François Darbon

Acting

François Darbon

Born 1915-08-15 · Paris, France

François Darbon is a French actor, director, and writer. In 1938, François Darbon began his first theatrical experiences in Tunis. With a company of amateur actors, he performed for three evenings at the municipal theatre. The following day, nostalgic for those nights on stage, he decided to make it his profession. In September 1939, during his military service near Biarritz, he met the man he would never leave, André Clavé, who, like him, had been mobilized as a Reserve Officer Cadet. Their friendship was born through discussions about theatre, and at a time when André Clavé had temporarily set aside the troupe he had founded in 1936, the company Les Comédiens de la Roulotte, with Geneviève Wronecki-Kellershohn, Jean Desailly—then a very young amateur beginner—and a few others. François Darbon would meet them again in September 1940 to perform La paix chez soi. The following month, the troupe joined the Jeune France movement, and they finally began a life as professional actors. They were joined in February 1941 by Jean Vilar, who agreed to come to La Roulotte “simply as a writer,” and by Hélène Gerber, both students of Charles Dullin. Thanks to financial support from Jeune France, the troupe went on a theatrical tour through central France during the summer of 1941. In the summer of 1942, La Roulotte set off again, touring Brittany and central France, but this time without subsidies, as Jeune France had been dissolved at the end of winter. For security reasons, Clavé was then forced to leave his own company a year after joining a Resistance network, the Brutus network. François Darbon used the final years of the war to study under Charles Dullin. After the war, he reunited with André Clavé. Having returned from the Nazi camps of Buchenwald and Dora, Clavé was asked in 1946 by Jeanne Laurent to reconstitute his troupe, Les Comédiens de la Roulotte, to conduct exploratory tours. She later asked him to replace Roland Piétri as director of the Centre Dramatique de l’Est in Colmar. Darbon took part in all these ventures until the end of December 1952, when Michel Saint-Denis replaced Clavé. Darbon and Clavé then founded the Clavé-Darbon Company together and performed in France and Germany until 1955, when André Clavé was forced to leave the theatre to pursue other paths. François Darbon then followed a more solitary path, working from production to production and film to film. He would nonetheless cross paths with Clavé again—both men bound by unwavering loyalty—when Clavé asked him to train African radio announcers in diction at the school he directed, the Studio-École (a school created by Pierre Schaeffer in preparation for decolonization). At 25, Darbon married the lovely Nathalie Manoyloff, of Russian origin. They had a daughter, Sophie. Sophie Darbon is an author, actress, and director like her father. She recently published a children’s tale, Sotisette Planplan et la clé des fées, with Edilivre, dedicated to her parents.

Acting credits

Stolen Kisses poster
7.3

The third in a series of films featuring François Truffaut's alter-ego, Antoine Doinel, the story resumes with Antoine being discharged from military service. His sweetheart Christine's father lands Antoine a job as a security guard, which he promptly loses. Stumbling into a position assisting a private detective, Antoine falls for his employers' seductive wife, Fabienne, and finds that he must choose between the older woman and Christine.

Stolen Kisses

1968

Les Misérables poster
7.2

In 19th century France, Jean Valjean, a man imprisoned for stealing bread, must flee a relentless policeman named Javert. The pursuit consumes both men's lives, and soon Valjean finds himself in the midst of the student revolutions in France.

Les Misérables

1958

The Elusive Corporal poster
6.4

An upper-class corporal is captured by the Germans during their 1940 invasion of France. Assisted and accompanied by characters as diverse as a morose dairy farmer, a waiter, a myopic intellectual, a working-class Parisian, and a German dental assistant, the corporal tries to escape from prison camps, sometimes making it a few yards, sometimes reaching the border.

The Elusive Corporal

1962

Antoine and Colette poster
7.2

Now aged 17, Antoine Doinel works in a factory which makes records. At a music concert, he meets a girl his own age, Colette, and falls in love with her. Later, Antoine goes to extraordinary lengths to please his new girlfriend and her parents, but Colette still only regards him as a casual friend. First segment of “Love at Twenty” (1962).

Antoine and Colette

1962

Be Beautiful and Shut Up poster
5.6

A beautiful 18-year-old orphan escapes from a reformatory and hooks up with a gang of jewel smugglers, and decides on a life of crime. However, she falls for and marries a policeman, putting a crimp in her criminal career.

Be Beautiful and Shut Up

1958

Don't Tempt the Devil poster
6.2

A lovely young nurse finds herself framed for the murder of a hospital patient who died after she administered an injection.

Don't Tempt the Devil

1963

Love at Twenty poster
6.7

Love at Twenty unites five directors from five different countries to present their different perspectives on what love really is at the age of 20. The episodes are united with the score of Georges Delerue and still photos of Henri Cartier-Bresson.

Love at Twenty

1962

Iphigénie poster
8.3

On the shores of Aulis, the Greeks prepare to attack Troy. But their ships are unable to set sail because the gods are holding back the winds necessary for departure. Agamemnon consults the oracle. The solution is tragic. To appease the goddess Artemis, whom he had offended, he must sacrifice his own daughter.

Iphigénie

1968

The Mask of the Gorilla poster
6.1

Géo Paquet, aka The Gorilla, breaks from jail. Now an escaped convict, the elite agent must infiltrate a dangerous gang working for a foreign embassy as their leader, a spy enjoying diplomatic immunity, can't be arrested by regular police.

The Mask of the Gorilla

1958

Hi-Jack Highway poster
6.5

A trucker encounters a dead body on the road home. He reports the incident to the police, who suspect that Jean was responsible for the death, and his new truck is impounded. To make matters worse, the man's widow accuses him of having robbed her husband, and a gang of sinister crooks are also harassing him.

