Marcel Dalio
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Marcel Dalio, born Israel Moshe Blauschild (17 July 1900 in Paris, France – 20 November 1983 in Paris), was a French Jewish character actor. He had major roles in two of Jean Renoir's most famous films, Grand Illusion and The Rules of the Game. After divorcing his first wife, he married 17-year old Madeleine LaBeau (Yvonne from Casablanca) in 1938.
In June of 1940, LaBeau and Dalio left Paris ahead of the invading German army and reached Lisbon. It took them two months to get visas to Chile. However, when their ship stopped in Mexico they were stranded (along with around 200 other passengers) because the visas they had purchased turned out to be forgeries. Eventually they were able to get temporary Canadian passports and come to the United States. Both of Dalio's parents would later die in Nazi concentration camps.
In Hollywood, Dalio was never able to rescale the heights of prominence that he had enjoyed in France. Dalio appeared in 19 movies in America during the Second World War. This time he received stereotype roles as Frenchman. However, they were not negative roles. Back in France, now occupied by the Germans, the Nazis used his picture on posters as a representative of "a typical Jew."
Dalio's first movie in the United States was the 1941 Fred MacMurray comedy One Night in Lisbon where he portrayed a hotel concierge. Later that year, he appeared in the [[Edward G. Robinson[[ movie, Unholy Nights and the Gene Tierney movie, The Shanghai Gesture. He remained busy in 1942, appearing in Flight Lieutenant starring Pat O'Brien and Glenn Ford. Dalio next portrayed a Frenchman, Focquet, in the movie The Pied Piper. In this movie, actor Monty Woolley portrayed an Englishman trying to get out of German occupied France with an increasing amount of children. Otto Preminger portrayed the villainous Major Diessen. Dalio then appeared among the star studded cast in Tales of Manhattan.
In 1942, He makes a brief appearance as the croupier in Casablanca (which he was paid $667). He has a couple of scenes in the movie, the first being when he goes to Rick to get some money because a gambler has gotten lucky and they need 20,000 francs. Later in one of the movie's great scenes, when Renault is closing Rick's down and Claude Rains says the memorable line, "I am shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!" it's Dalio who approaches him and hands him money, "Your winnings' sir." On June 22, while his wife, Madeleine LaBeau, was filming her scenes with Hans Twardowski in Casablanca, Dalio filed for divorce in Los Angeles on the grounds of desertion.
In 1943, he received some larger roles like in the war dramas, Tonight We Raid Calais, Paris After Dark, which he appeared with his ex-wife LeBeau. Later in the year, Dalio played a French policeman in the classic The Song of Bernadette.
One of his best-known roles in American films was as Humphrey Bogart's sidekick in the 1944 film adaptation of To Have and Have Not. When the war ended in Europe in May of 1945, Dalio returned to France to continue his movie career. His first appearance was that year in Son dernier rôle. He appeared in 10 more movies in France (and one in England) through the late 1940's.
Dalio appeared in two movies in 1953, Gentleman Prefer Blondes starring Jane Russell and Marilyn Monroe and Flight to Tangiers starring Joan Fontaine. In 1954, Dalio appeared in two American movies before returning to France. They were Lucky Me starring [[Doris Day[[ and Sabrina starring Bogart and Audrey Hepburn. In Sabrina, the bearded Dalio apears early in the film, playing one of Hepburn's fellow cooking students in Paris who tells about her love problems over an uncooked soufflé.
In 1955, Dalio was back in America to appear in the ill-fated television series Casablanca were he portrayed the Claude Rains character Captain Renault. Dalio had a role of a French sergeant in the war drama Jump into Hell (about the French loss at Dien-bien-phu in Vietnam). In 1957, Dalio appeared with Paul Henreid in the musical comedy Ten Thousand Bedrooms with Dean Martin. He also appeared as a French priest in a war movie, again about the French involvement in Vietnam, called China's Gate (which features the acting of Nat King Cole).
Finally that year, Dalio would get to be in a good movie when he appears as Zizi in The Sun Also Rises (his third movie based on an Ernest Hemingway novel) starring Tyrone Power and Ava Gardner. In the next four years, he went on to appear in Lafayette Escadrille, The Perfect Furlough starring Tony Curtis, The Man Who Understood Women starring Henry Fonda, Pillow Talk starring Rock Hudson and Doris Day, Can-Can starring Frank Sinatra and The Devil at 4 O'Clock starring Sinatra and Spencer Tracy.
After making some more movies in France, Dalio received a small role in the mystery The List of Adrian Messenger, again with Sinatra and Curtis in 1963. This was followed with the role of beret-wearing Father Cluzeot in the John Wayne movie, Donovan's Reef. After appearing again with Tony Curtis in Wild and Wonderful in 1964, Dalio returned to France. He still made movies for Hollywood, but he also appeared in many French productions.
Some later movies of Dalio's include; Lady L starring Sophia Loren and Paul Newman in 1965, How to Steal a Million starring Audrey Hepburn and Peter O'Toole in 1966 and How Sweet It Is! starring Debbie Reynolds and James Garner in 1968. Dalio played the "dirty" old Italian in Catch-22 and also appeared in The Great White Hope with James Earle Jones, both in 1970. After this, he did movies almost entirely in France. His last appearance was in a TV movie portraying Lord Exeter in Les Longuelune in 1982.
Dalio also appeared in numerous television shows both in the United States (between 1954 and 1963) and in France (1968 to 1981). These include guest appearances in Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Peter Gunn, 77 Sunset Strip and Ben Casey.
Dalio, who appeared in almost 150 movies, died in Paris on November 20, 1983 at the age of 83. He is buried in Cimètiere de Bagneux in Hauts de Seine, France.
