Michel Simon

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Michel Simon (9 April 1895, Geneva, Switzerland - 30 May 1975, Bry-sur-Marne, France), was a Swiss actor. The actor François Simon is his son.

1 Early years
2 Later years
3 The eccentric
4 Selective Filmography
5 Links and Bibliography

[edit] Early years

Simon used to say about himself that he was born in 1895 and, "as misfortune never comes singly, cinema was born the same year".

Son of a Protestant sausage maker, Simon soon left his family and town to go to Paris, where he first lived at the Hotel Renaissance, Saint-Martin Street, then in Montmartre. He worked many different jobs to survive, such as giving boxing lessons or peddling smuggled lighters. He devoured every book he could find, with special preference for Georges Courteline's writings.

His artistic beginnings in 1912 were modest: magician, clown and acrobat stooge in a dancers' show called "Ribert's and Simon's", in the Montreuil-sous-Bois Casino.

Conscripted into the Swiss Army in 1914, he was often insubordinate, spending a lot of time in the stockade, and contracting tuberculosis.

In 1915, while on leave, he saw Georges Pitoëff's early work in the French language, at the Theatre de la Comédie of Geneva, acting in Hedda Gabler.

He then decided to become an actor too, but had to until 1920 before making his first brief appearance on stage, with Pitoëff's company, speaking three lines for the registrar role in the Shakespeare's Measure for Measure. He also worked at this time as the company's photographer. He was spotted for the first time in a supporting role in George Bernard Shaw's Androcles and the Lion. In 1922, his company moved to Paris at the Comédie des Champs-Elysées.

He quit the following year to become a light comedy actor in plays by Tristan Bernard, Marcel Achard and Yves Mirande. Marcel Achard presented him to Charles Dullin, in whose company he acted in Je ne vous aime pas with Valentine Tessier.

[edit] Later years

Louis Jouvet, who has meanwhile replaced Pitoëff, hired him at the Comédie des Champs Elysées. Simon then gave a brilliant performance in Jean de la Lune, a play by Marcel Achard. His inimitable talent transformed his Cloclo supporting role to the big attraction of the play.

His theatrical career then blossomed with a large repertoire: Shakespeare, Bernard Shaw, Pirandello, Oscar Wilde, Bourdet, Bernstein, but it was film that made him most popular. His first film appearance was Feu Mathias Pascal, adapted from Pirandello and directed by Marcel L'Herbier. Very soon after, he appeared in La vocation d'André Carel, directed by Jean Choux. The film used small-scale production methods, just as the Nouvelle Vague would do starting in 1958.

In silent movies, he brought his amazing appearance and his unusual face - a talent with an exceptional mobility but truly without mannerism. He easily played with his body using an unlimited virtuosity, especially his ugliness, evolving from smartness to sympathy, goodness to naivety, ludicrousness to frightening, stupidity to comical, mischievousness to cruelty.

His film career was really boosted with the advent of talking pictures. People remarked that his elocution and voice tone were as original as his appearance and play. He then revealed his unclassifiable talent: action comedy, drama, tragedy, light comedy.

He appeared in 55 plays from 1920 to 1965, and 101 from 1965 to 1975.

He appeared in Dreyer's 1928 The Passion of Joan of Arc. He did unforgettable work for Jean Renoir (La Chienne, Boudu Saved From Drowning), Jean Vigo (L'Atalante) and Marcel Carné (Port of the Shadows, Bizarre, Bizarre).

In the 1950s, he reined in his activities following an accident involving a makeup dye that left part of his face and body paralysed.

He died at 80 years of age from a pulmonary embolism and is buried in the Grand-Lancy Cemetery of Geneva, next to his parents, as per his testamentary wishes.

[edit] The eccentric

In the 1920s/1930s, Simon enjoyed associating with the Parisian lower classes. For a time, he even lived in a brothel (prostitution was legal in France until 1946).^{[citation needed]}

Simon would say that he preferred "living with animals than humans". He lived for a long time in a kind of bohemian house in Noisy-le-Grand, near Paris. The house was surrounded by rank weeds, and filled with amazing bric-a-brac, ihncluding his large collection of erotica, including photographs and films. This collection was dispersed after his death.