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Charles Denner
Charles Denner
	Marie-Pierre de Gérando et Charles Denner
Born	29 May 1926 ; Tarnów
Died	10 September 1995 (aged 69); Dreux
Occupation	Film actor

Charles Denner (29 May 1926 – 10 September 1995) was a French actor born to a Jewish family in Tarnów, Poland. During his 30-year career he worked with some of France's greatest directors of the time, including Louis Malle, Claude Chabrol, Jean-Luc Godard, Costa-Gavras, Claude Lelouch and François Truffaut, who gave him two of his most memorable roles, as Fergus in The Bride Wore Black (1968) and as Bertrand Morane in The Man Who Loved Women (1977).^[1]

Early life

Charles Denner was born in 1926 to a Jewish family in the city of Tarnów in south-eastern Poland. When he was four, they emigrated to France.

During World War II, his family took refuge in Brive-la-Gaillarde, where they were helped by Rabbi David Feuerwerker. Denner served as a Free French partisan in the Vercors mountains and destroyed a Nazi SS truck with a grenade; he was wounded and later received the Croix de Guerre for this operation.

Passionate about theatre from his childhood, Denner became a student of Charles Dullin, a famous theatre teacher of his time, under whose guidance he remained until 1945. Another great figure of French theatre, Jean Vilar, impressed by Denner's performance at Les mamelles de Tirésias (The Breasts of Tiresias), called him four years after he left Vilar to join the Théâtre National Populaire (TNP). It was there that he gave some of his earliest stage performances, in plays such as Heinrich von Kleist's Prinz Friedrich von Homburg and Alfred de Musset's Lorenzaccio, among others.

Career

In 1955, director Yves Allégret offered Denner a small role in La Meilleure part (The Best Part), thus introducing him for the first time to cinema audiences. Two years later, in 1957, he secured another secondary role in Louis Malle's legendary Elevator to the Gallows, alongside Jeanne Moreau, a co-performer of his from the days of the TNP.

In 1962 Jean-Luc Godard wanted to film Jean Giraudoux's play Pour Lucrèce starring Denner along with Sami Frey and Michel Piccoli, but when cast and crew had already been assembled he called off the shoot on the first day of filming after a prolonged downpour caused a long delay.^[2]

In 1963 Denner was offered his first leading role by Claude Chabrol in Landru, a film considered by many as his greatest on-screen performance. Despite his growing recognition on the big screen, the stage remained his true passion. He gave his most memorable performances in plays such as Molière's Les Fourberies de Scapin (Scapin's Schemings) and Brecht's Drums in the Night.

Death

On 10 September 1995 Denner died of pneumonia in Dreux, France.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Director	Notes
1954	Poisson d'avril	a guest in a café	Gilles Grangier	Uncredited
1954	Men in White	Un interne	Ralph Habib
1954	La Meilleure Part	Un ingénieur adjoint	Yves Allégret
1958	Elevator to the Gallows	L'adjoint du commissaire Cherrier	Louis Malle
1963	Bluebeard	Henri Désiré Landru	Claude Chabrol
1964	La Vie à l'envers	Jacques Valin	Alain Jessua
	Les plus belles escroqueries du monde	the swindler	Jean-Luc Godard	(segment "Le Grand Escroq") (scenes deleted)
	Les Pieds nickelés	Filochard	Jean-Claude Chambon
	Mata Hari, Agent H21	Soldier #1	Jean-Louis Richard	Uncredited
1965	Marie-Chantal contre le docteur Kha	Johnson	Claude Chabrol
1965	The Sleeping Car Murders	Bob Vaski - l'amant de Georgette	Costa-Gavras
1966	YUL 871	L'ingénieur européen	Jacques Godbout
1967	The Thief of Paris	Jean-François Cannonier	Louis Malle
1967	The Two of Us	Monsieur Langmann	Claude Berri
1968	The Bride Wore Black	Fergus	François Truffaut
1968	La trêve	Julien	Claude Guillemot
1969	Z	Manuel	Costa-Gavras
1969	Le corps de Diane	Julien Keller	Jean-Louis Richard
1970	Le Voyou	Monsieur Gallois	Claude Lelouch
1971	The Married Couple of the Year Two	the traveller	Jean-Paul Rappeneau
1971	Law Breakers	Graziani	Marcel Carné
1972	L'aventure, c'est l'aventure	Simon Duroc	Claude Lelouch
1972	Such a Gorgeous Kid Like Me	Arthur	François Truffaut
1973	The Inheritor	David Loweinstein	Philippe Labro
	Un officier de police sans importance	Serge Monnier	Jean Larriaga
	Défense de savoir	Jean Ravier	Nadine Trintignant
1974	The Holes	Ministre des travaux publics	Pierre Tchernia
1974	And Now My Love	David Goldman	Claude Lelouch
1975	Peur sur la ville	Inspector Moissac	Henri Verneuil
1975	Vous ne l'emporterez pas au paradis	Nicolas	François Dupont-Midi
1976	If I Had to Do It All Over Again	the lawyer	Claude Lelouch
	Mado	Reynald Manecca	Claude Sautet
	La Première Fois	Father	Claude Berri
1977	The Man Who Loved Women	Bertrand Morane	François Truffaut
1978	Robert et Robert	Robert Goldman	Claude Lelouch
1980	La verdad sobre el caso Savolta	Lepprince	Antonio Drove
1980	Le coeur à l'envers	Guillaume	Franck Apprederis
1982	Mille milliards de dollars [fr]	Walte	Henri Verneuil
1982	A Captain's Honor	Maître Gillard - un avocat	Pierre Schoendoerffer
1983	Rock 'n Torah	Joseph, le père d'Isaac	Marc-André Grynbaum
1983	Stella	Richard	Laurent Heynemann
1986	L'unique	Vox, le producteur	Jérôme Diamant-Berger
1986	Golden Eighties	M. Schwartz	Chantal Akerman	(final film role)

References

^ Riding, Alan (1995-09-12). "Charles Denner, 69, French Star Of Truffaut and Lelouch Films". The New York Times. Retrieved 2013-07-15.
^ Witt, Michael (1958), "Unfinished Business: Godard, Cinema and Theatre in the 1960s" in James Fenwick, Kieran Foster, David Eldridge (eds.), Shadow Cinema: The Historical and Production Contexts of Unmade Films, pp. 76-80, Bloomsbury Publishing USA, 2020 (ISBN 9781501351600).