Félix Marten
Félix Paul Gabriel Marten (born October 29, 1919 in Remagen , Germany , † November 20, 1992 in La Celle-Saint-Cloud , France ) was a German-born, French actor and singer .
Live and act
Marten, who came from the Rhineland , left Germany with his parents at the time of National Socialism because he was considered a half-Jew according to the Nazi ideology and from then on lived in Cachan near Paris . In order to support the family financially, he started working at the age of 15 and became a seller. Later Marten also worked as a dock worker and carpet dealer. Eventually he enrolled in an acting class from Charles Dullin .
In World War II Félix Marten began his artistic career as a singer in the Cabaret. In 1944 he was arrested by the Gestapo and had to work as a slave laborer in his old homeland, Germany . In February 1945 he was the only one of a group of French men to survive the air raids on Dresden . Marten tried to leave for France, but was intercepted shortly before the Swiss border and again interrogated by the Gestapo.
“The subsequent interrogation took a surprising turn - Marten remembered the following wording: Gestapo:“ Profession? ”, Marten:“ Artist ”, Gestapo:“ Prove it! ”. Thereupon the singer gave a taste of his singing skills and improvised with the following lines of text, "Ça descend, puis ça remonte, c'est comme un mouvement incessant ..." that describe his unsteady, dramatic and dangerous life. Impressed by that, the local Gestapo chief finally let him go. "
In liberated Paris, Marten, advised and supported by Édith Piaf , continued his singing. His interpretations of songs such as La mer and La vie en rose made him known and popular . A series of film offers were added a little later. Marten played alongside 50s stars like Martine Carol , Viviane Romance , Michèle Morgan and Jean Gabin in virtually all of the popular film genres of the time, but without making too much of an impression. His main field of activity remained the chanson until the end; Tours have taken him all over the world, u. a. to Bombay and New York City . At the age of 70 Marten withdrew into private life, Marten gave his farewell performance in 1989 in the famous Casino de Paris.
Filmography
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annotation
- ↑ Kay Less : Between the stage and the barracks. Lexicon of persecuted theater, film and music artists from 1933 to 1945 . With a foreword by Paul Spiegel . Metropol, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-938690-10-9 , p. 238.
literature
- Kay Less : Between the stage and the barracks. Lexicon of persecuted theater, film and music artists from 1933 to 1945 . With a foreword by Paul Spiegel . Metropol, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-938690-10-9 , p. 238.
Web links
- Félix Marten in the Internet Movie Database (English)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Marten, Félix |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Marten, Félix Paul Gabriel (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German-born, French actor and singer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 29, 1919 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Remagen , Germany |
| DATE OF DEATH | November 20, 1992 |
| Place of death | La Celle-Saint-Cloud , France |