Acting

Jules Berry

Born 1883-02-09 · Poitiers, Vienne, France

Jules Berry (born Marie Louis Jules Paufichet; 9 February 1883 – 23 April 1951) was a French actor. Berry and his two brothers were born to parents who sold hardware and settled in Poitou. The family moved to Paris in 1888. Berry completed his studies at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand and then graduated from École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts. It was during his studies that Berry developed an interest in the theater. Following an audition, he was hired by the Théâtre Antoine-Simone Berriau to act in La Mort du duc d'Enghien by Léon Hennique, and Le Perroquet vert by Arthur Schnitzler. Later he performed at the Théâtre de l'Ambigu-Comique and the Théâtre de l'Athénée. During a tour in Lyon, he was noticed by Jean-François Ponson, who hired him for a period of 12 years at the Théâtre royal des Galeries Saint-Hubert in Brussels. Audiences in Brussels gave him a warm welcome, where he played in productions such as Le Mariage de mademoiselle Beulemans. Berry subsequently performed in 30 successful plays for Marcel Achard, Alfred Savoir, Louis Verneuil, and Roger Ferdinand. One of Berry's first movie roles was the silent film Oliver Cromwell (1911) directed by Henri Desfontaines. His first appearance in a talking picture was Mon coeur et ses millions (1931) with Suzy Prim. Over the course of his career, Berry acted in 89 motion pictures. Bombastic, extravagant, and whimsical, Berry was as flamboyant as any entertainer of the period, including Pierre Brasseur. Berry is often considered one of the greatest actors in the history of French cinema. Among Berry's best films are: The Crime of Monsieur Lange by Jean Renoir, Les Visiteurs du Soir by Marcel Carné, Le Jour Se Lève by Marcel Carné, Strange Inheritance by Louis Daquin, Baccara by Yves Mirande, 27 Rue de la Paix by Richard Pottier and L'Habit vert by Roger Richebé. Berry ended his film career in 1951 to interpret the texts of Jacques Prévert. Berry was romantically involved with actresses Jane Marken, Suzy Prim, and Josseline Gaël. He and Gaël had a daughter named Michelle in 1939. A compulsive gambler, Berry frequented casinos and horse races. In April 1951, Berry was admitted to the Hôpital Broussais, where he died of a heart attack caused by treatment for rheumatism. He is buried in the Père Lachaise Cemetery (division 80). Source: Article "Jules Berry" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Acting credits

Mr. Gregoire Runs Away poster
6.1

Alex Grégoire is a timid insurance company clerk who shares his uneventful life between his wife Angèle, his colleagues and his passion for crosswords. But all of a sudden his existence changes dramatically. First because he wins a crossword competition. Second because a jewel thief, Charles Tuffal, thinks he recognizes in him a former accomplice. From that moment "uneventful" is not the best adjective to qualify Alex's life anymore...

Mr. Gregoire Runs Away

1946

L'Argent poster
7.0

Adapted from the novel L'Argent by Émile Zola, the film portrays the world of banking and the stock market in Paris in the 1920s.

L'Argent

1928

The Crowned Fish Tavern poster
6.0

Captain Palmer's daughter, Maria, is neglected by her husband, the cynical Leo, who lives with the beautiful Sylvia. To defeat his son-in-law, Palmer has the idea of ​​putting Sylvia back in the presence of Pierre, her first love. Leo takes revenge by creating many difficulties for Palmer who retaliates by starting a violent fight where Leo is killed. Everything seems to point to Pierre, but...

The Crowned Fish Tavern

1947

The Devil's Envoys poster
6.8

At the end of the 15th century, a man and a woman, posing as traveling minstrels, are sent by the Devil to a castle to seduce its inhabitants.

The Devil's Envoys

1942

Deputy Eusèbe poster
10.0

Eusèbe Bonbonneau, a solicitor's clerk, learns one day that a candidate bearing his name runs for election as a member of parliament. In fact Frazier, a crooked businessman, has urged an accomplice to impersonate Eusèbe, in order to obtain, through this straw man, authorizations for the creation of a casino in Sanceau-les-Nains and to make big money out of it. Eusébe decides to go to Paris to investigate. In the capital he meets Mariska, an exuberant actress who encourages him to try to get elected. As a result, thanks to her the true Bonbonneau becomes a member of parliament and the crook's accomplice is arrested. But Frazier is not impressed and, changing tactics, he starts manipulating Eusèbe.

Deputy Eusèbe

1939

L'Embuscade poster
7.5

A young man is hired by an industrialist, while a secret hangs over his birth. His boss's wife turns out to be his mother, who hides the truth from him.

L'Embuscade

1941

After the Storm poster
7.0

René Sabin, engineer, disappointed by failures, leaves his village in the South to go to Paris with friends. In the capital, he befriends dubious people, in particular Alex Krakow who does not disdain shady business. Then comes the war. René is mobilized then returns to the country, and finds with joy his fiancée.

After the Storm

1941

Café de Paris poster
7.9

This murder mystery is set in a Parisian cafe and examines the mysterious murder of a famed journalist and extortionist who is killed at his table in the cafe. Though the prime suspects are gathered together( including his wife and her lover, the gun-runner, the creditor, and a playboy) and all of them have motives, none of them did it. So whodunit?

