Jean Gabin

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BIRTHDAY

May 17, 1904

Paris, France

DIED

November 15, 1976

RECENT CREDITS

A Good Year (FILM) Nov. 10, 2006

Le Chat (FILM) Jan. 1, 2000

Les Miserables (FILM) Jul. 7, 1989

Attention Bandits (FILM) Aug. 24, 1988

The Sicilian Clan (FILM) Mar. 1, 1970

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BIOGRAPHY

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Commanding, durable French star with broad, heavy features who became his country's most important film star and who indeed came to embody French cinema itself. Gabin began his career with the Folies Bergeres in the 1920s and made his screen debut in "Chacun sa chance" (1930). By the end of the decade Gabin was France's leading screen idol, thanks to films like "Maria Chapdelaine" (1934), "Pepe le Moko" (1936), "La Grande Illusion" (1937), "La Bete Humaine" (1938) and "Daybreak" (1939). His troubled but heroic, working-class persona were vital in the development of French poetic realism and made him the perfect foil for sundry femmes fatales including Simone Simon and Mireille Balin.

After spending WWII in Hollywood, Gabin restored his popularity in France, appearing in films through the 1970s and forming the Gafer production company with fellow actor Fernandel. Married to actress Gaby Basset from 1925 to 1933.

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