Jean Gabin
Jean Gabin Alexis Moncorgé (born Jean-Alexis Moncorgé), known as Jean Gabin (17 May 1904 – 15 November 1976), was a French actor and singer. Considered a key figure in French cinema, he starred in several classic films, including Pépé le Moko (1937), La grande illusion (1937), Le Quai des brumes (1938), La bête humaine (1938), Le jour se lève (1939), and Le plaisir (1952). During his career, he twice won the Silver Bear for Best Actor from the Berlin International Film Festival and the Volpi Cup for Best Actor from the Venice Film Festival, respectively. Gabin was made a member of the Légion d'honneur in recognition of the important role he played in French cinema.
Gabin was born Jean-Alexis Moncorgé in Paris, the son of Madeleine Petit and Ferdinand Moncorgé, a cafe owner and cabaret entertainer whose stage name was Gabin, which is a first name in French. He grew up in the village of Mériel in the Seine-et-Oise (now Val-d'Oise) département, about 22 mi (35 km) north of Paris. He attended the Lycée Janson de Sailly. Gabin left school early, and worked as a laborer until the age of 19 when he entered show business with a bit part in a Folies Bergère production. He continued performing in a variety of minor roles before going into the military.
After completing his military service in the Fusiliers marins, he returned to the entertainment business, working under the stage name of Jean Gabin at whatever was offered in the Parisian music halls and operettas, imitating the singing style of Maurice Chevalier, which was the rage at the time. He was part of a troupe that toured South America, and upon returning to France found work at the Moulin Rouge. His performances started getting noticed, and better stage roles came along that led to parts in two silent films in 1928.
Two years later Gabin made the transition to sound films in a 1930 Pathé Frères production, Chacun sa chance. Playing secondary roles, he made more than a dozen films over the next four years, including films directed by Maurice and Jacques Tourneur. But he only gained real recognition for his performance in Maria Chapdelaine, a 1934 production directed by Julien Duvivier. He was then cast as a romantic hero in the 1936 war drama La Bandera; this second Duvivier-directed film established him as a major star. The next year he teamed up with Duvivier again in the highly successful Pépé le Moko. Its popularity brought Gabin international recognition. That same year he starred in Jean Renoir's La Grande Illusion, an antiwar film that ran at a New York City theatre for an unprecedented six months. This was followed by another of Renoir's major works, La Bête Humaine (The Human Beast), a film noir tragedy based on the novel by Émile Zola and starring Gabin and Simone Simon, as well as Le Quai Des Brumes (Port of Shadows), one of director Marcel Carné's classics of poetic realism. His rugged charisma could be compared with Humphrey Bogart and James Cagney.
He divorced his second wife in 1939. ...
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Known for
Moontide
Bobo
Maria Chapdelaine
François Paradis
Le Plaisir
Joseph Rivet
Victor
Victor
Holy Year
Max Lambert
Napoleon
Marshal Jean Lannes
Zouzou
Jean
Storms
il professore Antonio Sanna
Mirror
Pierre Lussac
The President
Émile Beaufort
Gloria
Robert Nourry
Varieté
Georges
The Tattoo
Count Enguerand de Montignac,aka 'Legrain'
Behold the Man
Ponce Pilate
The Counterfeiters of Paris
Ferdinand Maréchal, aka 'le Dabe'
Pasha
Comissaire Joss, le Pacha
Rue de Paris
Henri Neveu
Le Tunnel
Mac Allan
Pépé le Moko
Pépé le Moko
Monsieur
Monsieur
The Messenger
