Marcel Pagnol
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Marcel Pagnol (February 28, 1895 – April 18, 1974) was a French novelist, playwright, and filmmaker. In 1946, he became the first filmmaker elected to the Académie Française.
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Biography
Born February 28, 1895 in Aubagne, Bouches-du-Rhône département, in southern France near Marseille, the son of school teacher Joseph Pagnol and seamstress Augustine Lansot, Marcel Pagnol grew up in Marseille with his younger brothers Paul, René, and younger sister Germaine.
He learned how to read at a young age to his father's amazement but his mother did not allow him to touch a book until he was six "for fear of cerebral explosion". During this time he spent many summers with his family in a house, the Bastide Neuve, in the sleepy Provençal village of La Treille in the hills between Aubagne and Marseiile.
At the age of 15, he wrote his first play and, after winning a prestigious scholarship to the Lycee, eventually followed in his father's footsteps to become an English teacher for secondary schools. However, he stopped teaching when he went to Paris, instead devoting his life to playwriting. His first adult play, Merchants of Glory, was produced in 1924. In 1929 he wrote Marius for the Paris Theatre, which would be turned into Pagnol's first film in 1931.
In 1916, he married Simone Colin in Marseille, to the displeasure of his father.[1]. They divorced in 1941. In 1945 he married Jacqueline Bouvier.
Marcel Pagnol was elected a member of the Académie Française in 1946. He was the first film maker ever to receive this honour.
He died in Paris on April 18, 1974. He is buried in the municipal cemetery at La Treille, along with his mother and father, brothers, and wife. His boyhood friend, Baptistin Magnan (Lili des Bellons in the autographies), died at the Second Battle of the Marne in 1917[2] and is buried nearby.
Pagnol adapted his own film Manon des Sources, which starred his wife in the titular role, into two novels collectively titled L'Eau des collines. Those were in turn adapted back to international acclaim in the 1980s by film-maker Claude Berri as Jean de Florette and Manon des Sources. Pagnol's affectionate reminiscences of childhood, La Gloire de mon père and Le château de ma mère were also filmed successfully by Yves Robert in 1990.
Awards
- 1939: Best foreign film for HARVEST - New-York Critic's Circle Awards
- 1940: Best foreign film for THE BAKER'S WIFE - New-York Critic's Circle Awards
- 1950: Best foreign film for JOFROI - New-York Critic's Circle Awards
Bibliography
- Merchants of Glory (1925, theatre play)
- Jazz (1926, theatre play)
- Topaze (1930, theatre play)
- Marius (1929, theatre play)
- Fanny (1932, theatre play)
- César (1936, theatre play)
- La Gloire de mon père and Le château de ma mère (1957, autobiographies)
- Le Temps des secrets (1959, autobiography)
- L'Eau des collines (Jean de Florette and Manon des Sources) (1964, novels)
- Le Temps des amours (1977, autobiography)
- Le Secret du masque de fer (1965, essay)
Filmography, as director
- Marius (1931)
- Fanny (1933)
- Jofroi (1933)
- Angèle (1934)
- Merlusse (1935)
- Cigalon (1935)
- Topaze (1936), first version
- César (1936)
- Regain (1937)
- Le Schpountz (1938)
- La Femme du boulanger (1938)
- La Fille du puisatier (1940)
- La Prière aux étoiles (1941, unfinished)
- Naïs (1945)
- La Belle meunière (1948, in colour)
- Topaze (1951, starring Fernandel), second version
- Manon des Sources (1952 film) (later remade in 1986 as Manon des Sources)
- Les Lettres de mon moulin (1954).
References
- ^ www.marcel-pagnol.com
- ^ [Le Chateau de ma mere(2nd to last chapter)]
External links
- Marcel Pagnol at the Internet Movie Database
- Official website (French) (English)
- (www.imdb.com/name/nm0656528)
| Preceded by Maurice Donnay |
Seat 25 Académie française 1946–74 |
Succeeded by Jean Bernard |
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