Marcel Allain
Marcel Allain (15 September 1885 – 25 August 1969) was a French writer mostly remembered today for his co-creation with Pierre Souvestre of the fictional arch-villain and master criminal Fantômas.
Marcel Allain
Apic · Getty images · Public domain
- Birth Name
- Marcel Allain
- Born
- 15 September 1885
- Died
- 25 August 1969
- Nationality
- France
- Occupation
- writer · journalist · playwright · novelist
- Fields
- detective fiction
- Education
- Lycée Janson-de-Sailly
- Honours
- Knight of the Legion of Honour
- Languages
- French
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
The documentary record
Each statement is read from the authority records of the institutions named. Select “Prove” beside a statement to see the record it was read from, where in that record, and when.
Marcel Allain lived from 15 September 1885 to 25 August 1969 and was a writer.
Life
Marcel Allain was born on 15 September 1885 in Saint-Germain-en-Laye (Yvelines). Marcel Allain died on 25 August 1969 in Paris, France.
Institutions cited
Bibliothèque nationale de France · Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
Complete reading chain (JSON)Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for Marcel Allain. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
World of VALÉORINE
Documentary connections
Only confirmed graph relationships appear here. Images are shown only when their identity and reuse rights both pass the documentary gate.
Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q971735 · wikipedia · Marcel Allain
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Birth Name — Marcel Allain • Born — 15 September 1885 • Died — 25 August 1969
Career
Career
The son of a bourgeois family, Allain studied law before becoming a journalist. He then became the assistant of Souvestre, who was already a well-known figure in literary circles. In 1909, the two men published their first novel, Le Rour. Investigating Magistrate Germain Fuselier, later to become a recurring character in the Fantômas series, appears in the novel. Then, in February 1911, Allain and Souvestre embarked upon the Fantômas book series at the request of publisher Arthème Fayard, who wanted to create a new monthly pulp magazine. The success was immediate and lasting. After Souvestre’s death in February 1914, Allain continued the Fantômas saga alone, then launched several other series, such as Tigris, Fatala, Miss Téria and Férocias, but none garnered the same popularity as Fantômas. In total, Allain wrote more than 400 novels in his prolific career. On 27 September 1926, Allain married Souvestre’s girl-friend, Henriette Kistler. She died in 1956.
Other work by Allain and Souvestre
Other work by Allain and Souvestre
• Le Rour (1908) • Le Four (1909) • L'Empreinte (1910) • La Royalda (1910) • Naz-en-l’Air (1912-1913) • Titi-le-Moblot (1913-1914)
By Allain and Souvestre
By Allain and Souvestre
• 1911 • 1. Fantômas (1911; transl. 1915; retransl. 1986) • 2. Juve contre Fantômas (1911; transl. 1916; retransl. 1987) • 3. Le Mort qui Tue (1911; transl. 1917) • 4. L'Agent Secret (1911; transl. 1917) • 5. Un Roi Prisonnier de Fantômas (1911; transl. 1919) • 6. Le Policier Apache (1911; transl. 1924) • 7. Le Pendu de Londres (1911; transl. 1920) • 8. La Fille de Fantômas (1911; transl. 2006) • 9. Le Fiacre de Nuit (1911) • 10. La Main Coupée (1911; transl. 1924) • 1912 • 11. L'Arrestation de Fantômas (1912) • 12. Le Magistrat Cambrioleur (1912) • 13. La Livrée du Crime (1912) • 14. La Mort de Juve (1912) • 15. L'Evadée de Saint-Lazare (1912) • 16. La Disparition de Fandor (1912) • 17. Le Mariage de Fantômas (1912) • 18. L'Assassin de Lady Beltham (1912) • 19. La Guêpe Rouge (1912) • 20. Les Souliers du Mort (1912) • 21. Le Train Perdu (1912) • 22. Les Amours d'un Prince (1912) • 23. Le Bouquet Tragique (1912) • 1913 • 24. Le Jockey Masqué (1913) • 25. Le Cercueil Vide (1913) • 26. Le Faiseur de Reines (1913) • 27. Le Cadavre Géant (1913) • 28. Le Voleur d'Or (1913) • 29. La Série Rouge (1913) • 30. L'Hôtel du Crime (1913) • 31. La Cravate de Chanvre (1913) • 32. La Fin de Fantômas (1913)
By Allain alone
By Allain alone
• 33. Fantômas est-il ressuscité? (1925; transl. 1925) • 34. Fantômas, Roi des Recéleurs (1926; transl. 1926) • 35. Fantômas en Danger (1926; transl. 1926) • 36. Fantômas prend sa Revanche (1926; transl. 1927) • 37. Fantômas Attaque Fandor (1926; transl. 1928) • 38. Si c'était Fantômas? (1933) • 39. Oui, c'est Fantômas! (1934) • 40. Fantômas Joue et Gagne (1935) • 41. Fantômas Rencontre l'Amour (1946) • 42. Fantômas Vole des Blondes (1948) • 43. Fantômas Mène le Bal (1963)
Identity
Identity
Marcel Allain is recorded as having received Knight of the Legion of Honour.
Marcel Allain en couverture de La Cinématographie française n° 61, 3 janvier 1920.
[1]
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1885
Marcel Allain born at Paris.
1969
Marcel Allain died at Saint-Germain-en-Laye.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Paris.
Birth place
Saint-Germain-en-Laye.
Death place
Literature
Scholarly footprint
A count of publications is evidence of attention, not of standing, and is given here only as a measure.
Text attribution
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Marcel Allain, revision 1372767491 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Wikidata, structured authority record Q971735: Marcel AllainWikimedia Foundation
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
People, houses and institutions
Knowledge graph
People, houses and institutions
Teachers, collaborators, publishers and institutions recorded against this person, each on a stated basis.
Born at
1- ParisPlace
Established from a fact already recorded on a verified source.
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 15 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Books
39,529 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Marcantonio FlaminioAuthor
- Marcantonio MichielAuthor
- Marcas Mac an TuairneirAuthor
- Marcas Ó CallanáinAuthor
- Marcel ArlandAuthor
- Marcel BéaluAuthor
- Marcel BeyerAuthor
- Marcel BrionAuthor
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own a work by Marcel Allain?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.