Nicolas Dange
Razzia
Henri Ferré dit 'Le Nantais'
The Possessors
Noël Schoudler, le patriarche financier
L'Étoile de Valencia
Pedro Savedra
The Night Affair
Georges Vallois
Crime and Punishment
Commissaire Gallet
Marlene Dietrich: Her Own Song
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Touchez Pas au Grisbi
Max dit Max le Menteur
Les Misérables
Jean Valjean / Champmathieu
The Impostor
Clément / Maurice Lafarge
La Bête Humaine
Lantier
The Sicilian Clan
Vittorio Manalese
Lady Killer
Lucien Bourrache, dit 'Gueule d'Amour'
Grand Illusion
Le lieutenant Maréchal
Stormy Waters
Le capitaine André Laurent
Under the Sign of the Bull
Albert Raynal
Encyclopédie audiovisuelle du cinéma
Self (archive footage)
House on the Waterfront
Commander Lequévic
The Cat
Julien Bouin
The Darling of Paris
Bob
Two Men in Town
Germain Cazeneuve
The Little Rebels
Julien Lamy
French Cancan
Henri Danglard
Maigret Sees Red
Commissaire Jules Maigret
La Traversée de Paris
Grandgil, artist painter
Port of Shadows
Jean
The Image Book
(archive footage)
Mireille Darc, la femme libre
Monsieur (archive footage)
Maigret Sets a Trap
Commissaire Maigret
The Century of Icons
Self (archive footage)
Any Number Can Win
Charles
The Gardener of Argenteuil
M. Martin dit « Le père Tulipe »
Love Is My Profession
André Gobillot
Killer
Commissioner Le Guen
The Horse
Auguste Maroilleur
Maigret and the St. Fiacre Case
Commissioner Jules Maigret
Deadlier Than the Male
André Chatelin
A Monkey in Winter
Albert Quentin
That Tender Age
Émile Malhouin
Quand Jean devint Renoir
Self (archive footage)
Action Man
Denis Ferrand
Daybreak
François
Belmondo: The Incorrigible
The Case of Dr. Laurent
le docteur Laurent
Jury of One
Leguen
Hi-Jack Highway
Jean Chape
The Truth About Bebe Donge
François Donge
The Old Guard
Jean-Marie Pejat, bicycle repairer
La Bandera
Pierre Gilieth
Everyone Has Their Chance
Marcel Grivot
Goodbye Beautiful Days
Pierre Lavernay
The Walls of Malapaga
Pierre Arrignon
The Upper Hand
Paul Berger dit Paulo les Diam's
Their Last Night
Pierre Ruffin
Méphisto
Jacques Miral
The Lower Depths
Pepel Wasska
High and Low
Charles Boulla
God's Thunder
Léandre Brassac
Martin Roumagnac
Martin Roumagnac
Blood to the Head
François Cardinaud
The Magnificent Tramp
Joseph, Hugues Guillaume Boutier-Blainville dit : Archimède
The Night Is My Kingdom
Raymond Pinsard
The Dominici Affair
Gaston Dominici
The Baron of the Locks
Baron Jérôme Napoléon Antoine
Marie of the Port
Henri Chatelard
The Gentleman from Epsom
Richard Briand-Charmery
La Belle Équipe
Jean dit Jeannot
Speaking of Murder
Louis Bertain/Louis le blond
Air of Paris
Victor Le Garrec
Alain Delon, l'ombre au tableau
Self (archive footage)
Lilac
Martousse
Michel Audiard et le mystère du triangle des Bermudes
Self (archive footage)
People of No Importance
Jean Viard
Coral Reefs
Ted "Trott" Lennard
The Beautiful Sailor
Le capitaine
Belmondo, il était une fois le beau monde
Self (archive footage)
Rhine Virgin
Martin Schmidt, alias Jacques Ledru
Les lions
Happy Hearts
Charles
The Crowd Roars
Joe Greer
Lino Ventura, la part intime
Self (archive footage)
All That Is Not Worth Love
Jean Cordier
Fun in the Barracks
Fricot
Twelve Hours to Live
Carlo Bacchi
Jean Gabin, le dernier des géants
Self (archive footage)
The Black Flag Waves Over the Scow
Victor Ploubaz
For One Night..!
Jean
The Moment of Truth
Dr Pierre Richard
Jean Gabin, une âme française
Self (archive footage)
Jean Moncorgé, la face cachée de Jean Gabin
Self (archive footage)
Ohé! Les valises
Sacrée Soirée
Self (archive footage)
Spécial cinéma
Self (archive footage)
Cinépanorama
Self
V.I.P. Schaukel
Self