra in 1943. Blain had his breakthrough role in the crime drama Deadlier Than the Male (Voici le temps des assassins, 1956), opposite Jean Gabin: French media hailed him at the time as "the French James Dean". He starred in François Truffaut's short film Les Mistons (1957), Claude Chabrol's first two feature films Le Beau Serge (1958) and Les Cousins (1959), and appeared in Jean-Luc Godard's short film Charlotte and Her Boyfriend (1960). This led him to be associated to the French New Wave, though he later disparaged the movement, calling it "fake, except for Godard". The French-Italian co-production system of the time also led him to star in Italian films, including Mauro Bolognini's Young Husbands (1958) and Carlo Lizzani's The Hunchback of Rome (1960) and Gold of Rome (1961). In 1962, he essayed a Hollywood career with a supporting role in Howard Hawks' Hatari! opposite John Wayne, but found himself ill-suited to American filmmaking. Later on, unhappy with his acting career, he became a film director, making nine films between 1971 and 2000. His first film as a director, The Friends, a drama about male homosexuality, won the Golden Leopard at the 1971 Locarno International Film Festival. Blain's directing choices were rigorous and deliberately austere, closely emulating Robert Bresson's style: he mostly employed non-professional actors, one major exception being his film Second Wind (1978) which starred Robert Stack. An outspoken critic of mainstream filmmaking and modern society in general, and reportedly a difficult man to work with, Blain had an outsider status within the French film industry; although they were well-received by critics, his films as a director met with little commercial success. While focusing on his directing work he kept appearing occasionally as an actor, notably in Wim Wenders' The American Friend (1977). In 1987, Blain's career was affected when his film Pierre and Djemila, an ostensibly anti-racist tragic love story, was accused of being racist due to co-writer Michel Marmin being a member of the French New Right.

Blain married three times; his first two wives were actresses Estella Blain and Bernadette Lafont. One of his sons, Paul Blain, also had an acting career and starred in his final film as a director, Ainsi soit-il (1999).

• Year — Title — Role — Director — Notes • 1944 — Le bal des passants — Guillaume Radot • Le carrefour des enfants perdus — Léo Joannon • 1945 — Les enfants du paradis — Marcel Carné — Uncredited • 1946 — Fils de France — Pierre Blondy • 1954 — Wild Fruit — Hervé Bromberger • Before the Deluge — High school boy — André Cayatte — Uncredited • Service Entrance — The photographer — Carlo Rim — Uncredited • 1956 — Voici le temps des assassins — Gérard Delacroix — Julien Duvivier • Crime and Punishment — Jean Fargeot — Georges Lampin • 1957 — Le désir mène les hommes — Olivier Jourdans — Émile Roussel • Les Mistons — Gérard — François Truffaut — Short • 1958 — Young Husbands — Marcello — Mauro Bolognini • Le Beau Serge — Serge — Claude Chabrol • 1959 — Les Cousins — Charles — Claude Chabrol • Match contre la mort — Jacques Lourmel — Claude Bernard-Aubert • 1960 — Silver Spoon Set — Anselmo Foresi — Francesco Maselli • Run with the Devil — Stefano Solera — Mario Camerini • Charlotte and Her Boyfriend — Charlotte's new boyfriend — Jean-Luc Godard — Short • The Hunchback of Rome — Alvaro aka "Hunchback" — Carlo Lizzani • 1961 — La peau et les os — Mazur — Jean-Paul Sassy • Gold of Rome — Davide — Carlo Lizzani • 1962 — Hatari! — Charles "Chips" Maurey — Howard Hawks • Lo sgarro — Paolo — Silvio Siano • 1963 — The Eye of the Needle — Toto Cacace — Marcello Andrei • Les Vierges — Xavier de Brétevielle — Jean-Pierre Mocky • La soupe aux poulets — Claudio — Philippe Agostini • 1964 — La Bonne Soupe — The painter — Robert Thomas • Via Veneto — Giuseppe Lipartiti • Amori pericolosi — Soldier — Giulio Questi — (segment "Il generale") • 1965 — Un amore — Marcello — Gianni Vernuccio • 1966 — M.M.M. 83 — Robert Gibson — Sergio Bergonzelli • 1967 — La Musica — Marguerite Duras and Paul Seban • Shock Troops — Thomas — Constantin Costa-Gavras • 1968 — Negresco — Roger — Klaus Lemke • 1969 — Joë Caligula - Du suif chez les dabes — Joë Caligula — José Bénazéraf • 1970 — Caïn de nulle part — Caïn — Daniel Daërt • 1971 — Paolo e Francesca — Giovanni Malatrasi — Gianni Vernuccio • 1974 — The Pelican — Paul Boyer — Himself • 1976 — A Child in the Crowd — Man in the street — Himself — Uncredited cameo • 1977 — The American Friend — Raoul Minot — Wim Wenders • The Machine — Journalist — Paul Vecchiali • 1978 — Utopia — Gérard — Iradj Azimi • 1981 — La Flambeuse — Henri — Rachel Weinberg • 1983 — Un dimanche de flic — Emilio — Michel Vianey • La derelitta — Redza — Jean-Pierre Igoux • 1986 — La Presqu'île — Simon — Georges Luneau • 1987 — Killing Time — Broz — Edouard Niermans • 1988 — Natalia — Claude Roitman — Bernard Cohn • 1989 — Jour après jour — Richard Lunet — Alain Attal • L'enfant de l'hiver — Stephane's father — Olivier Assayas • 1992 — Chasse gardée — Pierre Bufières — Jean-Claude Biette • |1995 — Jusqu'au bout de la nuit — François — Himself • 1999 — Cinématon — Himself — Gérard Courant • 2001 — Bandits d'amour — The priest — Pierre Le Bret — Final film role

• Year — Title — Notes • 1971 — The Friends — Also writer • 1974 — The Pelican — Also writer and lead actor • 1976 — A Child in the Crowd — Also writer • 1978 — Second Wind — Also writer • 1980 — The Rebel — Also writer • 1987 — Pierre and Djemila — Also writer • 1993 — La Fortune de Gaspard — TV movie; also writer • |1995 — Jusqu'au bout de la nuit — Also writer and lead actor • |2000 — Ainsi soit-il (film) — Also writer