Henri Verneuil (; born Ashot Malakian; 15 October 1920 – 11 January 2002) was a French-Armenian

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...

and

filmmaker Filmmaking or film production is the process by which a Film, motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, beginning with an initial story, idea, or commission. Production then continues through screen ...

, who made a successful career in France. He was nominated for

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People and fictional and mythical characters * Oscar (given name), including lists of people and fictional characters named Oscar, Óscar or Oskar * Oscar (footballer, born 1954), Brazilian footballer ...

and

Palme d'Or The (; ) is the highest prize awarded to the director of the Best Feature Film of the Official Competition at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festiv ...

awards, and won

Locarno International Film Festival The Locarno International Film Festival is a major international film festival, held annually in Locarno, Switzerland. Founded in 1946, the festival screens films in various competitive and non-competitive sections, including feature-length narr ...

Edgar Allan Poe Awards The Edgar Allan Poe Awards, popularly called the Edgars, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America which is based in New York City. Named after American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), a pioneer in the genre, the awards honor ...

, French Legion of Honor,

Golden Globe Award The Golden Globe Awards are awards presented for excellence in both international film and television. It is an annual award ceremony held since 1944 to honor artists and professionals and their work. The ceremony is normally held every Janua ...

, French National Academy of Cinema and Honorary Cesar awards. According to one obituary:

For exactly 40 years, the prolific Verneuil made movies as mainstream and commercial as any to be found in America or Britain. In his best period – the 1950s and 1960s – he delivered films in the "tradition of quality" so despised by the
Nouvelle Vague The New Wave (, ), also called the French New Wave, is a French art film movement that emerged in the late 1950s. The movement was characterized by its rejection of traditional filmmaking conventions in favor of experimentation and a spirit of i ...
. Many of them proved excellent vehicles for old-timers Jean Gabin and Fernandel, and newcomers such as Jean-Paul Belmondo and Alain Delon.

Life and career

Early life

Verneuil was born Ashot Malakian () to

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...

parents in Rodosto,

East Thrace East Thrace or Eastern Thrace, also known as Turkish Thrace or European Turkey, is the part of Turkey that is geographically in Southeast Europe. Turkish Thrace accounts for 3.03% of Turkey's land area and 15% of its population. The largest c ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. In 1924, when Ashot was a little child his family fled to

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

in France, to escape persecution after the

Armenian genocide The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenians, Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was implemented primarily t ...

. He later recounted his childhood experience in the novel ''Mayrig'', which he dedicated to his mother and made into a 1991 film with the same name, which was followed by a sequel, 588 Rue Paradis, the following year. Verneuil entered the École Nationale d'Arts et Metiers in Aix-en-Provence in 1942. After graduation, he worked as a journalist, then became editor of Horizon Armenian magazine.

Film career

In 1947, Verneuil managed to convince the established European film actor Fernandel to appear in his first film. In 1951 he directed his first feature, the black comedy '' La Table aux crevés''. His second film, ''Forbidden Fruit'' (1952), based on a

Georges Simenon Georges Joseph Christian Simenon (; 12/13 February 1903 – 4 September 1989) was a Belgian writer who created the fictional detective Jules Maigret. One of the most prolific and successful authors of the 20th century, he published around 400 ...

novel, was even more acclaimed. Later he also directed other movie stars including Jean Gabin,

Alain Delon Alain Fabien Maurice Marcel Delon (; 8 November 1935 – 18 August 2024) was a French actor, film producer, screenwriter, singer, and businessman. Acknowledged as a cultural and cinematic leading man of the 20th century, Delon emerged as one of ...

Lino Ventura Angiolino Giuseppe Pasquale Ventura (14 July 1919 – 22 October 1987), known as Lino Ventura, was an Italian-born actor and philanthropist, who lived and worked for most of his life in France. He was considered one of the greatest leading men ...

(all together acting for him in " Le clan des siciliens" in 1969),

Jean-Paul Belmondo Jean-Paul Charles Belmondo (; 9 April 19336 September 2021) was a French actor. Initially associated with the New Wave of the 1960s, he was a major French film star for several decades from the 1960s onward, frequently portraying police officer ...

("Le Corps de mon ennemi" in 1976 and other films),

Omar Sharif Omar Sharif (, ; born Michel Yusef Dimitri Chalhoub ; 10 April 1932 – 10 July 2015) was an Egyptian actor, generally regarded as one of his country's greatest male film stars. He began his career in his native country in the 1950s. He is bes ...

Claudia Cardinale Claude Joséphine Rose Cardinale (; born 15 April 1938), known as Claudia Cardinale (), is an Italian actress. Born and raised in La Goulette, a neighbourhood of Tunis, Cardinale won the "Most Beautiful Italian Girl in Tunisia" competition ...

( Mayrig),

Yves Montand Ivo Livi (; 13 October 1921 – 9 November 1991), better known as Yves Montand (), was an Italian-born French actor and singer. He is said to be one of France's greatest 20th-century artists. Early life Montand was born Ivo Livi in Stignano, a ...

and

Michèle Morgan Michèle Morgan (; born Simone Renée Roussel; 29 February 1920 – 20 December 2016) was a French film actress, who was a leading lady for three decades in both French cinema and Hollywood features. She is considered one of the greatest Fren ...

. Verneuil has filmed almost all the great figures of French cinema, with the exception of Bourvil, as even Louis de Funès has a small role in one of his films. After the American experience (he was called the "most American of French directors"), in 1969 Verneuil "found" France. He was awarded a César in 1996 and he was elected a member of the Academy of Fine Arts in 2000. He died at Bagnolet, a suburb of Paris, in 2002. The opening of the seventh annual Golden Apricot International Film Festival in

Yerevan Yerevan ( , , ; ; sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia, as well as one of the world's List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerev ...

paid tribute to Verneuil. His son, television director Patrick Malakian, who reclaimed the name of his historical ancestors, received the posthumous award, the Parajanov's Thaler, for his father's contribution to cinema.

