Pierre Brasseur Biography

MARITAL STATUS
Professions Actor , Director , Screenwriter
Birth name Pierre-Albert Espinasse
Nationality French
Birth December 22, 1905
Death August 14
BIOGRAPHY
4th generation of a famous family of actors (whose lineage began in 1820 and continues today with Claude and Alexandre Brasseur), Pierre Brasseur is the son of Germaine Brasseur and Georges Espinasse. Born on December 22, 1905 in Paris under the name Pierre Albert Espinasse, he adopted his mother’s pseudonym when he decided to try a career as an actor.

He trained by taking drama lessons at the Maubel Conservatory. His teachers were Harry Baur and Fernand Ledoux . At the age of 19, he made his debut in theater and cinema. His first film, in 1924, was La Fille de l’eau , under the direction of a certain Jean Renoir , for whom it was his first feature film! The young actor played in around thirty short and feature films before meeting Jacques Prévert for the filming of Un Oiseau rare by Richard Pottier in 1935. This was the start of a long collaboration since the actor, and the poet and screenwriter will work together on around ten films. Among them, the famous Quai des Mignes by Marcel Carné in 1938. His role alongside Jean Gabin and Michèle Morgan helped to make him popular with the general public. That same year, he co-wrote the screenplay for Grisou with Marcel Dalio (adapted from the play of the same name, also co-written with Marcel Dalio).

In 1943, he landed a memorable role, that of an alcoholic painter, in Jean Gremillon ‘s Lumiere d’été . Still with Jacques Prévert on the dialogues, the film tells the story of two couples who are torn apart. Then, seven years after “Quai des Mignes”, Brasseur played the thunderous Frédérick Lemaitre in Les Enfants du paradis , under the direction of Marcel Carné. He reunited with the director for a third time the following year for Les Portes de la nuit . In 1949, he starred alongside Anouk Aimée and Serge Reggiani in Les Amants de Vérone by André Cayatte . In the 1950s, he joined the prestigious casts of Le Plaisir by Max Ophüls and Napoléon by Sacha Guitry . In 1957, he shared the poster for Porte des Lilas with Georges Brassens , who was making his cinema debut. This noir film by René Clair is an adaptation of the novel “La Grande Ceinture” by René Fallet

. This decade will also be marked by his role in Les Grandes Familles by Denys de La Patellière . Adapted from the novel by Maurice Druon , the feature film takes as its starting point the conflict between two cousins ​​(Brasseur and Jean Gabin ). His colorful dialogues are by Michel Audiard .

Brewer father and son opposite each other for the first time in the cinema in the 60s: first in Les Yeux sans face by Georges Franju (1960) and Lucky Jo by Michel Deville (1964). Pierre Brasseur will appear in a total of around 80 films, multiplying registers and directors. His career in the theater was also very prolific as an author, actor and director. His latest feature film is The Most Beautiful Evening of My Life by Ettore Scola . He died shortly before the end of filming on August 16, 1972 in Brunico, Italy.