- Jean-Claude Pascal, Le Rideau cramoisi (US: The Crimson Curtain), France, 1952. For his “ first real film,” 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 credits that followed (1948-1993). He searched his leading man through Ivernal, Michel Auclair, Daniel Gelin, and Comédie-Française actor Jean-Pierre Jorris. Then, 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.
Birth year: Death year: Other name: Casting Calls: 1