Louis Jouvet Biography

MARITAL STATUS
Professions Actor , Director
Birth name Jules Eugène Louis Jouvet
Nationality French
Birth December 24, 1887 (Crozon, Finistère, France)
Death August 16, 1951
BIOGRAPHY
Louis Jouvet, whose real name was Jules Eugène Louis Jouvet, was born in Brittany, more precisely in Crozon. He undertook pharmaceutical studies, encouraged by his family, and intended a career as an apothecary. Very quickly, young Louis discovered an unwavering passion for the theater and decided to devote himself exclusively to the stage. He attempted the entrance exam to the Paris Conservatory of Dramatic Art three times but failed on each attempt. The budding actor is not discouraged, however. He met Jacques Copeau, a famous intellectual from the beginning of the 20th century and owner of the Vieux Colombier. Copeau decides to have him work there as general manager. It was on the job that Jouvet learned what the professions of actor and director were.

In 1927, Louis Jouvet set up his own theater association, the Cartel des quatre , with Charles Dullin , Gaston Baty and Georges Pitoeff . They created a catalog of famous pieces, including those by Jean Giraudoux, Jules Romains and Molière. Jouvet becomes a man of the stage in his own right and forges an acting style that is recognizable among thousands. He overcomes his natural stuttering with syncopated pronunciation. He creates his own repertoire of facial expressions, each more unforgettable than the last. His hollow face, his lively gaze and his slim silhouette full of elegance contribute fully to his acting identity. It was not until 1932, at the age of 45, that Louis Jouvet finally tried his hand at cinema with Topaz by Louis J. Gasnier , where he plays the professor character who gives the film its title. A year later, he undertook an adaptation of a play by Jules Romain that he had performed on stage several times. This is Knock , which he co-directed with Roger Goupillieres . His role as a manipulative doctor allows him to establish himself in the new landscape of French cinema, which has only just entered the era of talkies.

The actor began a real cinematic career and made nearly 18 films between 1935 and 1941. We remember him as a vicious monk in La Kermesse humaine (1935) by Jacques Feyder , as a German agent in Salonique, nest of spies (1936). ) by Georg Wilhelm Pabst , as a dishonored aristocrat in Les Bas-Fonds (id.) by Jean Renoir , as an unscrupulous businessman in Forfaiture (1937) by Marcel L’Herbier or even as an Anglican bishop in Funny Drama (id .) by Marcel Carné. He collaborated with the greatest French directors of the time but claimed to only make films to finance his theater company. He worked again with Marcel Carné on Hôtel du Nord (1938) where he played a sentimental little thug, undoubtedly one of the most beautiful roles he ever played. Julien Duvivier directed him three times in the space of three years, in Un Carnet de bal (1937) where he rubbed shoulders with Harry Baur , La Fin du jour (1938) with Michel Simon and La Charrette phantome (1940) where he met Pierre Fresnay . The same year, he also appeared in L’Ecole des femmes (id.), an adaptation by Max Ophüls of Molière’s play.

After the Second World War, which slowed down all of his professional activities, Louis Jouvet reappeared on the screen in Untel père et fils (filmed in 1943) by Julien Duvivier , where he played a father and his son. The actor continued filming again and delivered some of his best acting performances in Un Revenant (1946) by Christian-Jaque , where he played a choreographer who returned to the places of his childhood to settle scores, in Copie conforme (1947 ) by Jean Dréville where he plays a burglar and his countless doubles, and especially in Quai des orfèvres (1947) by Henri-Georges Clouzot where he appears in the guise of a disturbing police officer full of anger. As fate would have it, one of his last films was the remake of the work that revealed him in the cinema: Knock . This time, the direction is by Guy Lefranc . The film, released in 1950, allows Louis Jouvet to put himself back in the shoes of the tireless, mischievous doctor. The actor died in 1951 following a heart attack. Louis Jouvet is today considered one of the greatest actors of classical French cinema, in the same way as Jean Gabin or Michel Simon . A shame for someone who has always observed cinema with great distrust, claiming theater as his favorite field. Several of his lines ( “Be careful, does it tickle you or does it itch?” in Knock , “Did I say weird? How weird…” in Funny Drama ) are become legendary.