Gessner, Nicolas

(August 17, 1931, Budapest, Hungary-)

   Of Hungarian descent and naturalized Swiss, he grad­uated from Zurich University with a PhD thesis on Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot in 1956. He previ­ously was an assistant stage director at the Zurich Theater and to Jean-Louis Barrault (1951-1955) and had studied Japanese cinema at Tokyo Daiei Studios with director Teinosuke Kinugasa during the shooting of Bara wa ikutabika / UK and USA: A Girl Isn't Allowed to Love. In 1957, he attended a training course in Hol­lywood with Henry Koster (My Man Godfrey). From 1958 to 1961, he directed plays and operas in Zurich and Lucerne and filmed commissioned shorts for the Swiss army and civil defense.

 Filmography

        ◘ Vielleicht schon Morgen / Demain peut-être (short; Switzerland)

        ◘ Operation Schweiz / Opération Suisse (short; Switzerland)

        ◘ Auskunft im Cockpit / Le Pilote m'a dit (short; Switzerland)

1960 ◘ Les Quatre Saisons / Die vier Jahreszeiten (short; Switzerland)

1965 ◘ Un Milliard dans un Billard / Allarme in cinque banche / Diamantenbilard / UK: Diamonds Are Brittle / USA: Diamond Cue (also screenwriter, co-adapter; France / Italy / West Germany)

1968 ◘ La Blonde de Pékin / La bionda di Pechino / Die Blonde von Peking / USA: Peking Blonde / The Blonde from Peking (also co-screenwriter, co-adapter; France / Italy / West Germany; shot in 1966)

        ◘ Una su tredici / 12 + 1 / UK: Twelve Plus One / USA: The Twelve Chairs / US video: The 13 Chairs (also co-screenwriter, co-adapter, co-dialogist; Italy / France)

        ◘ Quelqu'un derrière la Porte / UK: Two Minds for Murder / USA: Someone Behind the Door (France / Italy)

1974 ◘ Pastoral Switzerland (short; Switzerland)

1976 ◘ The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane / La Pe­tite Fille au bout du Chemin (Canada / France)

1980 ◘ It Rained All Night the Day I Left / Deux Affreux sur le Sable (Canada / France / Israel; shot in 1978)

        ◘ Quicker Than the Eye / Passe-Passe (also co-screenwriter; Switzerland / France)

        ◘ Tennessee Nights / US video Black Water (USA / Switzerland / West Germany / France)

 Television Filmography

1963 ◘ Der Gefangene der Botschaft (West Germany / Switzerland)

1974 ◘ Sag Oma gute Nacht / Say Goodnight to Grandma (West Germany)

1982 ◘ Herr Herr (Switzerland)

        ◘ Le Tueur triste (also co-screenwriter)

        ◘ Intrigues (episode "Macho"; also co-screenwriter)

1987 ◘ Das andere Leben (West Germany)

1993 ◘ Le Château des Oliviers (8 X 85'; France /Italy)

1994 ◘ Chèques en Boîte

1997 ◘ Spaceship Earth (TV series; also screenwriter)