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Photo of Daniel Gélin

Daniel Gélin

Actor, Director, Additional Credits
Born May 19, 1921Died November 29, 2002 (81 years)
Daniel Yves Alfred Gélin (19 May 1921 – 29 November 2002) was a French actor.

Gélin was born in Angers, Maine-et-Loire, the son of Yvonne (née Le Méner) and Alfred Ernest Joseph Gélin.

When he was ten, his family moved to Saint-Malo where Daniel went to college until he was expelled for 'uncouthness'. His father then found him a job in a shop that sold cans of salted cod. It was seeing the shooting of Marc Allégret's film Entrée des artistes that triggered his desire to go to Paris to train to be an actor. He trained at the Cours Simon in Paris before entering the Conservatoire national d'art dramatique. There he met Louis Jouvet and embarked on a theatrical career. He made his first film appearance in 1940 in Miquette and for several years was an extra or played small roles in French films. He appeared with Jean Gabin and Marlene Dietrich in Martin Roumagnac (1946).

He won his first leading role in Rendez-vous de juillet (1949). From that time, he went on to appear in more than 150 films, including Max Ophüls' films La Ronde (1950) and Le Plaisir (1952), Jacques Becker's Édouard et Caroline (1951), Sacha Guitry's films Si Versailles m'était conté (Royal Affairs in Versailles) (1954) and Napoléon (1955), Alfred Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956), Jean Cocteau's Le Testament d'Orphée (1960), Le souffle au cœur (Murmur of the Heart) (1971), and La Nuit de Varennes (That Night in Varennes) (1982). He also wrote and directed one film, The Long Teeth, in 1952.

Gélin was a leading man in French cinema during the 1950s, but his career declined with the coming of the New Wave. He worked in theater for several years, but later found new success on screen as a character actor. He appeared extensively in French films and television productions from the 1970s until his death, often playing cynical characters or grumpy old men.

In 1946, Gélin married actress Danièle Delorme with whom he had a son, actor, director and producer Xavier Gélin. They divorced in 1954. While still married to Delorme, he had an affair with 17 year old model Marie Christine Schneider that produced a daughter, Maria Schneider. Due to his status as a married man, Gélin could not recognize Maria as his daughter. He visited the child several times but eventually severed his relationship with her mother. Maria Schneider and Daniel Gélin reconnected when she was sixteen and came to visit him. They remained in contact, although their relationship was irregular.

Gélin was married to model Sylvie Hirsch from 1954 until their divorce in 1968. This marriage produced three children, Pascal (who died aged one year), Fiona , and Manuel, the latter two also becoming actors. In 1973, he remarried to Lydie Zaks with whom he had a daughter, Laura.

Gélin died in Paris on 29 November 2002 of kidney failure.

Source: Article "Daniel Gélin" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
Movies & Shows on Plex
  • Testament of Orpheus
  • Warrior Spirit
Known For
  • The Man Who Knew Too Much
  • Murmur of the Heart
  • La Ronde
  • Life Is a Long Quiet River
  • Edward and Caroline
  • Mister Frost
  • Plucking the Daisy
  • Napoleon
  • Rendezvous in July
  • Francoise Steps Out
  • On Trial
  • Line of Demarcation
  • Three Days to Live
  • Woman of Rome
  • The Room Upstairs
  • Adorable Creatures
  • Dialogues of Exiles
  • The Suspended Vocation
  • Port of Shame
  • Tre piger i Paris
  • Carthage in Flames
  • Retour de manivelle
  • The Moment of Truth
  • The Boy and the Ball and the Hole in the Wall

