Daniel Gélin

Daniel Yves Alfred Gélin 19 May 1921 29 November 2002 was a French actor Gélin was born in Angers MaineetLoire the son of Yvonne née Le Méner and Alfred Ernest Joseph Gélin When he was ten his family moved to SaintMalo 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 Allégrets 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 dart 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 Rendezvous 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 Beckers Édouard et Caroline 1951 Sacha Guitrys films Si Versailles métait conté Royal Affairs in Versailles 1954 and Napoléon 1955 Alfred Hitchcocks The Man Who Knew Too Much 1956 Jean Cocteaus Le Testament dOrphée 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 CCBYSA 30