Daniel Gélin
Born
May 19, 1921
Died
November 29, 2002 (81 years old)
Known For
Acting
Place of Birth
Angers, Maine-et-Loire, France
Daniel Yves Alfred Gélin (19 May 1921 – 29 November 2002) was a French actor.
Gélin was born in Angers, Maine-et-Loire, the son of Yvonne (née Le Méner) and Alfred Ernest Joseph Gélin.
When he was ten, his family moved to Saint-Malo where Daniel went to college until he was expelled for 'uncouthness'. His father then found him a job in a shop that sold cans of salted cod. It was seeing the shooting of Marc Allégret's film Entrée des artistes that triggered his desire to go to Paris to train to be an actor. He trained at the Cours Simon in Paris before entering the Conservatoire national d'art dramatique. There he met Louis Jouvet and embarked on a theatrical career. He made his first film appearance in 1940 in Miquette and for several years was an extra or played small roles in French films. He appeared with Jean Gabin and Marlene Dietrich in Martin Roumagnac (1946).
He won his first leading role in Rendez-vous de juillet (1949). From that time, he went on to appear in more than 150 films, including Max Ophüls' films La Ronde (1950) and Le Plaisir (1952), Jacques Becker's Édouard et Caroline (1951), Sacha Guitry's films Si Versailles m'était conté (Royal Affairs in Versailles) (1954) and Napoléon (1955), Alfred Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956), Jean Cocteau's Le Testament d'Orphée (1960), Le souffle au cœur (Murmur of the Heart) (1971), and La Nuit de Varennes (That Night in Varennes) (1982). He also wrote and directed one film, The Long Teeth, in 1952.
Gélin was a leading man in French cinema during the 1950s, but his career declined with the coming of the New Wave. He worked in theater for several years, but later found new success on screen as a character actor. He appeared extensively in French films and television productions from the 1970s until his death, often playing cynical characters or grumpy old men.
In 1946, Gélin married actress Danièle Delorme with whom he had a son, actor, director and producer Xavier Gélin. They divorced in 1954. While still married to Delorme, he had an affair with 17 year old model Marie Christine Schneider that produced a daughter, Maria Schneider. Due to his status as a married man, Gélin could not recognize Maria as his daughter. He visited the child several times but eventually severed his relationship with her mother. Maria Schneider and Daniel Gélin reconnected when she was sixteen and came to visit him. They remained in contact, although their relationship was irregular.
Gélin was married to model Sylvie Hirsch from 1954 until their divorce in 1968. This marriage produced three children, Pascal (who died aged one year), Fiona , and Manuel, the latter two also becoming actors. In 1973, he remarried to Lydie Zaks with whom he had a daughter, Laura.
Gélin died in Paris on 29 November 2002 of kidney failure.
Source: Article "Daniel Gélin" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
Known For
Max par Marcel: Lola Montès
Self (archive footage)
2009
Working with Max Ophuls: Daniel Gélin on "Le Plaisir"
Self (archive footage)
2008
Working with Max Ophuls: Daniel Gélin on "La Ronde"
Self (archive footage)
2008
À l'abri des regards indiscrets
Abdel-Robert
2002
Une femme d'action
Charles
1997
Obsession
Xavier Favre
1997
Men, Women: A User's Manual
le veuf
1996
Les Bidochon
Le père Bidochon
1996
Ghost with Driver
Le passeur (Le guide céleste)
1996
Runaways
Bruno
1995
Pushing the Limits
Le père de Fiona
1994
Fear City: A Family-Style Comedy
Mr. Mireille, the 2nd projectionist
1994
Poorly Extinguished Fires
The gentleman from the beach
1994
Warrior Spirit
John Ball
1994
Roulez jeunesse !
Jean Moulinier
1993
De force avec d'autres
L'autre lui-même
1993
Coup de jeune
Gaudeamus at 70
1993
Iran: Days of Crisis
Shah
1991
The Professional Secrets of Dr. Apfelgluck
Roland Grumaud
1991
Mauvaise fille
Fernand
1991
Les Nuls, l'émission
Self - Guest · (1 episode)
1990
Promotion canapé
Le responsable des inspecteurs de la Justice
1990
Max Ophüls - Den schönen guten Waren
Self
1990
Mister Frost
Simon Scolari
1990
The summer of all sorrows
papy
1989
Itinerary of a Spoiled Child
Pierre Duvivier, Albert's father
1988
Life Is a Long Quiet River
Docteur Mavial
1988
Dandin
Monsieur de Sotenville
1988
Marc et Sophie
Edmond, le beau-père · (220 episodes)
1987
Sacrée soirée
Self · (4 episodes)
1987
Public Security
Martino Morando
1987
Via Montenapoleone
padre di Elena
1987
James Stewart: A Wonderful Life
Self (archive footage)
1987
The Legacy of Guldenburgs
Gregor Baschkurin · (1 episode)
1987
Pétition
Stanek
1987
Le Tiroir secret
Jean-Pierre Jolivet · (1 episode)
1986
Killing Cars
Kellermann
1986
Blitz
1985
The Children
Enrico
1985
Un delitto
1984
The Night of Varennes
De Wendel
1982
Guy de Maupassant
Gustave
1982
Season of Peace in Paris
1981
Signé Furax
Broutechoux
1981
Tarendol
Bazalo · (4 episodes)
1980
Arrête de ramer, t'attaques la falaise !
