Paul Bonifas

Paul Bonifas 3 June 1902 9 November 1975 was a French actor born in Paris In the 1920s while working for the French customs service Bonifas took classes in acting at the Conservatoire de Paris in his spare time He left with the first prize for comedy which allowed him to join the Odéon Theatre in 1933 then the ComédieFrançaise in 1938 He made his first film appearance in 1935 in a version of Dostoyevskys Crime and Punishment directed by Pierre Chenal During World War II he served as a lieutenant in the artillery was badly wounded and evacuated from Dunkirk with his unit In London he joined the Free French and worked for Radio Londres broadcasting to occupied France In 1942 he appeared in the film The Foreman Went to France In 1943 he formed The Molière Players who staged a repertoire of mainly Molière works in London theatres as well as in regional towns and at French army barracks In 1944 The Molière Players appeared in the short film Aventure malgache directed by Alfred Hitchcock This was written by and based on the experiences of Jules Francois Clermont an actor in Bonifas troupe working under the name of Paul Clarus who had operated an illegal radio station Madagascar Libre in Madagascar while the island was under Vichy control Bonifas then appeared in a number of other British films including Two Fathers with Bernard Miles directed by Anthony Asquith and had minor roles in the musicals Heaven Is Round the Corner and Champagne Charlie the action adventure film The Man from Morocco the comedydrama Johnny Frenchman and the horror film Dead of Night Bonifas returned to France in 1946 and resumed his career in theatre specializing in comedy but also taking dramatic roles His later film career included appearances in Trapeze 1956 The Hunchback of Notre Dame 1956 Fanny 1961 Charade 1963 Greed in the Sun 1964 The Train 1964 Is Paris Burning 1966 Triple Cross 1966 and The Return of the Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe 1974 Bonifas died on 9 November 1975 at Vernouillet Yvelines France Source Article Paul Bonifas from Wikipedia in English licensed under CCBYSA 30