François Simon (actor)

François Simon as the flea circus director in Thomas Koerfer's film

François Simon (born August 16, 1917 in Geneva ; † October 5, 1982 there ) was a Swiss actor . In contrast to his father Michel Simon , who specializes in villain roles , François primarily embodied outsiders and artists. He was an actor and acting teacher at the Théâtre de Carouge .

Life

François Simon appeared in films with his father in 1935 and 1937. It was not easy for him to break out of the shadow of the all-powerful father. He worked for the first time with Jean-Louis Barrault and joined the theater company of the Pitoëffs , with whom he moved from Paris to Geneva at the outbreak of World War II , where he rose to a star of their theater under Ludmilla Pitoëff . In 1958 he founded the Théâtre de Carouge, where he discovered Brecht and Beckett for Switzerland. He returned to film with Charles mort ou vif by Alain Tanner . He worked with Claude Goretta , with Thomas Koerfer , with Daniel Schmid , with Patrice Chéreau , with André Cayatte and Francesco Rosi . His last film (Il Quartetto Basileus) was released posthumously .

Simon was married twice: in 1945 he married the actress Jutta Weiss and in 1976 the translator Ana Giugariu, née. Stanica. He had a daughter.

He died of emphysema .

Testimonies

“I think François Simon had something of an angel in him. By that I mean that part of the human being in search of the absolute. This flying to the truth [...] to the invisible. And this spiritual power. Even if he wasn't convinced of it, we never talked about it, I believe: François Simon had a prior knowledge of the immortality of the spirit and the cosmic power in which we all participate. And I believe that this is where our connection arose. "

- Jeanne Moreau

“Bertolt Brecht, François Simon […] For me, two paradigms of theater. I want to speak of François Simon, who, among other things, embodied thirty years of theater in Geneva - because his great, branching personality is not exhausted in this. In this city where the theater was loathed, where Voltaire long fought against the Republic of Shepherds to build a stage - and failed, François Simon taught us to love the theater. He gave him his conviction, his passion, his talent as a director, but above all his strange and very unique voice, vulnerable, fervent, hesitant, ironic, desperate - his breath. "

- Jean Ziegler

Filmography (selection)

• 1935: Sous les yeux d'Occident (feature film, director: Marc Allegret)
• 1937: Circonstances atténuantes (feature film, director: Jean Boyer )
• 1939: Fric-Frac (feature film, director: Maurice Lehman)
• 1949: Entendons-nous, tout ira mieux (short film, director: Kurt Früh )
• 1951: The Four in a Jeep (feature film, director: Leopold Lindtberg )
• 1957: Zürrer bakery (feature film, director: Kurt Früh)
• 1958: The rats of Paris (Les jeux dangereux)
• 1969: Charles - dead or alive (Charles mort ou vif)
• 1970: Der Verrückte (Le Fou) (Feature Film, Director: Claude Goretta)
• 1971: Die for Liebe (Mourir d'aimer) (feature film, director: André Cayatte)
• 1972: Corpo d'amore (feature film, director: Fabio Carpi)
• 1973: L'invitation (feature film, director: Claude Goretta)
• 1973: The death of the flea circus director or Ottocaro Weiß reforms his company (feature film, director: Thomas Koerfer)
• 1974: The great detectives (Les grands détectives) (TV series, 1 episode)
• 1975: The flesh of the orchid (La chair de l'orchidée) (feature film, director: Patrice Chéreau )
• 1975: In the Spotlight (Lumière) (Fiction, Director: Jeanne Moreau)
• 1977: Alzire or the new continent (feature film, director: Thomas Koerfer)
• 1977: Violanta (feature film, director: Daniel Schmid)
• 1978: The Last Edition (Judith Therpauve) (feature film, director: Patrice Chéreau)
• 1978: Escape into Exile (Rousseau) (TV multi-part series, director: Claude Goretta, BBC)
• 1979: Christ only came to Eboli (Cristo si è fermato a Eboli) (feature film, director: Francesco Rosi) - based on the novel of the same name by Carlo Levi
• 1980: The Policewoman (La femme flic) (Feature film, Director: Yves Boisset , France)
• 1982: Il Quartetto Basileus (feature film, director: Fabio Carpi, Italy)

literature

• Bernard Gasser : François Simon. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . May 16, 2013 .
• François Simon, acteur. Favre, Lausanne 1986, ISBN 2-8289-0219-6 . (Photos, tributes from directors and friends, and extensive filmography).
• François Marin, Joël Aguet: François Simon . In: Andreas Kotte (Ed.): Theater Lexikon der Schweiz - Dictionnaire du théâtre en Suisse. Volume 3, Chronos, Zurich 2005, ISBN 3-0340-0715-9 , pp. 1686–1688. (French)
• Ana Simon (eds.): Michel Simon, François Simon, acteurs - Falstaff et Hamlet. Georg Editeur, Geneva 1992, ISBN 2-8257-0437-7 .

Web links

• François Simon in the Internet Movie Database (English)