Filmography

2022
2021
Warrior Spirit · as John Ball
2016
2010
What War May Bring · as Cameo Appearance
1999
Eva & Adam (TV Series) · as Badvakten
1997
Obsession · as Xavier Favre
1996
1996
Les Bidochon · as Le Père Bidochon
1996
Fantôme avec chauffeur · as Le Passeur (le Guide Céleste)
1995
Runaways · as Bruno
1994
3000 scénarios contre un virus (TV Series) · as Cast
1994
Pushing the Limits · as Le Père De Fiona
1994
Fear City: A Family-Style Comedy · as Mr. Mireille, The 2nd Projectionist
1993
Les marmottes · as Léo
1993
Coup de jeune · as Gaudeamus At 70
1992
De force avec d'autres · as L'autre Lui-Même
1992
Une Famille Formidable (TV Series) · as Édouard Beaumont
1991
Maigret (1991) (TV Series) · as Le Père Nicolas
1991
1991
1990
Promotion canapé · as Le Responsable Des Inspecteurs De La Justice
1990
Mister Frost · as Simon Scolari
1988
Itinerary of a Spoiled Child · as Pierre Duvivier, Albert's Father
1988
Life Is a Long Quiet River · as Docteur Mavial
1988
Dandin · as Monsieur De Sotenville
1987
Marc et Sophie (TV Series) · as Edmond, Le Beau-Père
1987
James Stewart: A Wonderful Life - Hosted by Johnny Carson · as Louis Bernard (clip From The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956))
1987
The Legacy of Guldenburgs (TV Series) · as Gregor Baschkurin
1987
Via Montenapoleone · as Padre Di Elena
1986
The Secret Drawer (TV Series) · as Jean-Pierre Jolivet
1986
Killing Cars · as Kellermann
1985
The Children · as Enrico
1983
1982
That Night in Varennes · as De Wendel
1982
Guy de Maupassant · as Gustave
1981
1981
Signé Furax · as Broutechoux
1980
Tarendol (TV Series) · as Bazalo
1979
1978
The Suspended Vocation · as Malagrida
1977
Pardon Mon Affaire, Too! · as Bastien, Stage Director
1976
La jalousie · as Albert Blondel
1975
Cinéma 16 (TV Series) · as Adam
1975
Trop c'est trop! · as Flic
1975
1974
Ariane · as The Comedian
1974
No Pockets in a Shroud · as Laurence
1973
1973
1971
Swedish Fly Girls · as André
1971
Murmur of the Heart · as Charles Chevalier
1971
Arsène Lupin (TV Series) · as Daubrecq
1970
The Servant · as Dr. Robert Marbois
1969
Destroy, She Said · as Bernard Alione
1969
1969
Slogan · as Le Père D'evelyne
1968
The Truce · as Arno
1967
Maigret (1967) (TV Series) · as François Keller
1966
Witness Out of Hell · as Bora Petrović
1966
Soleil noir · as Guy Rodier
1966
Is Paris Burning? · as Yves Bayet
1966
La morale de l'histoire · as François
1966
Living it Up · as Bernard
1966
Line of Demarcation · as Doctor Jacques Lafaye
1966
The Sultans · as Léo
1966
An Affair of States · as Ballard
1965
The Sleeping Car Murder · as Le Vétérinaire Titulaire, Chargé De Cours (uncredited)
1965
Les Saintes Chéries (TV Series) · as Pierre Lagarde
1965
1965
The Hour of Truth · as Davod
1964
La confrontation · as Jacques
1964
La bonne soupe · as Raymond
1963
Tre piger i Paris · as Raymond
1963
1962
The Longest Day · as Undetermined Role (french Version)
1962
Hitch-Hike · as Le Comédien Qui Répète "cyrano"
1961
The Season for Love · as Jacques Saint-Ford
1961
Shadows of Adultery · as Eric Kraemmer
1960
Testament of Orpheus · as The Intern (uncredited)
1960
Carthage in Flames · as Phegor
1959
Julie the Redhead · as Édouard Lavigne / Jean Lavigne
1959
This Desired Body · as Guillaume Féraud
1958
Suivez-moi jeune homme · as Michel Corbier
1958
Port of Desire · as Pierre
1957
Charmants garçons · as Alain Cartier
1957
Retour de manivelle · as Robert Montillon
1957
Three Days to Live · as Simon Belin
1957
Fugitive in Saigon · as Paul Horcier
1956
I'll Get Back to Kandara · as Bernard Cormière
1956
Good Evening Paris · as Georges Bernier / Self
1956
Plucking the Daisy · as Daniel Roy
1956
The Man Who Knew Too Much · as Louis Bernard
1955
Napoleon · as Napoléon Bonaparte
1955
Port of Shame · as Pierre Roubier
1955
Pantomimes · as Cast
1954
Woman of Rome · as Mino
1954
The Cheerful Squadron · as Il Soldato Frédéric D'héricourt
1954
On Trial · as Léonard Maurizius
1954
Beauty and the Bullfighter · as Ricardo Garcia
1954
The Snow Was Black · as Frank Friedmayer
1954
Royal Affairs in Versailles · as Jean Collinet
1953
The Slave · as Michel Landa
1953
Francoise Steps Out · as Robert
1953
Voice of Silence · as L'ancien Prisonnier
1953
The Long Teeth · as Louis Commandeur
1952
The Moment of Truth · as Daniel Prevost
1952
Adorable Creatures · as André Noblet
1952
Le Plaisir · as Jean
1951
Young Love · as Jean Bompart
1951
Dirty Hands · as Hugo
1951
Edward and Caroline · as Edouard Mortier
1950
God Needs Men · as Joseph Le Berre
1950
La Ronde · as Alfred, Le Jeune Homme
1949
Rendezvous in July · as Lucien Bonnard
1947
Miroir · as Charles
1946
The Room Upstairs · as Le Surveillant Du Collège
1946
A Friend Will Come Tonight · as Pierre Ribault
1946
1945
Les cadets de l'océan · as Philippe Demantes
1944
1943
Lucrèce · as College Student
1942
1942
Strangers in the House · as (uncredited)
1941
Her First Affair · as Chauveau-Laplace (uncredited)

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