Jean-Louis Barrault (September 8, 1910 – January 22, 1994 in Le Vésinet) was a French actor, director and mime artist, training that served him well when he portrayed the 19th-century mime Jean-Gaspard Deburau (Baptiste Debureau) in Marcel Carné's 1945 film Les Enfants du Paradis (Children of Paradise).
Jean-Louis Barrault studied with the mime artist Etienne Decroux and made his debut (at the age of 21) in the Théâtre de l'Atelier. After 1935, he worked with his own ensemble. Over his career, he acted in nearly 50 movies including Les beaux jours, Jenny, L'Or dans la Montagne and Sous les Yeux d'occident.
In 1940, he married the actress Madeleine Renaud. They founded many theatres together and toured extensively, including in South America.
He was the uncle of actress Marie-Christine Barrault and sometime sponsor of Peter Brook. He died from a heart attack in Paris at the age of 84.
Jean-Louis Barrault, Reflections on the Theatre:
"In fact it is the simplest things that are the most tricky to do well. To read, for example. To be able to read exactly what is written without omitting anything that is written and at the same time without adding anything of one's own. To be able to capture the exact context of the words one is reading. To be able to read!"
Dr. Cordelier and M. Opale
Perhaps the greatest extant display of his skill as a mime is in the 1959 made-for-TV movie directed by Jean Renoir, Le Testament du Docteur Cordelier (The Testament of Doctor Cordelier, a.k.a. Experiment in Evil), based on Robert Louis Stevenson's novella, Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, in which Barrault, unaided by any additional make-up, editing or camera tricks, completely transforms himself, entirely on-screen, in an unbroken sequential shoot, from the noble Dr. Cordelier into the evil and wicked M. Opale.
References
^ IMDb list of film appearances
^ Jean-Louis Barrault, Reflections on the Theatre. London: Rockcliff, 1951
^ IMDb entry for Cordelier
External links
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Jean-Louis Barrault
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Categories: French film director stubs | French actor stubs | Deaths by myocardial infarction | French actors | French film directors | Mimes | 1910 births | 1994 deaths | Sociétaires of the Comédie-Française
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