Gerard Philipe was one of the major actors in French cinema. He was born in 1922 in Cannes. He made his film debut in 1943 and won stunning acclaim for his performance in “Devil in the Flesh” in 1947. Other movies include “La Ronde” in 1950, “Fanfan La Tulipe” and “Les Belles de Nuit”. Tragically he died at the age of 36 in 1959.
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In 1940 Gerard left school and his parents wanted him be a lawyer. But soon his mother noticed that he was only interested in acting, although his father was against the idea. After timely intervention from Mark Allégret, who decided he showed some promise, Gerard’s debut was in Claude Dauphin’s play “One plain girl”. After this, Gerard decided to get into the conservatory. He was wonder even in music. He himself used to find necessary sounds – exact, unexpected, and unforeseen. All this helped him to portray amazing characters. Millions of people were inspired by him.
One day Georges Lacombe offered Philipe a part in his movie “Land Without Stars”. Critical reaction was very favourable and he became a star, taking on prominent roles in films such as “The Idiot”, “Devil in the Flesh”, “The Charterhouse of Parma”, “Such a Pretty Little Beach”, “Juliette, or The Key of Dreams”, “Fan-Fan the Tulip”, “Beauties of the Night”, “The Red and the Black”, “The Best Part” and “The Gambler”.
In 1951 Gerard Philipe married Annie. He dreamed of his own home and family, children. Their first child, Ann-Marie, was born in 1954, and in 1956 came Olivie. In 1959 Gerard returned to France. He seemed to be very tired. Doctors then gave him the bad news that he had a liver cancer. “He’ll live 15 days or 6 months”, – they decided. After that Gerard waited for death very calmly. On November 25, 1959 he died.