Café de Paris

1938

The Image Book poster
6.3

In Le Livre d’Image, Jean-Luc Godard recycles existing images (films, documentaries, paintings, television archives, etc.), quotes excerpts from books, uses fragments of music. The driving force is poetic rhyme, the association or opposition of ideas, the aesthetic spark through editing, the keystone. The author performs the work of a sculptor. The hand, for this, is essential. He praises it at the start. “There are the five fingers. The five senses. The five parts of the world (…). The true condition of man is to think with his hands. Jean-Luc Godard composes a dazzling syncopation of sequences, the surge of which evokes the violence of the flows of our contemporary screens, taken to a level of incandescence rarely achieved. Crowned at Cannes, the last Godard is a shock film, with twilight beauty.

The Image Book

2018

Adventure in Paris poster
7.0

Michel Levasseur is a joyous reveler who does not care about the next day. So much so that one day a bailiff bursts into his Paris apartment and seizes his furniture on behalf of Raymond Sauvaget, his landlord, a rich food industrialist. But far from resenting Sauvaget's act of hostility, Michel ... becomes his friend. Now Raymond, although prosperous, does not know how to handle women. That is why he asks Michel, a regular Casanova, to give him lessons in seduction.

Adventure in Paris

1936

Daybreak poster
7.6

After committing a murder, a man locks himself in his apartment and recollects the events that led him to the killing.

Daybreak

1939

The West poster
9.0

The film portrays the relationship between a female Moroccan student, who has been forced to leave her studies at the Sorbonne for financial reasons and works as a dancer in a Paris nightclub, and a French naval officer. However, on returning to Casablanca she is tricked into believing that he had the led attack on her village that wiped out her family. She begins to plot her revenge.

The West

1938

Crossroads poster
5.8

A wealthy industrialist, Roger de Vetheuil, married, feels assured of aging in peace. Then appears a blackmailer who accuses him of being a usurper, actually called Jean Pelletier, a mobster well known to police. Vetheuil, judging himself slandered, refuses to listen to his tormentor and goes to the police. The man speaks. The scandal is public soon ...

Crossroads

1938

The Rear-Wheel Drive Gang poster
6.5

The manager of a firm has a very unusual idea : asking his employees to pose as gangsters and to hold up a bank before returning the stolen money and pocketing the reward. But things do not go according to plan and the phony thieves get stolen in their turn. They have no other choice than turning into amateur detectives to be able to pay back the stolen dough.

The Rear-Wheel Drive Gang

1950

A Man to Kill poster
10.0

Captain Benoit successfully completes a mission in Berlin, but when he returns to Paris he escapes attacks by German agents.

A Man to Kill

1937

Baccara poster
7.5

A rich banker is actually a crook. His mistress, an alien, wants to become French and the only way is to marry a Frenchman.

Baccara

1935

Si jeunesse savait... poster
9.0

Charles Vigne, a wealthy banker, frees Abdul, a good genius imprisoned in a vase. To thank him, Abdul grants his wish: to become a child again, while retaining the experience he has acquired. But the "disappearance" of the banker panics the financial markets and has disastrous consequences for the bank. Eventually, Charles Vigne will ask Abdul to give him back his real age.

Si jeunesse savait...

1948

Tête blonde poster
6.5

When he finds a package in the metro, given this period of restrictions, Mr. Truche thinks it may be a good deal, he takes it home but discovers a woman's head inside. A friend of Mr. Truche having just disappeared, the superintendent accuses her of having murdered her and discovers the head buried in his cellar. But the girlfriend, whom Mr. Truche loves platonically, returns from the countryside and at the same time we spot the assassin of the unknown woman.

Tête blonde

1950

No artwork available
8.0

Hélène, married to Larsonnier, has developed a crush for Germont, her neighbor. One night, she is abducted and she discovers that her kidnapper is none other than Germont. But, to her dismay, he does not act out of love for her : his only motivation is money, which he proves by asking her husband a five-Million-franc ransom. After a long hesitation, Larsonnier finally pays the sum and Hélène returns to him. As for Germont, chased by the police, he goes on the loose... Some time later, Hélène is kidnapped one more time, and again by Germont! But this time around, this the elopement of her dreams.

Une femme chipée

1934

Face au destin poster
9.0

Two modest young employees, Jean and Madeleine, dream of leading the way, but the experience turns out badly. Madeleine marries a German aristocrat who turns out to be a spy, and finds Jean who had joined the Legion.

Face au destin

1941

The London Man poster
6.2

Maloin, a maritime station guard, spends his nights at the port signal box. One night, he becomes the witness of a murder: for a simple suitcase smuggled, the altercation between the two men turns to drama. While the first falls and drowns, the second flees. Maloin, instead of warning the police, decides to dive in and recover the suitcase...which contains more than 3 million in small denominations! That's when the trouble begins...

The London Man

1943

Dreams of Love poster
7.0

Paris, 1833. The famous composer Franz Liszt is friends with Chopin who introduces him to Countess Marie d'Agout. Very quickly Liszt falls in love and she, who is already married and has two children, abandons honor and reputation to follow him. They leave to live a great passion in Italy. Then, Franz Liszt gives concerts, the triumph awaits him everywhere. Little by little the fame of the composer will move the two lovers away.

Dreams of Love

1947

The Woman Thief poster
10.0

The woman thief evades a young lady who is onto his game, but then tries his wiles elsewhere on a married woman by attempting to compromise and ruin the husband she is happy with.

The Woman Thief

1938

The Crime of Monsieur Lange poster
7.1

Mild-mannered novelist of Western fiction, Amédée Lange, and his colleagues take over a publishing house after their exploitative boss disappears, only for the superior to return and try to reclaim the profits from their successful cooperative.

The Crime of Monsieur Lange

1936