Nationality: French. Born: Fernand Joseph Désiré Contandin in Marseilles, 8 May 1903. Military Service: Compulsory military service in the 1920s; French army, 1939–40. Family: Married Henriette Manse, 1925, children: Josette, Janine, Franck, and Gérard. Career: Stage debut at age five in melodrama, Théâtre Chave; while attending school, appeared at night with father and brother in Marseilles music halls; 1914—left school and worked in various jobs while continuing to perform; 1922—contract by Eldorado Theatre, Nice; contract on Paramount vaudeville circuit; 1930—offered first film role by director Marc Allégret; through 1930s continued to appear on stage in Marseille and Paris; 1934—first substantial film role as Saturnin in Marcel Pagnol's Angèle ; 1942—directed children's film Simplet ; 1948—first tour of United States and Canada; 1950—began appearing in serious roles, in Sacha Guitry's Tu m'as sauvé la vie ; 1967—in TV series L'Amateur . Awards: Chevalier of the Légion d'Honneur. Died: In Paris, 26 February 1971.
La Meilleure Bobonne (Marc Allégret and Heymann) (as Lucien Pivoine); J'ai quelque chose à vous dire (Marc Allégret); Le Blanc et le noir (Florey) (as Le Groom)
Attaque nocturne (Marc Allégret and de Marguenat); On purge bébé (Renoir) (as Horace Truchet); Vive la classe (Cammage); Coeur de Lilas (Litvak—French version of his The Mad Genius ) (as le garçon d'honneur); La Fine combine (Chotin—short) (as valet); Pas un mot à ma femme (Chotin); Bric a Brac et Cie (Chotin); Paris-Beguin (Génina) (as Ficelle)
Cunegonde (short—filmed song); Elle disait non (short—filmed song); Le Rosier de Madame Husson ( He ) (Deschamps) (as Isidore); Maruche (Péguy); Un Homme sans nom ( L'Homme sans nom ) (Ucicky—French version of Mensch ohne Namen ) (as Julot); Les Gaités de l'escadron (Maurice Tourneur) (as Venderague); La Claque (Péguy—short); Par habitude (Cammage—short); Quand tu nous tiens, amour (Cammage—short); Le Jugement de minuit (Esway and Charlot) (as Sam); Une Brune piquante (de Poligny); Ordonnance malgré lui (Cammage) (as chauffeur); Un Beau Jour de noces (Cammage—short); La Terreur de la Pampa (Cammage); Comme une carpe (Heymann—short); L'Idoire (Maurice Tourneur—short) (title role)
Ça colle (Christian-Jaque—short); Le Coq du regiment (Cammage); Le Gros Lot ( La Veine d'Anatole ) (Cammage); L'Ordonnance ( The Orderly ) (Tourjansky); D'amour et d'eau fraîche (Gandéra); Adéma i aviateur (Tarride) (as Michelet); La Garnison amoureuse (de Vaucorbeil); Restez diner (short)
Une Nuit de folies (Cammage); Le Cheri de sa concierge (Glavanti); Le Train de 8 h 47 (Wulschleger) (as Croquebol); L'Hôtel du libre échange (Marc Allégret); Angèle (Pagnol) (as Saturnin); Les Bleus de la marine (Cammage) (as Lafraise); Le Cavalier Lafleur (Ducis) (as Lafleur en activité); La Porteuse de pain (Sti)
Ferdinand le noceur (Sti) (as Ferdinand); Jim la houlette (Berthomieu) (as Moluchet); Les Gaités de la finance (Forrester)
Un de la Légion (Christian-Jaque) (as Fernand Espitalion); Josette (Christian-Jaque)
François Ier ( Francis the First ) (Christian-Jaque) (as Honorin); Les Degourdis de la onzième (Christian-Jaque); Ignace (Colombier) (as Ignace Boitaclou); Regain ( Harvest ) (Pagnol) (as Urbain Gédémus); Le Schpountz ( Heartbeat ) (Pagnol) (as Irené Fabre); Les Rois du sport (Colombier) (as Fernand); Un Carnet de bal ( Life Dances on, Christine ) (Duvivier) (as Fabien Coutissol); Hercule ( L'Incorruptible ) (Esway) (title role)
Barnabé (Esway) (title role); Raphael et Cacolet (Colombier) (as Modeste Manosque); Ernest le rebelle (Christian-Jaque); Les Cinq sous de Lavarède (Cammage) (as Armand Lavarède)
Berlingot et Cie (Rivers) (as François); Fric-Frac (Lehmann and Autant-Lara) (as Marcel); L'Héritier des Mondésir (Valentin)