Filmography

* '' Pipe chien'' (1950) * ''

On demande un bandit On, on, or ON may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * On (band), a solo project of Ken Andrews * ''On'' (EP), a 1993 EP by Aphex Twin * ''On'' (Echobelly album), 1995 * ''On'' (Gary Glitter album), 2001 * ''On'' (Imperial Teen album), 200 ...

'' (1950) * '' Maldonne'' (1950) * '' La Légende de Terre-Blanche'' (1950) * '' L'Art d'être courtier'' (1950) * '' Compositeurs et Chansons de Paris'' (1951) * '' Village Feud'' (1951) (+ screenwriter) * '' Le Fruit défendu'' (1952) (+ screenwriter) * ''

Full House ''Full House'' is an American television sitcom created by Jeff Franklin for American Broadcasting Company, ABC. The show is about the recently widowed father Danny Tanner who enlists his brother-in-law Jesse Katsopolis and childhood best friend ...

'' (1952) * '' The Baker of Valorgue'' (1953) * '' Carnaval'' (Carnival) (1953) * '' L'Ennemi Public n°1'' (Public Enemy No. 1) (1953) * '' Le Mouton à cinq pattes'' (The Sheep Has Five Legs) (1954) (director + screenwriter) * '' Les Amants du Tage'' (1955) * '' People of No Importance'' (1956) (+ screenwriter) * '' Paris, Palace Hotel'' (1956) (+ screenwriter) *'' A Kiss for a Killer'' (1957) (+ screenwriter) * '' Sois belle et tais-toi'' (1958) * '' Maxime'' (1958) (+ screenwriter) * ''

The Big Chief ''The Big Chief'' (French: ''Le grand chef'', Italian: ''Noi gangsters'') is a 1959 French-Italian comedy film directed by Henri Verneuil and starring Fernandel, Gino Cervi and Florence Blot.Rège p.1000 It is based on the short story '' Th ...

'' (1959) * '' La Vache et le Prisonnier'' (1959) (+ screenwriter), with Fernandel * ' (1960) * '' La Française et l'amour'' (1960) * '' Le Président'' (The President) (1961) (+ screenwriter), with Jean Gabin * '' Les Lions sont lâchés'' (1961) * '' Un singe en hiver'' (1962), with Jean Gabin and

* '' Mélodie en sous-sol'' (1963) (Any Number Can Win) (1964

Edgar Award The Edgar Allan Poe Awards, popularly called the Edgars, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America which is based in New York City. Named after American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), a pioneer in the genre, the awards hon ...

, Best Foreign Film), with

and Jean Gabin * '' Cent mille dollars au soleil'' (1964) (+ screenwriter), with

and

* '' Week-end à Zuydcoote'' (1964), with

* '' La Vingt-cinquième heure'' (The 25th Hour) (1967) (+ screenwriter), with

Anthony Quinn Manuel Antonio Rodolfo Quinn Oaxaca (April 21, 1915 – June 3, 2001), known as Anthony Quinn, was an American actor. He was known for his portrayal of earthy, passionate characters "marked by a brutal and elemental virility" in over 100 ...

* '' La Bataille de San Sebastian'' (A wall for San Sebastian) (1968), with

and

Charles Bronson Charles Bronson (born Charles Dennis Buchinsky; November 3, 1921 – August 30, 2003) was an American actor. He was known for his roles in action films and his "granite features and brawny physique". Bronson was born into extreme poverty in ...

* '' Le Clan des Siciliens'' (The Sicilian Clan) (1969) (+ screenwriter), starring Delon, Gabin and Ventura * '' Le Casse'' (1971) (+ screenwriter), with

and

* '' Le Serpent'' (Night Flight from Moscow) (1973) (+ screenwriter), with

Henry Fonda Henry Jaynes Fonda (May 16, 1905 – August 12, 1982) was an American actor whose career spanned five decades on Broadway theatre, Broadway and in Hollywood. On screen and stage, he often portrayed characters who embodied an everyman image. Bo ...

and

Yul Brynner Yuliy Borisovich Briner (; July 11, 1920 – October 10, 1985), known professionally as Yul Brynner (), was a Russian-born actor. He was known for his portrayal of King Mongkut in the Rodgers and Hammerstein stage musical ''The King and I'' (19 ...

* ''

Peur sur la ville ''Fear Over the City'' ( French: ''Peur sur la ville'') is a 1975 French crime film directed by Henri Verneuil and starring Jean-Paul Belmondo. It was the first time Belmondo played a police officer. It was released in the United States and the ...

'' (1975) (+ screenwriter), with

* '' Le Corps de mon ennemi'' (1976) (+ screenwriter), with

* '' I comme Icare'' (I as in Icarus) (1979) (+ screenwriter), with

* '' A Thousand Billion Dollars'' (1982) (+ screenwriter) * '' Les Morfalous'' (1984) (+ screenwriter), with

* '' Mayrig'' (Mother) (1992) (+ screenwriter) * '' 588 Rue Paradis'' (1993) (+ screenwriter)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Verneuil, Henri 1920 births 2002 deaths People from Tekirdağ Armenians from the Ottoman Empire Turkish emigrants to France 20th-century French engineers French film directors French comedy film directors Edgar Award winners Parajanov Award winners César Honorary Award recipients Arts et Métiers ParisTech alumni