Hi-Jack Highway

1955

That's Show Business poster
6.8

Clement Mastard is the head of a leading journal dedicated to extravagant vaudeville. An unexpected contract requires him to reconnect with his former headliner Celia Bergson part to try to avant-garde theater. It is through this that he met Johann Sebastian Bloch, misunderstood musician who cause the loss but the side which Mastard, the man without scruples, to humanize and eventually produce a real masterpiece, the Missa Solemnis

That's Show Business

1975

Gypsy Law poster
10.0

The idyllic life of a beautiful gypsy girl is shattered when she runs away from a pre-arranged marriage to a member of her tribe. Away from the safety of her people, she encounters bigotry against her kind. A little girl feels sorry for the missing gypsy beauty and searches for a magic root that can cure the wandering gypsy from her wanderlust and bring her home again. Music, dance, ancient gypsy rituals, and colorful European scenery highlight this feature which takes a decidedly jaundiced view of the racial indignities suffered by the heroine.

Gypsy Law

1963

The Boss poster
5.6

Pursued by a rival gang after a violent robbery, Toni escapes with nearly thirty million francs. On the train to Paris, to avoid arousing suspicion, he has no choice but to threaten an honorable philosophy professor, Justin Mignonnet, with his gun, so that he will carry the loot for him. To make sure he returns the money, he takes his papers and makes him promise to be present at the exchange appointment at the Pigalle Hotel the next day. Completely lost, Mignonnet decides to obey orders, but just as he is about to return the money, a young woman, a member of the enemy gang, comes to collect it.

The Boss

1960

Father's Trip poster
6.6

Determined to assert his paternal rights, Quentin leaves his small village on the Swiss border to go to Lyon to look for his daughter, now a hairdresser, who, busy with her work, hasn't been back to the village for two years. In a few days, it will be Denise's birthday, the youngest of his daughters, and, urged on by his wife, he sets off, determined to bring the prodigal son back to the family celebration. But Denise is now living off her charms.

Father's Trip

1966

Operation Abduction poster
6.5

The Secret Service abducts a "rocket scientist" to better protect him against gangsters acting for Chinese agents.

Operation Abduction

1958

Virgile poster
5.5

Sweet Virgil believes himself to be a victim of the same bad luck that has pursued parents, grandparents and ancestors before him. Terribly complexed by this misfortune, he nevertheless awkwardly tries his hand at journalism, supported by a charming editor. By chance, he comes face to face with the thundering gangster Esposito. In this cat-and-mouse struggle, the mouse wins. Esposito is arrested and Virgil is rid of his inhibitions forever.

Virgile

1953

Richelieu ou La journée des dupes poster
8.0

A historical television film directed by Jean‑Dominique de La Rochefoucauld, Richelieu, or The Day of the Dupes recounts the political tensions that came to a head in November 1630, when Marie de’ Medici attempted to remove Cardinal Richelieu from power. Blending court intrigue, the king’s illness, and decisive reversals, the film portrays the struggle for influence that ultimately cemented Louis XIII’s trust in his minister. Led by Didier Sandre, Patrick Raynal, and Dominique Blanchar, the telefilm offers a meticulous reconstruction of the events that shaped the kingdom’s balance of power.

Richelieu ou La journée des dupes

1983

The Hussars poster
6.0

Brigadier Le Gouce and Private Flicot lose their horses during a campaign in Italy. To avoid looking ridiculous, the two hussars cross the country in search of their mounts. But when they are mistaken for deserters, their regiment gives chase.

The Hussars

1955

The Fabiani Affair poster
6.2

The tale of the famous vendetta, vengeance over the years between two families. For nearly nothing at the start, as always with Sicilians or Corsican people, from the underworld or not...

The Fabiani Affair

1962

No artwork available
8.0

As the outbreak of the Third World War commences, government members of France start hiding in a bunker.

Sept hommes en enfer

1981

More Whiskey for Callaghan poster
6.5

Valuable documents have been stolen from a British laboratory. Slim Callaghan is sent to investigate the theft. But his tracks soon lead him to the welcoming skies of the Côte d'Azur. There, he decides to infiltrate a network of aristocratic spies.

More Whiskey for Callaghan

1955

The Road to Shame poster
6.1

Pierre Rossi and Béatrice live in the same block of flats in Marseille and love each other. One night, Béatrice leaves her apartment. Pierre knows that his fiancée goes to a rendezvous, but she would not tell him more than just that. Worried, Pierre follows her but he is attacked and stolen his identity papers by two men, Tom and Nasol, on the payroll of Quaglio, one of the city's bosses. Later on, Quaglio kills Nasol and deposits the body in a garage, leaving Pierre's papers nearby. As for Pierre, he manages to follow Tom to a villa where several young women have been invited. Pierre, horrified, realizes that this place is the headquarters for the white slave trade. - Written by Guy Bellinger

The Road to Shame

1959

The Fugitives poster
7.6

During the Second World War, in 1943, two French prisoners, François and Michel, escape from Stalag B377 in northern Germany near the Baltic Sea. They meet another escaped compatriot, Pierre, who has donned the uniform of a German officer and joins them. Their goal: to reach neutral Sweden. To get there, they'll have to walk part of the way, then take a train to the coast and, from there, find a way to cross the sea to the shores of Sweden.

The Fugitives

1955

Requiem pour un caïd poster
6.3

Police officer Antoine Delille is in charge of putting an end to the activities of a "kingpin", Jo Pinelli, trafficker, racketeer and pimp. He has three women working for him, including Eva and Jeannette, and is currently "conditioning" a charming, naive Orly employee, with whom he poses as an honorable businessman. Inspector Delille's plan is to arrest Jo for some crime and, while he's being held at the P.J., to delve into his other criminal activities and confound him.

Requiem pour un caïd

1964