French postcard in the Collection Magie Noire by Éditions Hazan, Paris, 1995, no. 6478. Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr in From Here to Eternity (Fred Zinnemann, 1953).

Fame came to American film legend Burt Lancaster (1913-1994) with his first film role, as the doomed Swede in Universal's The Killers (1946), but the former circus acrobat knew better than to leave his career in other hands. After less than two years in Hollywood, Lancaster formed his own production company and took the lead in such popular successes as the Technicolor swashbucklers The Flame and the Arrow (1950) and The Crimson Pirate (1952), and the Western Vera Cruz (1954). The athletic, savvy but passionate Lancaster remained a box office draw for 20 years, winning a 1961 Academy Award for playing the corrupt evangelist Elmer Gantry (1960). His best work through the next decades was often in European features like Luchino Visconti's Il gattopardo/The Leopard (1963) and Gruppo di famiglia in un interno /Conversation Piece (1974), Novecento/1900 (1976) and Atlantic City (1980), which netted him an Oscar nomination.

British film star Deborah Kerr (1921-2007) was nicknamed 'The English Rose' for her fresh natural beauty. In many films, the stage, television, and film actress played 'classic' English ladies, but during the 1950s she became known for her versatile roles in major Hollywood productions.

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French postcard in the Collection Image Noire by Editions Hazan, no. 6030, 1988. Photo: Raymond Voinquel. Caption: Gérard Philipe, 1946.

The legendary idol of the French cinema Gérard Philipe (1922–1959) was adored for his good looks, but he was also a very talented actor. He played roles as diverse as Faust and Modigliani and he was sought out by France's preeminent directors for his versatility and professionalism.

Gérard Philipe (sometimes written as Philippe) was born Gérard Philip in Cannes, France in 1922. In 1940, Gérard left school and his parents wanted him to become a lawyer. His mother noticed that he was only interested in acting, but his father was against the idea. Gérard's father, a successful businessman, was a right-wing extremist and collaborated with the Nazis. After the war, he was forced to exile to Spain to escape a death sentence. Gérard himself was his whole life a staunch social liberal politically wise. Actor Claude Dauphin introduced the young Philippe in 1942 to the stage. One of his first parts was as the angel in 'Sodome et Gomorrhe' by Jean Giraudoux in 1943. Director Marc Allégret decided that he showed some promise and gave him a small part in his film Les petites du quai aux fleurs/The Girls From the Quai aux Fleurs (Marc Allégret, 1944) starring Odette Joyeux. With the support of his admirer Jean Cocteau, he entered the Paris Conservatory where under the tutelage of Georges Le Roy he discovered his passion for live theatre. In 1945 he received rave reviews for his performance in the stage production of Albert Camus’ 'Caligula'. This success further opened the doors to the cinema. His first leading part in Le pays sans étoiles/Land Without Stars (Georges Lacombe, 1946) opposite Jany Holt got so many favourable reviews that he became a star.

In 1947, Gérard Philipe exploded upon the European film scene in Le diable au corps/Devil in the Flesh (Claude Autant-Lara, 1947), playing Francois Jaubert, a callow youth in love with much older and very married Micheline Presle. Superstardom followed almost immediately: female filmgoers doted upon Philippe's sensitive, handsome features and strapping physique, while men identified with his soulfulness and introspection. Next, he would take on prominent roles in such classic films as Une si jolie petite plage/Such a Pretty Little Beach (Yves Allégret, 1949), and La beauté du diable/Beauty and the Devil (René Clair, 1950) as Faust. He was an international success as the tongue-in-cheek titular swashbuckler Fanfan la Tulipe/Fan-Fan the Tulip (Christian-Jaque, 1952), one of the most popular historical-adventure films made in France. At Films de France, James Travers reviews: "Not only is the film impeccably made, with lavish production values, stunning cinematography and impressively choreographed fight scenes, but it has a timeless quality which will no doubt ensure it will remain a popular classic for years to come. Philipe excels in this film in what is regarded by many as his finest film role, the indefatigable womaniser and agile swordsman Fanfan la Tulipe. Philipe is simply brilliant in the role, tackling the numerous swordfights and Henri Jeanson’s sparkling dialogue with equal relish." He appeared with such great stars of the European cinema as Italian beauty Gina Lollobrigida in Les belles de nuit/Beauties of the Night (René Clair, 1952), with Michèle Morgan in both Les orgueilleux/The Proud Ones (Yves Allégret, 1953) and Les grandes manœuvres/The Grand Maneuver (René Clair, 1955). In 1956, Philipe starred in and directed a filmization of the old folk tale Till Eulenspiegel, Les Aventures de Till L'Espiègle/Bold Adventure (Gérard Philipe, Joris Ivens, 1956). The French-East-German coproduction was not a success. He simultaneously pursued his stage career, with a keen involvement in the Théatre National de Paris, which would endure up until his death. Whilst working at the TNP, Philipe, a strong believer in egalitarianism, would draw exactly the same salary as junior actors. He would also become president of the French actors union, actively promoting the rights of actors.

