About

Known credits:
44
Birthday:
1910-09-08
Place of birth:
Le Vésinet, Yvelines, Île-de-France, France
Website:
N/A

Jean-Louis Barrault

Overview

Jean-Louis Barrault (8 September 1910, Le Vésinet, Yvelines – 22 January 1994) was a French actor, director and mime artist, training that served him well when he portrayed the 19th-century mime Jean-Gaspard Deburau (Baptiste Debureau) in Marcel Carné's 1945 film Les Enfants du Paradis (Children of Paradise).

Jean-Louis Barrault studied with Charles Dullin in whose troupe he acted from 1933 to 1935. At 25 years of age, he met and studied with the mime Étienne Decroux. From 1940 to 1946 he was a member of the Comédie-Française, where he directed productions of Paul Claudel's Le Soulier de satin and Jean Racine's Phèdre, two plays that made his reputation.

Over his career, he acted in nearly 50 movies including Les beaux jours, Jenny, L'Or dans la Montagne and Sous les Yeux d'occident.

In 1940, he married the actress Madeleine Renaud. They founded a number of theatres together and toured extensively, including in South America.

He was the uncle of actress Marie-Christine Barrault and sometime sponsor of Peter Brook. He died from a heart attack in Paris at the age of 83. Jean-Louis Barrault is buried with his wife Madeleine Renaud in the Passy Cemetery in Paris.

Jean-Louis Barrault, Reflections on the Theatre:

    "In fact it is the simplest things that are the most tricky to do well. To read, for example. To be able to read exactly what is written without omitting anything that is written and at the same time without adding anything of one's own. To be able to capture the exact context of the words one is reading. To be able to read!"

Barrault from Melinda Camber Porter's Through Parisian Eyes: Reflections on Contemporary French Arts and Culture:

    "When I wake up in the morning I want to feel hungry for life. Desire is what drives me. When I go to sleep, I feel I have experienced a small death, so that I can wake up in the morning renewed and reborn."

Description above from the Wikipedia article Jean-Louis Barrault, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.​

Known for

Acting
2020 Le Fantôme de Laurent Terzieff Actor Self (archive footage) 58
Average
1988 La lumière du lac Actor Le vieux N/A
N/A
1985 To Be Hamlet Actor Self N/A
N/A
1982 The Night of Varennes Actor Nicolas Edmé Restif de la Bretonne 59
Average
1967 The Birth of Children of Paradise Actor Self N/A
N/A
1966 Chappaqua Actor Dr. Benoit 59
Average
1964 The Big Scare Actor 58
Average
1962 The Longest Day Actor Father Louis Roulland 70
Good
1961 Blood on His Sword Actor Louis XI 59
Average
1960 Experiment in Evil Actor Dr. Cordelier / Opale 59
Average
1960 The Dialogue of the Carmelites Actor 58
Average
1958 Musée Grévin Actor Self N/A
N/A
1954 Royal Affairs in Versailles Actor Fénelon 59
Average
1952 With André Gide Actor Self 58
Average
1952 Venom and Eternity Actor Self 59
Average
1950 La Ronde Actor The Poet 61
Fair
1950 Vagabonds imaginaires Actor Narrator (segment 'Le bateau ivre') (voice) N/A
N/A
1948 Man to Men Actor Henri Dunant 58
Average
1947 La Rose et le réséda Actor Narrator (voice) N/A
N/A
1945 Blind Desire Actor Michel Kremer 59
Average
1945 Children of Paradise Actor Baptiste Debureau 68
Fair
1944 Angel of the Night Actor Jacques Martin, le jeune sculpteur N/A
N/A
1942 La Symphonie fantastique Actor Hector Berlioz 59
Average
1941 Montmartre on the Seine Actor Michel Courtin 59
Average
1941 Parade in 7 Nights Actor Lucien Ardouin 58
Average
1941 Mlle. Desiree Actor Napoléon Bonaparte 58
Average
1939 L'Or dans la montagne Actor Maurice Farinet, le jeune paysan N/A
N/A
1938 The Southern Trail Actor Olcott 58
Average
1938 Youth in Revolt Actor Armand 59
Average
1938 Orage Actor L'Africain 59
Average
1938 Mirages Actor Pierre Bonvais 59
Average
1938 I Accuse Actor 59
Average
1938 The Puritan Actor Francis Ferriter 58
Average
1937 Drôle de Drame Actor William Kramps, le tueur de bouchers 60
Fair
1937 The Pearls of the Crown Actor Bonaparte jeune 58
Average
1937 Street of Shadows Actor le client fou 59
Average
1937 Social Police Actor Scoppa N/A
N/A
1937 À nous deux, madame la vie Actor Paul Briançon 59
Average
1937 The Life and Loves of Beethoven Actor Karl van Beethoven 58
Average
1936 Hélène Actor Pierre Régnier 58
Average
1936 Jenny Actor le Dromadaire 59
Average
1936 Under Western Eyes Actor Haldin 58
Average
1935 Happy Days Actor René N/A
N/A

Writing
1962 Prosessen Writing Writer N/A
N/A