- Gabin, Jean
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orig. Jean-Alexis Moncorgédied Nov. 15, 1976, ParisFrench film actor.The son of a music-hall comedian, he began as a performer at the Folies-Bergère (1923). After making his film debut in 1931 he earned critical and popular acclaim in Maria Chapdelaine (1934), Pépé le moko (1937), Grand Illusion (1937), The Human Beast (1938), and Daybreak (1939), often portraying the silent, tough antihero surviving in a world of social outcasts. He appeared in several films as Georges Simenon's detective character, Inspector Maigret, and also in Speaking of Murder (1959), Money, Money, Money (1962), and The Upper Hand (1967).
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▪ French actororiginal name Jean-Alexis Moncorgéborn May 17, 1904, Paris, Francedied Nov. 15, 1976, Parisone of the most popular film actors in France from the 1930s to the '60s.Gabin was the son of a music-hall comedian (stage name Jean Gabin). In 1923 he began a theatrical career in the Folies-Bergère but left the stage after his film debut in Chacun sa chance (1931). He achieved fame in Maria Chapdelaine (1934) and later in Pépé le Moko (1937), directed by Julien Duvivier. One of his most memorable roles was in director Jean Renoir's Grande Illusion (1937; Grand Illusion), a classic antiwar film. In Quai des brumes (1938; U.S. title, Port of Shadows) and Le Jour se lève (1939; Daybreak), both directed by Marcel Carné, Gabin was cast as a tough-willed son of misfortune surviving in a marginal world of social outcasts. In his later films, he often portrayed detective or gangland figures—e.g., Inspector Maigret and competent professional criminals in Touchez pas au Grisbi (1953), Speaking of Murder (1959), Money, Money, Money (1962), and The Upper Hand (1967).* * *
Universalium. 2010.