Gérard Philipe continued his string of film successes throughout the 1950s. Among these films were the Fyodor Dostoevsky adaptation Le joueur/The Gambler (Claude Autant-Lara, 1958) with Liselotte Pulver, and Les liaisons dangereuses/Dangerous Liaisons (Roger Vadim, 1959) opposite Jeanne Moreau. In 1959 doctors told Philippe that he had liver cancer. On 25 November that year, while working on Luis Buñuel's Le Fievre Monte a El Pao/Fever Mounts at El Pao (Luis Buñuel, 1959), he died at the peak of his popularity. He was just 36 years old. The news provoked an immediate and intense outpouring of grief. His early death elevated him to a near-legendary status in France. Since 1951, Philipe was married to actress and writer Nicole Fourcade, with whom he had two children, writer and actor Anne-Marie Philipe (1954) and Olivier Philipe (1957). Nicole adopted the pseudonym Anne Philipe and wrote two books about her husband, Souvenirs (1960) and Le Temps d'un soupir (1963, No Longer Than a Sigh). In 1961, Gérard's portrait appeared on a French commemorative postage stamp. There is a film festival named in his honour as well as a number of theatres, schools and colleges in various parts of France. He was also very popular in Germany, and a Berlin theatre has been named after him.

Sources: James Travers (Le Film Guide), AllMovie, Films de France, Wikipedia, and IMDb.

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French postcard by Fernand Hazan, no. E 5. Photo: Roger-Carlet. Jean-Louis Barrault and Maria Casares in Les enfants du paradis (Marcel Carné, 1945).

Jean-Louis Barrault (1910-1994) was a French actor, director and mime artist. His pantomime training with Etienne Decroux served him well when he portrayed the 19th-century mime Jean-Gaspard Deburau in Les enfants du Paradis (Marcel Carné, 1945). A rebel with many causes, Barrault hid French Underground members on the set of Les Enfants du paradis.

María Casares (1922-1996) was a Spanish-French actress and one of the most distinguished stars on the French stage. She was usually credited in France as Maria Casarès.

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French postcard by Editions Hazan, Paris, no. 6274, 1991. Photo: Edimedia. Michel Serrault in Il lupo e l'agnello/The Wolf and the Lamb (Francesco Massaro, 1980).

French stage actor and film star Michel Serrault (1928-2007) appeared from 1954 to 2007 in more than 150 films. He is best known as Albin Mougeotte, alias the outrageous drag queen Zaza Napoli in the play and the film series La Cage aux Folles (The Bird Cage). In the following decades, the comedian also proved to be a noted dramatic film actor. He would win three Césars - the French version of the Oscar and became one of the grand old men of French cinema.

