Jeanson, Henri

(March 6, 1900, Paris, France - November 7, 1970, Equerdreville-Hainneville, Manche, France)

   After dropping out of school at age sixteen, he be­came a journalist in 1917 (La Bataille syndicale) and joined the satirical weekly newspaper Le Canard enchaîné in 1919. By 1925, he won huge fame with the first play he wrote, Toi que j'ai tant aimé. From 1932 (La Dame de chez Maxim's, Alexander Korda) to 1966 (L'Homme à la Buick, Gilles Grangier, released in 1968), he wrote eighty films, including several master­pieces (1937 Pépé le Moko, Julien Duvivier; Un Carnet de Bal / UK: Christine / USA: Dance Program / Dance of Life / Life Dances On, Julien Duvivier; 1938 Entrée des Artistes / USA: The Curtain Rises, Marc Allégret; Hôtel du Nord, Marcel Carné; 1945 Boule de Suif / USA: Angel and Sinner, Christian-Jaque; 1952 Fanfan la Tulipe / UK: Soldier of Love / USA: Fan-Fan the Tulip, Christian-Jaque, La Fête à Henriette / UK / Henriette / USA: Holiday for Henrietta, Julien Duvivier). He authored some of the wittiest and most memorable dialogues of French cinema. He just had time to complete his autobi­ography (1972 70 Ans d'Adolescence, Editions Stock) before dying of pulmonary edema at age seventy.

 Filmography

1950 ◘ Lady Paname (with the collaboration of Hervé Bromberger; also screenwriter, dialogist)