Georges Poujouly

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Georges Poujouly (1953)

Georges Poujouly (born January 20, 1940 in Garches , Hauts-de-Seine , † October 28, 2000 in Villejuif , Val-de-Marne ) was a French actor, radio play and voice actor.

Life

Georges Poujouly was born the son of an unmarried factory worker. His family originally came from Auvergne and Corsica . Poujouly grew up in modest circumstances before he was discovered for the film by René Clément in a summer camp for socially disadvantaged children in Yonne. Clément was preparing Forbidden Games (1952) at this time . Originally planned as part of an episode film, the drama is set against the backdrop of the beginning World War II . It tells the story of a five-year-old girl from Paris (played by Brigitte Fossey ) who loses her parents in occupied France and then finds accommodation and new friends with a peasant family. Having become familiar with death, religion and funeral rituals, the orphan girl begins to act out the events that surround her with the youngest farmer's son (portrayed by Poujouly).

With Forbidden Games , Réne Clément achieved an international breakthrough among critics and audiences. The film won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival and was honored with the honorary award for best foreign language film at the 1953 Academy Awards . The performances of the two child actors, who were still untested in the cinema, also moved into the focus of international critics. According to Bosley Crowther ( The New York Times ), the 11-year-old Poujouly played the lead role of Michel "not as a creature of youthful arrogance, but of spiritual splendor." The British film critic Richard Winnington, who spoke about the part of the boy, was even more positive that of the girl: "But the boy is a little more - himself an actor - and through his performance one enjoys the privilege of rediscovering the sweet dreams and the bitter torment of childhood."

After the success of the film, Poujouly's mother gave up the job and managed her son's income, which she is said to have embezzled later. In contrast to Brigitte Fossey, who should only successfully resume her film career in adulthood after the Forbidden Games , Poujouly continued working as an actor. Despite supporting roles under such well-known directors as André Cayatte ( We are all murderers , 1952), Yves Allégret ( The Young Crazy , 1952), Henri-Georges Clouzot ( The Devilish , 1955), Christian-Jaque ( TKX does not answer , 1956) or Roger Vadim ( … and always beckons women , 1956) could not build on the initial success. The role of the boy in the Hollywood production The Old Man and the Sea (1958) with Spencer Tracy was not given to Poujouly due to his advanced age.

He was remembered by a wide audience for the role of the young car thief and murderer in Louis Male's crime film Elevator to the Scaffold (1958). He impersonated his first demanding adult role in Édouard Molinaros A Girl for a Summer (1960). From the mid-1960s, Poujouly concentrated increasingly on work on French television, including the series Les beaux yeux d'Agatha with Anne Tonietti in the title role. In 1966 he worked again with Réne Clément, who gave him a small role in his war film Brennt Paris? (1966). With Brigitte Fossey, Poujouly appeared a second time in Marc Pavaux's television film Esprits de famille (1975).

Poujouly continued his acting career into the 1980s. In parallel to his work as an actor, he appeared as a radio play and dubbing actor until the early 1990s. After the title role in the radio play The Little Prince (1954) with Gérard Philipe , he dubbed Tintin in several Tintin cartoons in the late 1950s . As an adult, he was the French voice for Michael Douglas ( The Streets of San Francisco , 1972-1977) and Dustin Hoffman ( The Marathon Man , 1976), among others . He also worked as a unit manager for the US film studio 20th Century Fox .

Georges Poujouly counted classical music, reading and horse riding among his hobbies. In 2000, at the age of 60, he died in Villejuif hospital of complications from cancer .

Filmography (selection)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f cf. Vallance, Tom: Obituary: Georges Poujouly . In: The Independent , November 6, 2000, Débats, p. 6
  2. ↑ a b c d e cf. Georges Poujouly . In: Le Figaro , October 30, 2000 (accessed via LexisNexis Wirtschaft )
  3. ↑ cf. Profile at allocine.fr (French; accessed August 31, 2010)
  4. ↑ cf. Crowther, Bosley: 'Forbidden Games,' the Winning French Film at Venice Fete, Opens at Little Carnegie . In: The New York Times, December 9, 1952 (accessed August 31, 2010 via movies.nytimes.com)
  5. ↑ quoted from Vallance, Tom: Obituary: Georges Poujouly . In: The Independent, November 6, 2000, Débats, p. 6
personal data
SURNAME Poujouly, Georges
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French actor
DATE OF BIRTH January 20, 1940
PLACE OF BIRTH Garches , Hauts-de-Seine department , France
DATE OF DEATH October 28, 2000
Place of death Villejuif , Val-de-Marne department , France