About

Known credits:
20
Birthday:
1885-05-26
Place of birth:
Paris, France
Website:
N/A

Maurice Dekobra

Overview

Maurice Dekobra (26 May 1885, Paris – 1 June 1973, Paris) was a French writer. His real name was Ernest-Maurice Tessier.

Viewed as a subversive writer in the 1920s and 1930s, he became one of the best-known French writers between the First and the Second World Wars. His books have been translated into 77 languages, and he has been described as an early example of an international best-seller writer. This is particularly true of his best known work, La Madone des Sleepings (1925).

In spite of this, and the publication of a biography by Philippe Collas in 2001, he was declared a "total unknown" in 2005, though the republication of La Madone des Sleepings by the publisher Zulma in 2006 has increased awareness of him, at least in France.

At the age of 19, he started his career as a trilingual journalist – French, English, German. During the 1914–18 War he was attached as liaison officer/interpreter first to the Indian army, and later to the United States army. The contacts he made at this time ignited his passion for travel. He attributed the origin of his pen name to an episode in North Africa when he saw a snake charmer with two cobras. Allegedly he began thinking of the "deux cobras", which led him to De-kobra, then Dekobra. The term 'dekobrisme' was coined from his fiction, which used journalistic features in his novels. He chose to live in the United States from 1939 to 1946. Upon returning to France, he started writing whodunits. One of these, Opération Magali (1951) won the Prix du Quai des Orfèvres.

Some of his novels were made into films.

Source: Article "Maurice Dekobra" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Known for

Directing
1954 The Roundup is for Tonight Directing Director 59
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Writing
1965 Operation Diplomatic Passport Writing Novel N/A
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1965 Operation Diplomatic Passport Writing Screenplay N/A
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1956 Soupçons Writing Novel 59
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1955 La madone des sleepings Writing Novel 58
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1954 The Roundup is for Tonight Writing Writer 59
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1951 Hell Is Sold Out Writing Novel 59
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1942 Gambling Hell Writing Novel 59
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1939 Latin Quarter Writing Scenario Writer 59
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1937 Yoshiwara Writing Novel 59
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1931 Friends and Lovers Writing Novel 58
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1930 Morals at Midnight Writing Novel N/A
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1929 Latin Quarter Writing Screenplay N/A
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1929 Latin Quarter Writing Idea N/A
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1928 Madonna of the Sleeping Cars Writing Novel N/A
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1928 Mon coeur au ralenti Writing Writer N/A
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1928 Prince or Clown Writing Novel N/A
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1927 Siren of the Tropics Writing Writer 59
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1927 Liebe geht seltsame Wege Writing Writer N/A
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Production
1956 Soupçons Production Producer 59
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