Albert Préjean
Albert Préjean (born October 27, 1894 in Pantin near Paris , † November 1, 1979 in Paris) was a French stage and film actor , at the beginning of the sound film age one of the top screen stars in his country.
Live and act
At a young age, Préjean worked as a boxer and began his artistic career as a singer and acrobat in concert cafes in Paris. During the First World War he was a successful fighter pilot in the Fliegerstaffel Escadrille des Cigognes .
Préjean was brought to the film in 1921 as a stunt double for a colleague in Henri Diamant-Berger's version of the popular Dumas fabric The Three Musketeers . He soon gained stardom with roles of powerful youthful heroes and lovers. His heroes usually had a heart of gold, stunning charm and, if necessary, hard fists. The female fan audience was particularly enthusiastic about Préjean.
The director René Clair used the actor again and again: After Paris qui there , The Soul Thief of the Moulin-Rouge and Le Voyage imaginaire , this collaboration first culminated in 1927 in The Florentine Hat , a turbulent story about a straw hat that a horse wore on the hero's wedding day eats away a lady. With the role of the street singer Albert in Clair's legendary Milieu film Under the Roofs of Paris , Préjean not only made a brilliant debut in sound film in 1930, but also found his most appropriate role in this character: he played a kind of alter ego there . Albert corresponded perfectly to Préjean's self-image: he loved women and was not averse to a fight - a reminiscence of his boxing past - he was a do-it-all with a decent core, a Parisian bohemian of the backyards and alleys, a street singer and little crook.
Also in 1930 the actor got the role of Mackie Messer in the French version of GW Pabst's Threepenny Opera , which he also completed perfectly. Préjean also took on leading roles in other French versions of the original German-language versions. In his early talkies - since A Razzia in Paris (1931), in which he played alongside Annabella - he initially successfully switched to entertainment as a comedian and operetta singer. Préjean played with Gaby Morlay , Françoise Rosay , Martine Carol and several times with Danielle Darrieux , as in 1935 in the particularly successful musical comedy Quelle drôle de gosse! by Léo Joannon . With the advent of melancholy, realistic cinema and its congenial representative Jean Gabin since the mid-30s, Préjean's star gradually began to decline. Although he continued to play leading roles (including three times Commissioner Maigret ), he was unable to continue his great successes.
After the Second World War, Préjean could only be seen in supporting roles, he now embodied sedate characters (hotel manager in Adorables démons , criminal inspector in The Ship of Dangerous Men ), most recently in two films with the new action and beating film idol Eddie Constantine .
His son Patrick Préjean has followed in his footsteps and works as an actor. In 1979 he published an interview tape about his father.
Filmography
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annotation
- ↑ other sources give the year of birth 1893
literature
- Kay Less : The film's great personal dictionary. The actors, directors, cameramen, producers, composers, screenwriters, film architects, outfitters, costume designers, editors, sound engineers, make-up artists and special effects designers of the 20th century. Volume 6: N - R. Mary Nolan - Meg Ryan. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89602-340-3 , p. 327 f.
Web links
- Albert Préjean in the Internet Movie Database (English)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Préjean, Albert |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | French actor |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 27, 1894 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Pantin |
| DATE OF DEATH | November 1, 1979 |
| Place of death | Paris |