Charles Denner

Charles Denner (29 May 1926 – 10 September 1995) was a French actor born to a Jewish family in Tarnów, Poland. During his 30-year career he worked with some of France's greatest directors of the time, including Louis Malle, Claude Chabrol, Jean-Luc Godard, Costa-Gavras, Claude Lelouch and François Truffaut, who gave him two of his most memorable roles, as Fergus in The Bride Wore Black and as Bertrand Morane in The Man Who Loved Women (1977).

Early life Charles Denner was born in 1926 to a Yiddish-speaking Jewish family in the city of Tarnów in Galicia in south-eastern Poland. His parents were Joseph Denner, a tailor, and Jenta Micenmacher. He had a sister, Élise, and two brothers, Alfred and Jacques. When he was four, the family emigrated to France.

During World War II, his family took refuge in Brive-la-Gaillarde, where they were helped by Rabbi David Feuerwerker. Denner served as a Free French partisan in the Vercors mountains and destroyed a Nazi SS truck with a grenade; he was wounded and later received the Croix de Guerre for this operation.

Passionate about theatre from his childhood, Denner became a student of Charles Dullin, a famous theatre teacher of his time, under whose guidance he remained until 1945. Another great figure of French theatre, Jean Vilar, impressed by Denner's performance at Les mamelles de Tirésias (The Breasts of Tiresias), called him four years after he left Vilar to join the Théâtre National Populaire (TNP). It was there that he gave some of his earliest stage performances, in plays such as Heinrich von Kleist's Prinz Friedrich von Homburg and Alfred de Musset's Lorenzaccio, among others.

Career In 1955, director Yves Allégret offered Denner a small role in La Meilleure part (The Best Part), thus introducing him for the first time to cinema audiences. Two years later, in 1957, he secured another secondary role in Louis Malle's legendary Elevator to the Gallows, alongside Jeanne Moreau, a co-performer of his from the days of the TNP.

In 1962 Jean-Luc Godard wanted to film Jean Giraudoux's play Pour Lucrèce starring Denner along with Sami Frey and Michel Piccoli, but when cast and crew had already been assembled he called off the shoot on the first day of filming after a prolonged downpour caused a long delay.

In 1963 Denner was offered his first leading role by Claude Chabrol in Landru, a film considered by many as his greatest on-screen performance. Despite his growing recognition on the big screen, the stage remained his true passion. He gave his most memorable performances in plays such as Molière's Les Fourberies de Scapin (Scapin's Schemings) and Brecht's Drums in the Night.

Death

On 10 September 1995 Denner died of pneumonia in Dreux, France.

Filmography