Michel Serrault was born in Brunoy, south of Paris, in 1928. Although he wanted to be a circus clown, Serrault's parents sent him to a seminary to study for the priesthood. He spent only a few months there before taking-up acting. His first professional job was in a touring production in Germany of Molière's Les Fourberies de Scapin. After military service in Dijon, he returned to Paris and joined Robert Dhery's burlesque troupe and appeared in their second hit show, Dugudu. In 1948, he began his career in the theatre with Robert Dhéry in Les Branquignols. His first film was Ah! Les belles bacchantes/Peek-a-Boo (Jean Loubignac, 1954), starring Robert Dhéry. Then Serrault played in the suspense thriller Les Diaboliques/Diabolique (Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1955), starring Simone Signoret. In the early 1950s, he met Jean Poiret. Ronald Bergan at The Guardian: “This led to a song-and-comedy cabaret act, and their playing together in 18 films, from 1956 to 1984, and in a number of plays written by Poiret. Usually, Poiret was the calculating smoothie while Serrault was the bumbling innocent. With his flat voice, short stature, nondescript looks and little moustache, Serrault was perfect playing Everyman roles.” The films he made with Poiret include the box office hit Cette sacrée gamine/Mademoiselle Pigalle (Michel Boisrond, 1956) in which they played two police officers opposite Brigitte Bardot, and Sacha Guitry's last film, Assassins et Voleurs/Murderers and Thieves (Sacha Guitry, 1957) with Poiret as a man about to commit suicide and Serrault as a burglar who interrupts him. In the 1960s, Serrault was very active on screen. He made an average of four films a year, most of them comedies for the French market. Internationally known are La Belle Américaine/The American Beauty (Robert Dhèry, Pierre Tchernia, 1961), the title of which refers to a Cadillac; Roger Vadim's Le repos du Guerrier/Warrior's Rest (1962), with BB; the charming Bébert et L'Omnibus/Bebert and the Train (Yves Robert, 1963), and Le roi de Coeur/King Of Hearts (Philippe de Broca, 1966), in which Serrault played a crazy barber, one of the asylum escapees who have taken over a town.

From February 1973 through 1978, Michel Serrault portrayed the role of Albin/Zaza opposite Jean Poiret in Poiret’s play La Cage aux Folles (The Bird Cage), about a transvestite nightclub in St Tropez. He recreated the role of the effeminate, temperamental and middle-aged performer for the film version of the play, La Cage aux Folles (Edouard Molinaro,1978), now opposite Ugo Tognazzi. Ronald bergan At The Guardian: “Albin's volatile yet loving relationship with his longtime companion Renato (Ugo Tognazzi) is put to the test when they must pose as a ‘normal’ family to please the puritanical future in-laws of Renato's son. The film, which was to break all box-office records in the US for a foreign-language film to that date”. For his part, Serrault won both the César award in France and the David di Donatello in Italy. The success lead to progressively awful sequels, La Cage aux Folles II (Edouard Molinaro, 1980) and La cage aux folles 3 - 'Elles' se marine/La Cage aux Folles 3: The Wedding (Georges Lautner, 1985). He played the neighbour of Carole Laure, Gérard Dépardieu and Patrick Dewaere in the romantic comedy Préparez vos mouchoirs/Get Out Your Handkerchiefs (Bertrand Blier, 1978), which won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 51st Academy Awards. Other noted films in which he appeared were L'Argent des autres/Dirty money (Christian de Chalonge, 1978) starring Jean-Louis Trintignant, the crime thriller Buffet froid/Cold Cuts (Bertrand Blier, 1979) starring Gérard Depardieu, and Garde à Vue/The Inquisitor (Claude Miller, 1981) for which he won his second César. He gave another great performance in Les fantômes du chapelier/The Hatter's Ghost (Claude Chabrol, 1982), playing a respected citizen of a small town who murders his bedridden wife and other local women. He appeared opposite Isabelle Adjani in the thriller Mortelle randonnée/Deadly Circuit (Claude Miller, 1983). Serrault won this third César Award for Best Actor in Nelly et Monsieur Arnaud/Nelly and Mr. Arnaud (Claude Sautet, 1995) with Emmanuelle Béart. Other interesting films were Artemisia (Agnès Merlet, 1997) the biographical film about Italian Baroque painter Artemisia Gentileschi, the crime-comedy Rien ne va plus/The Swindle (Claude Chabrol, 1997) with Isabelle Huppert, and Les enfants du marais/The Children of the Marshland (Jean Becker, 1999). In 1999, Serrault was awarded the Légion d'Honneur, and two years later, he published his memoirs, Vous Avez Dit Serrault? (Did You Say Serrault?). His later films include Le papillon/The Butterfly (Philippe Muyl, 2002), the WW I drama Joyeux Noël/Happy Christmas (Christian Carion, 2005) and Pars vite et reviens tard/Have Mercy on Us All (Régis Wargnier, 2007) about the return of the Plague to modern Paris, and based on the 2003 novel by Fred Vargas. In 2007, Serrault died from relapsing polychondritis at his home in Équemauville at age 79. He was buried in Sainte-Catherine's cemetery in Honfleur and was transferred in 2009 to the cemetery of Neuilly-sur-Seine to be near his wife, Juanita Saint-Peyron, and daughter, Caroline, who had died in a car accident in 1977. He was survived by his daughter, actress Nathalie Serrault.

