Blain, Gérard

(October 23, 1930, Paris, France - December 17, 2000, Paris, France)

   A maverick from his childhood, he dropped out of school and appeared as an extra in several movies of the 1940s (1944 Le Bal des Passants, Guillaume Radot; Le Carrefour des Enfants perdus / UK and USA: Children of Chaos, Léo Joannon; 1945 Les Enfants du Paradis / USA: Children of Paradise, two episodes: "Le Boulevard du Crime", "L'Homme blanc", Marcel Carné, shot in 1943-1944; 1946 Fils de France, Pierre Blondy). He was only thirteen years old when he made his stage debut (Topaze) in 1944. Then he studied drama with actress Gabrielle Fontan. From 1953 (Les Fruits sau­vages / USA: Wild Fruit, Hervé Bromberger) to 2000 (Bandits d'Amour, Pierre Le Bret), he played support­ing and leading roles in about sixty movies, including Voici le Temps des Assassins / UK: Twelve Hours to Live / USA: Deadlier Than the Male (Julien Duvivier, 1956), Les Mistons / UK: The Brats / USA: The Kids (short, François Truffaut, 1957), Le Beau Serge / UK: Bitter Re­union / USA: Handsome Serge (Claude Chabrol, 1958), Les Cousins / USA: The Cousins (Claude Chabrol, 1959), and Hatari! (Howard Hawks, USA, 1962). He was married to actresses Estella Blain (1930-1982) and Bernadette Lafont (b. 1938).

 Filmography

1971 ◘ Les Amis (also co-screenwriter, co-dialogist)

1974 ◘ Le Pélican (also screenwriter, co-adapter, co-dialogist, actor)

1976 ◘ Un Enfant dans la Foule (also co-screenwriter, co-dialogist)

1978 ◘ Un Second Souffle (also co-screenwriter, co-dialogist)

1980 ◘ Le Rebelle (also co-screenwriter, co-dialogist)

1987 ◘ Pierre et Djemila (also co-screenwriter, co-dialogist)

1995 ◘ Jusqu'au Bout de la Nuit (also co-screenwriter)

2000 ◘ Ainsi soit-il (also screenwriter, dialogist)