GM
Georges Méliès
Actor, Director, Producer, Writer, Editor, Additional Credits
Born December 9, 1861Died January 21, 1938 (76 years)
Georges Méliès (December 9, 1861 - January 21, 1938), full name Marie-Georges-Jean Méliès, was a French illusionist and filmmaker famous for leading many technical and narrative developments in the earliest days of cinema. One of the first filmmakers to use multiple exposures, time-lapse photography, tracking shots, dissolves, and hand-painted color in his work, Méliès pioneered effects that would define cinematic special effects for decades to come. A prolific innovator in the use of special effects, Méliès accidentally discovered the substitution stop trick in 1896, a method of creating seamless disappearing and/or appearing effects used throughout both films and television for decades to come. Because of his ability to seemingly manipulate and transform reality through cinematography, Méliès is sometimes referred to as the first "Cinemagician".
Two of his best-known films are A Trip to the Moon (1902) and The Impossible Voyage (1904). Both stories involve strange, surreal voyages, somewhat in the style of Jules Verne, and are considered among the most important early science fiction films, though their approach is closer to fantasy. Méliès was also an early pioneer of horror cinema, which can be traced back to his Le Manoir du diable (1896).
In early 1909 Méliès stopped making films to protest Thomas Edison's Motion Pictures Parents Company monopoly, and presided over the first meeting of the International Filmmakers Congress in Paris. Further financial hardships created by his opposition to Edison and diminishing influence, Méliès disappeared from public life. By the mid-1920s he made a meager living as a candy and toy salesma in Paris, with the assistance of funds collected by other filmmakers. Although he was recognized for his contributions in cinema, Méliès spent most of his later years in poverty before being accepted into La Maison du Retraite du Cinéma, the film industry's retirement home in Orly.
Two of his best-known films are A Trip to the Moon (1902) and The Impossible Voyage (1904). Both stories involve strange, surreal voyages, somewhat in the style of Jules Verne, and are considered among the most important early science fiction films, though their approach is closer to fantasy. Méliès was also an early pioneer of horror cinema, which can be traced back to his Le Manoir du diable (1896).
In early 1909 Méliès stopped making films to protest Thomas Edison's Motion Pictures Parents Company monopoly, and presided over the first meeting of the International Filmmakers Congress in Paris. Further financial hardships created by his opposition to Edison and diminishing influence, Méliès disappeared from public life. By the mid-1920s he made a meager living as a candy and toy salesma in Paris, with the assistance of funds collected by other filmmakers. Although he was recognized for his contributions in cinema, Méliès spent most of his later years in poverty before being accepted into La Maison du Retraite du Cinéma, the film industry's retirement home in Orly.
Known For
Filmography
| 2025 | A Collection of Silent Films, Given Sound · as The Gnome Of The Clock, A Halberdier |
| 2019 | Rolling Thunder Revue · as Magician (archive Footage From "the Vanishing Lady") |
| 2018 | The Image Book · as Un Acteur |
| 1912 | The Conquest of the Pole · as Le Professeur Mabouloff |
| 1909 | Whimsical Illusions · as The Magician |
| 1909 | The Devilish Tenant · as Le Locataire Diabolique |
| 1908 | |
| 1907 | Hamlet, Prince of Denmark · as Hamlet |
| 1907 | |
| 1907 | |
| 1907 | The Eclipse: Courtship of the Sun and Moon · as Professor Of Astronomy |
| 1907 | |
| 1906 | The Witch · as The Fairy Carabosse |
| 1906 | |
| 1906 | The 400 Tricks of the Devil · as Satan |
| 1906 | The Hilarious Posters · as The Bill Poster |
| 1906 | |
| 1905 | The Enchanted Sedan Chair · as Cast |
| 1905 | The Palace of Arabian Knights · as The Sorcerer Khalafar (uncredited) |
| 1905 | |
| 1905 | The Living Playing Cards · as The Magician |
| 1904 | An Impossible Voyage · as Mabouloff |
| 1904 | |
| 1904 | |
| 1904 | |
| 1904 | |
| 1904 | The Imperceptible Transmutations · as Prince |
| 1904 | The Untamable Whiskers · as Man With Whiskers |
| 1904 | Decapitation in Turkey · as The Executioner |
| 1903 | The Damnation of Faust · as Mephistopholes |
| 1903 | |
| 1903 | The Infernal Cauldron · as Devil |
| 1903 | The Kingdom of the Fairies · as Prince Bel-Azor |
| 1903 | |
| 1903 | |
| 1903 | The Enchanted Well · as Townsperson |
| 1903 | The Cake-Walk Infernal · as Devil |
| 1902 | Robinson Crusoe · as Robinson Crusoé |
| 1902 | Gulliver's Travels · as Gulliver |
| 1902 | |
| 1902 | A Trip to the Moon · as Professor Barbenfouillis / The Moon |
| 1902 | The Human Fly · as The Hindoo Magician |
| 1902 | |
| 1901 | |
| 1901 | The India Rubber Head · as The Chemist / The India Rubber Head |
| 1901 | |
| 1901 | Bluebeard · as Barbe-Bleue |
| 1901 | The Magician and the Human Pump · as Excelsior |
| 1901 | The Brahmin and the Butterfly · as The Brahmin |
| 1901 | The Christmas Dream · as Beggar |
| 1900 | Joan of Arc · as Père De Jeanne |
| 1900 | The One-Man Band · as All The Members Of The Orchestra |
| 1900 | The Magic Book · as The Magician |
| 1900 | The Fat and the Lean Wrestling Match · as Wrestler |
| 1900 | Going to Bed with Difficulties · as The Man |
| 1900 | The Triple Conjurer and the Living Head · as Conjurer |
| 1899 | L'affaire Dreyfus · as Fernand Labori |
| 1899 | Cinderella · as The Gnome Of The Clock / The Swiss At The Entrance To The Church |
| 1899 | |
| 1899 | A Turn of the Century Illusionist · as Magician |
| 1899 | The Sign of the Cross · as The Devil |
| 1899 | |
| 1899 | A Mysterious Portrait · as L'illusioniste |
| 1899 | Le Chevalier mystère · as Le Chevalier Mystère |
| 1898 | Four Heads Are Better Than One · as Conjurer |
| 1898 | The Astronomer's Dream; or, The Man in the Moon · as Astronomer |
| 1898 | |
| 1898 | The Famous Box Trick · as The Magician |
| 1898 | Pygmalion and Galatea · as Pygmalion |
| 1898 | The Magician · as Le Sculpteur |
| 1897 | The Bewitched Inn · as The Traveler |
| 1897 | |
| 1897 | Entre Calais et Douvres · as The Man In The Checked Suit |
| 1896 | A Nightmare · as Man |
| 1896 | The House of the Devil · as Mephistopheles |
| 1896 | A Terrible Night · as L'homme Qui Essaie De Dormir |
| 1896 | Card Party · as Un Joueur De Cartes |
| 1896 | The Conjuring of a Woman at the House of Robert Houdin · as Magician |