L'Acrobate (Boyer) (as Ernest Sauce); Monsieur Hector (Cammage) (as Hector); Un Chapeau de paille d'Italie ( The Italian Straw Hat ) (Cammage) (as Fadinard); La nuit merveilleuse (Paulin); La Fille du puisatier ( The Well-Digger's Daughter ) (Pagnol) (as Felipe Rambert)
Une Vie de chien (Cammage) (as Gustave Bourdillon); Les Petits Riens (Leboursier); Le Club des soupirants (Gleize) (as Antoine Valoisir)
La Bonne Étoile (Boyer) (as Auguste); Ne le criez pas sur les toits (Norman) (as Vincent Fleuret)
La Cavalcade des heures (Noé) (as Antonin); Guignol, marionnette de France (short)
La Mystère Saint-Val (Le Hénaff); Irma la voyante (short); Naïs (Pagnol) (as Tione); Les Gueux au paradis ( Hoboes in Paradise ) (Le Hénaff) (as Pons)
Pétrus (Marc Allégret) (title role); L'Aventure de Cabassou (Grangier); La Caissière du Grand Cafe (short); Comediens ambulants (short); Coeur de coq (Cloche) (as Tulipe Barbaroux)
Escale au soleil (Verneuil); Emile l'africain (Vernay) (as Emile)
Si ça peut vous faire plaisir (Norman) (as Martial Gonfaron); L'Armoire volante ( The Cupboard Was Bare ) (Rim) (as Alfred Puc)
L'Héroique Monsieur Boniface (Labro) (as Boniface); On démande un assassin (Neubach) (as Bob Laurent); Botta e risposta ( Je suis de la revue ) (Soldati)
Casimir (Pottier) (title role); Muertres ( Three Sinners ) (Pottier) (as Noël Annaquin); Tu m'as sauvé la vie (Guitry) (as Fortuné Richard); Uniformes et grandes manoeuvres (Le Hénaff) (as Luc); Topaze (Pagnol) (title role); Boniface somnambule (Labro) (as Boniface)
L'Auberge rouge ( The Red Inn ) (Autant-Lara) (as Le Capucin); La Table aux crèves (Verneuil) (as Urbain Coindet)
Le Petit monde de Don Camillo ( The Little World of Don Camillo ) (Duvivier) (title role); Coiffeur pour dames ( The French Touch ) (Boyer) (as Mario); Le Fruit défendu ( Forbidden Fruit ) (Verneuil) (as Charles Pellegrin); Le Boulanger de Valorgue (Verneuil) (as Félicien)
Le Retour de Don Camillo ( The Return of Don Camillo ) (Duvivier) (title role); L'Ennemi public No. 1 ( The Most Wanted Man ) (Verneuil) (as Joé Calvet); Carnaval ( Carnival ) (Verneuil) (as Dardamelle); Mam'zelle Nitouche (Yves Allégret) (as Célestin-Floridor); Le Mouton à cinq pattes ( The Sheep Has Five Legs ) (Verneuil) (as Saint Forget/ Alain/Bernard/Charles/Désiré/Ètienne); Ali Baba et les quarante voleurs ( Ali Baba ) (Jacques Becker) (as Ali Baba); Le Printemps, l'automne et l'amour (Grangier) (as Noël Sarrazin)
Don Camillo e l'onorevole Peppone ( La Grande Bagarre de Don Camillo ) (Gallone) (title role); Don Juan ( Pantaloons ) (Berry) (as Sagnarelle)
Le Couturier de ces dames ( Fernandel the Dressmaker ) (Boyer) (as Fernand); Sous le ciel de Provence ( The Virtuous Bigamist ) (Soldati) (as Paul Verdier); Le Telephone (Régamey—short); Honoré de Marseilles (Régamey) (as Honoré); L'Homme à l'impermeable ( The Man in the Raincoat ) (Duvivier) (as Albert Constantine); L'Art d'etre Papa (short—for TV); Around the World in Eighty Days (Anderson) (as Parisian coachman)
Sénéchal le magnifique ( Senechal the Magnificent ) (Boyer) (as Sénéchal); Le Chômeur de Clochemerle ( The Easiest Profession ) (Boyer); A Paris tous les deux (Oswald); La Loi, c'est la loi ( The Law Is the Law ) (Christian-Jaque)
La Vie à deux (Duhour); Les Vignes du seigneur (Boyer) (as Henri); Le Grand Chef ( The Big Chief ) (Verneuil) (as Antoine)
Le Confident de ces dames (Boyer); La Vache et le prisonnier ( The Cow and I ) (Verneuil) (as Charles Bailly)
Cresus (Giono) (as Jules); Le Caïd (Borderie); Cocagne (Cloche) (as Marc-Antoine); Dynamite Jack (Bastia)
Don Camillo, monsignore . . . ma non troppo ( Don Camillo Monseigneur ) (Gallone) (as Don Camillo); L'Assassin est dans l'annuaire (Joannon); Il giudizio universale (De Sica)
Le Diable et les dix commandements ( The Devil and the Ten Commandments ) (Duvivier) (as God); En avant la musique ( Avanti la musica ) (Bianchi); Le Voyage à Biarritz (Grangier) (as Guillaume Dodut)