Don Gomez
1979
Schwüle Tage
Vater
1978
The Suspended Vocation
Malagrida
1978
La Discorde
Bernard
1978
We Will All Meet in Paradise
Bastien, stage director
1977
Urgent ou à quoi bon exécuter des projets puisque le projet est en lui-même une jouissance suffisante
Self
1977
La jalousie
Albert Blondel
1976
Trop c'est trop
Flic
1975
Dialogues of the Exiles
1975
Numéro un
Self · (2 episodes)
1975
Système 2
Self · (1 episode)
1975
Les Rendez-vous du dimanche
Self · (3 episodes)
1975
Midi Première
Self · (1 episode)
1975
Ariane
The comedian
1974
No Pockets in a Shroud
Laurence
1974
Der große Preis
Self · (1 episode)
1974
The Police Serve the Citizens?
Brera
1973
Double assassinat dans la Rue Morgue
Dupin
1973
Far from Dallas
Jean
1972
Le Grand Échiquier
Self · (1 episode)
1972
Un enfant dans la ville
Gustave, the bartender
1971
Swedish Fly Girls
André
1971
Murmur of the Heart
Charles Chevalier
1971
Arsène Lupin
Daubrecq · (1 episode)
1971
The Servant
Dr. Robert Marbois
1970
Destroy, She Said
Bernard Alione
1969
Sadistic Hallucinations
Charles
1969
Slogan
Le père d'Evelyne
1969
The Most Beautiful Month
Le capitaine
1968
The Truce
Arno
1968
Witness Out of Hell
Bora Petrović
1967
Black Sun
Guy Rodier
1966
Is Paris Burning?
Yves Bayet
1966
À belles dents
Bernard
1966
Line of Demarcation
Doctor Jacques Lafaye
1966
The Sultans
Léo
1966
An Affair of States
Ballard
1966
The Sleeping Car Murder
Le vétérinaire titulaire, chargé de cours (uncredited)
1965
Les Saintes Chéries
Pierre Lagarde · (39 episodes)
1965
Uncertain Verification
(archive footage)
1965
The Hour of Truth
Davod
1965
The Boy and the Ball and the Hole in the Wall
Gunther Smith
1965
Les murs
François Bonjean
1964
Cherchez l'idole
Self, guest at Sylvie Vartan's show (uncredited)
1964
How to Make a French Dish
Raymond
1964
Three Girls in Paris
Raymond
1963
Portuguese Vacation
Daniel
1963
Règlements de compte
1963
Hitch-Hike
le comédien qui répète "Cyrano"
1962
Réveille-toi, chérie
Masure
1961
In the Mouth of the Wolf
Un drogué
1961
The Season for Love
Jacques Saint-Ford
1961
Shadows of Adultery
Eric Kraemmer
1961
Three Etc.'s and the Colonel
Lieutenant Miguel Villard
1960
Testament of Orpheus
The Intern (uncredited)
1960
Carthage in Flames
Phegor
1960
Julie la rousse
Édouard Lavigne / Jean Lavigne
1959
This Desired Body
Guillaume Féraud
1959
Follow Me Young Man
Michel Corbier
1958
Port of Desire
Pierre
1958
Three Days to Live
Simon Belin
1958
Too Many Lovers
Alain Cartier
1957
There's Always a Price Tag
Robert Montillon
1957
Mort en fraude
Paul Horcier
1957
I'll Get Back to Kandara
Bernard Cormière
1956
Good Evening Paris
Georges Bernier / Self
1956
Plucking the Daisy
Daniel Roy
1956
The Man Who Knew Too Much
Louis Bernard
1956
Cinépanorama
Self · (1 episode)
1956
Maid in Paris
Antoine du Merlet
1956
Napoleon
Napoléon Bonaparte
1955
Lovers' Net
Pierre Roubier
1955
The Cheerful Squadron
Il soldato Frédéric d'Héricourt
1954
Woman of Rome
Mino
1954
On Trial
Léonard Maurizius
1954
Love in a Hot Climate
Ricardo Garcia
1954
Saint-Tropez, devoirs de vacances
Narrator (voice)
1954
Reflets de Cannes
Self · (2 episodes)
1954
Public Opinion
1954
Stain on the Snow
Frank Friedmayer
1954
Royal Affairs in Versailles
Jean Collinet
1954
The Slave
Michel Landa
1953
Rue de l'estrapade
Robert
1953
Voice of Silence
L'ancien prisonnier
1953
Les Dents longues
Louis Commandeur
1953
Torticola versus Frankensberg
The Man who sleeps in a Coffin
1952
Le Plaisir
Jean
1952
Venom and Eternity
Self
1952
Adorable Creatures
André Noblet
1952
Young Love
Jean Bompart
1951
Dirty Hands
Hugo
1951
Chicago Digest
Coffino
1951
The Moment of Truth
Daniel Prévost
1951
Edward and Caroline
Edouard Mortier
1951
La légende cruelle
Narrator (voice)
1951
God Needs Men
Joseph Le Berre
1950
La Ronde
Alfred, le jeune homme
1950
Rendezvous in July
Lucien Bonnard
1949
The Hell of Lost Pilots
Lieutenant Villeneuve
1949
The Murdered Model
Léopold
1948
The Woman in Red
Saladin
1947
Mirror
Charles
1947
La Nuit de Sybille
Stany
1947
Martin Roumagnac
Le surveillant du collège
1946
A Friend Will Come Tonight
Pierre Ribault
1946
The Temptation of Barbizon
Michel
1946
Les Cadets de l'océan
Philippe Demantes
1945
L'Enquête du 58
1945
The Little Ones of the Flower Platform
(uncredited)
1944
Lucrèce
College student
1943
Soyez les bienvenus
1942
Strangers in the House
(uncredited)
1942
Her First Affair
Chauveau-Laplace (uncredited)
1941
Radio Surprises
Extra (uncredited)
1940
Miquette
1940