Marcel Pagnol
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Marcel Pagnol (February 28, 1895 – April 18, 1974) was a French novelist, playwright, and filmmaker.
Contents |
[edit] Biography
Born February 28, 1895 in Aubagne, Bouches-du-Rhône département, in southern France near Marseille, the son of school teacher Joseph Pagnol and seamstress Augustine Lansot, Marcel Pagnol grew up in Marseille with his younger brothers Paul, René, and younger sister Germaine.
He learned how to read at a young age to his father's amazement but his mother did not allow him to touch a book until he was six "for fear of cerebral explosion".[1] During this time he spent many summers with his family in a house in the hills near Aubagne.
At the age of 15 he wrote his first play and followed in his father's footsteps and became an English teacher for secondary schools. However, he quit being an English teacher when he went to Paris. Instead, he devoted his life to playwriting, which led to his first play, Merchants of Glory, in 1924. In 1929 he wrote Marius for the Paris Theatre. Marius would also be later turned into a film in 1929, Pagnol's first film.
In 1916 he married Simone Coline in Marseille, to the displeasure of his father Joseph.[[2]]
In 1945 he married Jacqueline Bouvier.
Marcel Pagnol was elected a member of the Académie Française in 1946. He was the first film maker ever to receive this honour.
He died in Paris on April 18, 1974.
His novel L'Eau des collines was adapted from his two films Jean de Florette and Manon des sources. These films were remade to international acclaim in the 1980s by Claude Berri. His novels La gloire de mon père and Le château de ma mère were made into acclaimed movies by Yves Robert.
[edit] Bibliography
- Topaze (1930, theater play) ;
- Marius (1930, theater play) ;
- Fanny (1932, theater play) ;
- César (1936, theater play) ;
- La gloire de mon père and Le château de ma mère (1957, autobiographies) ;
- Le temps des secrets (1959, autobiography)
- L'Eau des collines (Jean de Florette and Manon des sources) (1964, novels)
- Le temps des amours (1977, autobiography)
- Le secret du masque de fer (1965, essay).
[edit] Filmography, as director
- Jofroi (1933) ;
- Angèle (1934 ;
- Merlusse (1935) ;
- Cigalon (1935) ;
- Topaze (1930) ;
- César (1936) ;
- Regain (1937) ;
- Le Schpountz (1938) ;
- La femme du boulanger (1938) ;
- La Fille du puisatier (1940) ;
- La prière aux étoiles (1941, unfinished) ;
- Naïs (1945) ;
- La belle meunière (1948, in color) ;
- Topaze (1950, starring Fernandel) ;
- Manon des sources (1952, later remade as Manon des sources (1986) ;
- Les lettres de mon moulin (1954).
[edit] External links
- Marcel Pagnol 1895-1974
- Marcel Pagnol at the Internet Movie Database
- Site officiel de Marcel Pagnol (in French)
| Preceded by Maurice Donnay |
Seat 25 Académie française 1946-1974 |
Succeeded by Jean Bernard |
