Jules Maigret

Maigret statue by Pieter d'Hont in Delfzijl. The unveiling was made by Simenon himself on 3 September 1966, at the place where he had written the first Maigret novel, and was attended by Maigret actors from various countries.^[1]

Jules Maigret memorial plaque

Jules Maigret [ʒyl mɛɡʁɛ], simply Maigret to most people, including his wife, is a fictional French police detective, actually a commissaire or commissioner of the Paris "Brigade Criminelle" (Direction Régionale de Police Judiciaire de Paris), created by writer Georges Simenon.

Seventy-five novels and twenty-eight short stories about Maigret were published between 1931 and 1972, starting with Pietr-le-Letton (Pietr the Latvian) and concluding with Maigret et Monsieur Charles (Maigret and Mister Charles). The Maigret stories were also adapted for television and radio.

Description

Maigret, as he appeared in volume 5 of Case Closed

The character of Maigret was invented, but after the first few novels was influenced by Chief Inspector Marcel Guillaume, said to be the greatest French detective of his day, who became a long-time friend of Simenon.^[2]

Television adaptations

There have been numerous incarnations of Maigret on the small screen all around the world. He has been portrayed by French, British, Irish, Austrian, German, Italian, Dutch, Japanese and Russian actors.

In France, Jean Gabin played the part in three films. Another French version stars Bruno Cremer, who played him in 54 adaptations during 1991–2005. In the USA, this television series airs on Eurochannel.^[3] Jean Richard had an earlier long-running series playing the character on French television — however, Simenon himself is said to have disliked Richard's Maigret because he would not take his hat off when entering a room.

Actor Bruno Cremer as Maigret

The Italian actor Gino Cervi played the character on Italian television, starting from 1964 up to 1972; Simenon himself considered Cervi's interpretation of the character to be possibly the best.

In Soviet Union Russian theater actor Boris Tenin portrayed Maigret in a number of TV films in the 1970s. In Soviet cinema, apart from Boris Tenin, Maigret was portrayed by cinema actors Vladimir Samoylov and Armen Dzigarkhanyan.

In Japan, Kinya Aikawa played Megure, a Japanese-born equivalent to the French Maigret, reinvented in a modern Japanese setting, in Tōkyō Megure Keishi,^[4] a 25-episode TV Series aired from 14 April to 29 May 1978 on Asahi TV. Megure's wife was played by Etsuko Ichihara, who earned the praises of Simenon himself: "The best 'Madame Maigret' in my opinion, even including the French ones, was the 'Madame Maigret' on Japanese television. She was exactly right".^[5]

The title role in the successful British Maigret TV series was played by the actor Rupert Davies who made his debut on 31 October 1960. Davies took over the part after Basil Sydney, who appeared as Maigret in the original transmitted pilot, proved unavailable due to ill-health. Davies went on to star in 52 adaptations for BBC TV in the 1960s. His portrayal won two of the highest accolades: his versions were dubbed into French and played across the Channel; and Simenon himself presented Davies with a novel inscribed to his "perfect Maigret". The theme song to the TV series was performed by Joe Loss and released in the UK through the EMI Group on His Masters Voice (45-POP 995).

The British television channel ITV produced an adaptation of Maigret in 1992 and 1993, in which Sir Michael Gambon starred as Maigret. A less successful earlier version (1988) on ITV cast Richard Harris in the lead role, with a somewhat idiosyncratic reading of the character.

Radio adaptations

Maurice Denham played Chief Inspector Maigret in a series of half-hour dramatizations of the novels on BBC Radio 4 from 1992 to 2002, with Michael Gough playing Georges Simenon.

The format of each play would begin with Maigret and Simenon sitting together discussing some fact or event which would then lead into Maigret's recounting a particular case, with Simenon asking questions or commenting from time to time.

After Denham's death, the series was continued in 2003 with Nicholas Le Prevost playing a gruffer, more earthy Maigret and Julian Barnes playing Simenon.

Other appearances

Inspector Joseph Meguire/Jozo Megure from Case Closed is loosely based on Maigret, in both appearance and name. Both are police inspectors, and are known for wearing hats and overcoats. The rendering in the Japanese syllabary for Megure and Maigret is the same (me-gu-re; in other words, the names are pronounced the same in Japanese).

Maigret himself was also highlighted in volume 5 of the Case Closed manga's edition of "Gosho Aoyama's Mystery Library", a section of the graphic novels (usually the last page) where the author introduces a different detective (or occasionally, a villain) from mystery literature, television, or other media.

List of novels

List of Maigret novels by date of French-language publication.

List of short stories

List of Maigret short stories by date of publication.

References

External links

• Simenon's Maigret (bibliography, statistics, online texts, links)
• Maigret at the Internet Movie Database