Sources: Ronald Bergan (The Guardian), Wikipedia and IMDb.

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French postcard by Editions Hazan, Paris, in the Collection Magie Noire, no. 1960. Photographer unknown.

French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, filmmaker, visual artist and critic Jean Cocteau (1889-1963) was one of the most multi-talented artists of the 20th century. He was one of the creatives of the surrealist, avant-garde, and Dadaist movements. He is best known for his novels 'Le Grand Écart' (1923), 'Le Livre blanc' (1928), and 'Les Enfants Terribles' (1929); the stage plays 'La Voix Humaine' (1930), 'La Machine Infernale' (1934), 'Les Parents terribles' (1938), and 'L'Aigle à deux têtes' (1946); and the films Le sang d'un poète/The Blood of a Poet (1930), La belle et la bête/Beauty and the Beast (1946), Les Parents Terribles (1948), Orphée/Orpheus (1950), and Le testament d'Orphée/Testament of Orpheus (1960). He collaborated with the "Russian Ballet" company of Sergei Diaghilev and was active in many art movements, but he always remained a poet at heart.

Jean Maurice Eugène Cocteau was born in 1889 in Maisons-Laffitte, Seine-et-Oise (now Yvelines), France. Cocteau was born into a middle-class family. He began writing at 10 and was a published poet by age 16. From 1908, he was a frequent guest in artistic circles. In 1911, he wrote the libretto for 'Le dieu bleu, a ballet by the Ballets Russes. In 1917 came 'Parade', an avant-garde ballet by Cocteau, for which Pablo Picasso, among others, designed the sets and costumes and Erik Satie composed the music. In Guillaume Apollinaire's programme booklet, to describe the ballet, the word surréaliste was used for the first time. the ballet was not a great success, but it did establish Cocteau's name in the avant-garde of Paris. In 1920, Cocteau began a relationship with the aspiring writer Raymond Radiguet, then aged 17. Cocteau was openly bisexual. After Radiguet released 'Le Diable au corps', a period of productivity followed for Cocteau. This stopped in 1923 when Radiguet died of typhoid fever. Cocteau became addicted to opium in the period that followed. In 1926, he published 'Le rappel à l'ordre', a book of essays describing the renewed interest in traditions in the post-World War I period. In 1929, Cocteau wrote his best-known work, Les Enfants terribles'.

Jean Cocteau's film debut Le sang d'un poète/The Blood of a Poet (1930) starring Enrique Rive, was a grand experiment in an effort to capture the poet's obsession with the struggle between the forces of life and death. Because of the October 1930 scandal around Luis Buñuel's L'âge d'or (1930) - another film financed by Le Vicomte de Noailles and Marie-Laure de Noailles, the Paris premiere of this film was delayed until January 1932. The film is the first part of Jean Cocteau's Orpheus Trilogy (1932-1960); a loosely connected telling and re-telling of the well-known Greek legend. His favourite actor was his protégé and lover Jean Marais, who starred in La belle et la bête/Beauty and the Beast (1946), L'aigle à deux têtes (1948) and Les parents terribles (1948). In Cocteau's most important film, Orphee/Orpheus (1950), Marais is a poet who becomes obsessed with a Princess, Death (Maria Casares). They fall in love. Orphee's wife, Eurydice (Marie Déa), is killed by the Princess' henchmen and Orphee goes after her into the Underworld. Although they have become dangerously entangled, the Princess sends Orphee back out of the Underworld, to carry on his life with Eurydice. Cocteau made about twelve films in his career, all rich with symbolism and surreal imagery. In Le testament d'Orphée/Testament of Orpheus. Cocteau himself played the poet Orpheus who looks back over his life and work, recalling his inspirations and obsessions. In 1955, he became a member of the Académie française and he was also awarded the French Legion of Honour. Jean Cocteau died at the age of 74. Cocteau's house in Milly-la-Forêt was bought by the government on the initiative of a committee that wants to keep his memory alive. It was inaugurated as a Cocteau museum in 2010.

Sources: Alan Katz (IMDb), Wikipedia (Dutch and English) and IMDb.

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