Blague dans le coin (Labro); Le Bon Roi Dagobert (Chevalier) (as Dagobert); La Cuisine au beurre ( My Wife's Husband ) (Grangier)
Relaxe-toi, cheri (Boyer); L'Age ingrat (Grangier) (+ co-pr)
Il compagno Don Camillo ( Don Camillo en Russie ; Don Camillo à Moscou ) (Comencini) (title role); La Bourse et la vie (Mocky) (as Migue)
Le Voyage du père (de la Patellière) (as Quantin)
L'Homme à la Buick (Grangier) (as Monsieur Jo)
Palmares des chansons (Pradines—for TV)
Heureux qui comme Ulysse (Colpi) (as Antonin)
Simplet (title role, co-d with Carlo Rim)
Adrien (title role)
Adhémar ( Le Jouet de la fatalité ) (title role)
"I'm an Actor, Not a Comedian," in Films and Filming (London), October 1960.
Rim, Carlo, Fernandel , Paris, 1952.
Castans, Ramond, Fernandel m'a raconte , Paris, 1976.
Plume, Christian, Fernandel , Paris, 1976.
Fernandel 1903–1971 , photo album chosen by André Fildier, Paris, 1981.
Jelot-Blanc, Jean-Jacques, Fernandel: Quand le cinéma parlait provençal , Nice, 1981.
Lorcey, Jacques, Fernandel , Paris, 1981.
Fernandel, Franck, Fernandel de peres en fils , Paris, 1991.
"Fernandel," issue of Visages (Paris), July 1938.
Current Biography 1955 , New York, 1955.
"Fernandel," in Films and Filming (London), May 1955.
Hume, R., "French Face Man," in Films and Filming (London), February 1956.
Gerald, Y., "Fernandel's Comic Style," in Films in Review (New York), March 1960.
Obituary in New York Times , 28 February 1971.
Lorcey, Jacques, "Fernandel," in Anthologie du cinéma , vol. 9, Paris, 1973.
Domke, G., "Fernandel," letter, in Films in Review (New York), April 1973, and corrections in August/September 1973.
Ecran (Paris), February 1978.
Ciné Revue (Paris), 8 November 1984.
Peyrusse, C., "Notes sur le petit bourgeois mérididonal," in Cahiers du Cinéma (Paris), no. 50, 1988.
Génin, Bernard, "Et tout le monde riait," in Télérama (Paris), 22 February 1995.
Heinz, Rainer, "Wie aus einem Bild von Brueghel," in Film-Dienst (Cologne), 13 February 1996.
* * *
Attending so-called art movie theaters during the late 1940s and early 1950s, American audiences discovered the comic genius of Fernandel in such films as The Well-Digger's Daughter , The Little World of Don Camillo , and The Sheep Has Five Legs . His physical features were pure caricature, as if a cartoonist had designed him, with an unusually long, hang-dog face, big eyes and thick lips, and a broad, horse-toothed smile. His head was set on a thick, short frame with arms and legs that moved awkwardly, as if attached to a much taller man.
Despite this nearly grotesque figure he was one of the most captivating international comic personalities. Usually an innocent, a "fall guy" for those much wiser than he, Fernandel projected a childlike warmth and high spirits that would cause a beautiful, young country girl to want him for a husband. Playing a suitor who is easily manipulated by the father of a wronged girl in The Well-Digger's Daughter , the comedian achieved critical and popular attention. As a guileless country lad Fernandel was marvelously suited to play opposite the more seasoned Raimu. Fernandel's fame increased in the 1950s when he appeared in the title role of The Little World of Don Camillo and its four sequels. The squabbles of a communist mayor and a mild village priest provided a strong comic base for the film as Fernandel blended seriousness with comedy. The Sheep Has Five Legs illustrated the comedian's deftness in handling multiple roles, a feat comparable to that of Alec Guinness in Kind Hearts and Coronets . The French comedian played six roles, a father and his five sons, providing a study in all the types of characters this talented actor portrayed throughout his long career.
—Donald McCaffrey
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