Sacha Guitry

Sacha Guitry (1931)

Sacha Guitry (* 9 February ^{. Jul} / 21st February  1885 ^greg. In St. Petersburg ; † 24. July 1957 in Paris ; actually Alexandre Pierre Georges Guitry ) was a French actor , film director , screenwriter and playwright .

Life

Sacha Guitry was born in Saint Petersburg in 1885 to the then famous French actor Lucien Guitry (1860–1925) and actress Renée de Pontry (1858–1902). Born into a theater family, Sacha Guitry was already on stage at the age of five. When he was 16 years old, Le Page was performed for the first time, one of the pieces he had composed himself. In 1918 he began to produce and stage his plays. The writers Jules Renard and Octave Mirbeau stood by his side as mentors in his writing .

Guitry wrote screenplays for silent films as early as the 1920s . From 1935 he also worked regularly as a film director - starting with the biography Pasteur , in which he not only took on the title role, but also co-directed alongside Fernand Rivers . Very interested in history, Guitry preferred to shoot biographies and period films such as The Pearls of the Crown (1937, co-directed with Christian-Jaque ) and one of his biggest screen hits Versailles - Kings and Women (1954). However, he also made light entertainment films such as My father was right (1936). Known for his biting wit, he provided his superficially cheerful films such as Das Scheusal (1951) with socially critical undertones. He was always seen in a leading role in his films.

In the course of his life, Guitry wrote 124 plays as well as numerous newspaper articles, poems, essays and more than 50 scripts. In his plays he often took on the leading role on the theater stage. With his five wives, including Yvonne Printemps , he was regularly on stage. His close circle of friends included Jean Cocteau , Tristan Bernard and Claude Monet .

Guitry is buried on the Cimetière de Montmartre in Paris.

Works (selection)

Guitry (left), Yvonne Printemps and General Gustave-Auguste Ferrié

Guitry as Mozart (1926)

Plays

• Le Page (1902)
• Yves le fou (1903)
• Nono (1905)
• Un étrange point d'honneur (1906)
• La Clef (1907)
• C'te pucelle d'Adèle (1909)
• Le Veilleur de nuit (1911)
• Un beau mariage (1911)
• Deux couverts (1914)
• Jean de La Fontaine (1916)
• Le Mari, la Femme et l'Amant (1919)
• Le Comédien (1921)
• Le Lion et la Poule (1923)
• Désiré (1927)
• La Troisième Chambre (1929)
• Mon double et ma moitié (1931)
• Le Renard et la Grenouille (1933)
• La fin du monde (1935)
• Quadrille (1937)
• L'École du mensonge (1940)
• Aux deux colombes (1948)
• Beaumarchais (1950)
• Constance (1950)
• Palsambleu (1953)

Filmography (selection)

Director

• 1935: Pasteur - also screenplay and actor
• 1936: novel of a swindler ( Mémoires d'un Tricheur ) - also screenplay and actor
• 1936: My father was right ( Mon père avait raison ) - also screenplay and actor,
• 1937: The Pearls of the Crown ( Les Perles de la couronne ) - also screenplay and actor
• 1937: Désiré - also screenplay and actor
• 1938: The Street of Love ( Remontons les Champs-Élysées ) - also cast
• 1942: Le Destin fabuleux de Désirée Clary - also screenplay and actor
• 1948: The actor ( Le Comédien ) - also screenplay and actor
• 1948: The Limping Devil ( Le Diable boiteux ) - also screenplay and actor
• 1951: The Monster ( La Poison ) - also screenplay
• 1954: Versailles - kings and women - also screenplay and actor
• 1955: Napoleon ( Napoléon ) - also screenplay and actor
• 1956: If Paris could tell ( Si Paris nous était conté )
• 1957: Murderers and Thieves ( Assassins et voleurs ) - also screenplay
• 1957: The Twins and the Murderer ( Les Trois font la paire ) - also screenplay

script

• 1918: Un roman d'amour et d'aventures - also performers
• 1924: The Lover of Camille
• 1924: La Voyante - also a performer

Literary template

• 1940: lucky ( Lucky Partners )
• 1958: Life for Two ( La Vie à deux )
• 1960: Nabob affair ( Au voleur! )
• 1970: Two whole days - we want to build a castle in the air ( Faisons un rêve ) (TV movie)
• 1996: Beaumarchais - The Insolent ( Beaumarchais, l'insolent )
• 1996: Désiré

literature

• Guitry, Sacha . In: Dayna Oscherwitz, Maryellen Higgins: Historical Dictionary of French Cinema . Scarecrow Press, 2007, ISBN 0-810-85491-0 , p. 197.
• Maud de Belleroche : Sacha Guitry ou l'Esprit français . Dualpha, Paris 2007.

Web links

Commons : Sacha Guitry  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Sacha Guitry in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Literature by and about Sacha Guitry in the catalog of the German National Library
• Literature by and about Sacha Guitry in the SUDOC catalog (Association of French University Libraries)
• Sacha Guitry ( Memento from July 12, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) (French)