- Gérard Philipe, Juliette ou la Clef des songs (Juliette, or Key of Dreams), France, 1950. French movie icon Marcel Carné first planned the film for Jean Marais and Micheline Presle in 1942. Until his producers worried about the audacity ofhis adaptation. Eight years on, it was to be Auclair (or Philipe) opposite Suzanne Cloutier. (Presle was Philipe’s co-star in his 1946 breakthrough, Le diable au corps).
- Louis Jourdan, Rue de l’Estrapade, France, 1951. Yes, Delphine, Hollywood’s favourite Frenchman (of the 50s/60s) did make French films as well. Realisateur Jacques Becker, however, was never satisfied with Jourdan’s work. Nor was Becker’s loverAnne Wadement, whose script was autobiographical. Becker’s own favourite from his previous two films, Daniel Gélin, was busy directing one film and acting in two others… so he took a smaller role.
- Jean-Claude Pascal, Le Rideau cramoisi (US: The Crimson Curtain), France, 1952. For his “first real film,” Paris critic turned auteur Alexandre Astruc invented the camera-stylo concept (using his camera like a pen) for a classic 44-minute short… and the 19 works that followed (1948-1993). He searched his leading man through Auclair, Daniel Gelin Comédie-Française actor Jean-Pierre Jorris, Daniel Ivernal – when an odious guy entered his office. “He wished to be in film. I didn’t want him, but there was no one else.” Astruc later discovered that Pascal had given up a big film to fight for the short. He was rewarded when the suits insisted that he (and co-star Anouk Aimée) headline Astruc’s first feature, Les Mauvaises Rencontres, 1954. Auclair was part of the auteur’s fourth film, L’éducation sentimentale, 1961.
Birth year: Death year: Other name: Casting Calls: 3