Fernandel

real name Fernand Joseph D?sir? Contandin. 1903--71, French comic film actor

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Fernandel

(stage name of Fernan-Joseph-Désiré Contandin). Born May 8, 1903, in Marseille; died Feb. 26, 1971, in Paris. French film actor.

After beginning his career on the variety stage, appearing in music-hall revues and operettas, Fernandel first performed in films in the early 1930’s. He acted in numerous motion pictures (not all of which are artistically significant), playing the comic role of a charming simpleton, a dauntless loser. Outright slapstick characterized most of his films, including Squadron Fun (1932) and Casimir (1950). In a number of films, however, Fernandel was attracted to dramatic, psychologically complex roles, for example, in The Dance Card (1937), Topaz (1950), The Law Is the Law (1958), and The Devil and the Ten Commandments (1962).

Fernandel’s humor is closely linked with traditional French theater, especially the farce and fair theater, as well as with the folk types of Provence.

REFERENCE

Chernenko, M. Fernandel’. Moscow, 1968.

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References in periodicals archive ?

(3) After his first novels, Le cose non sono le cose (Ravenna: Fernandel, 1999) and Bassotuba non c'e (Rome: Derive Approdi, 1999; Einaudi, 2000), Paolo Nori moved to Einaudi, Stile Libero for his series on Learco Ferrari--Spinoza (2000), Diavoli (2001), Grandi ustionati (2001), Si chiama Francesca, questo romanzo (2002), and later to Feltrinelli with Gli scarti (2003), Pancetta (2004), and Ente nazionale della cinematografia popolare (2005).

"Tra la via Emilia e il West"--displacement and loss of identity in the fiction of Daniele Benati *

The exquisite elegance of Proust is certainly valid for its formal beauty as well as its emotional and intellectual truths; but the Provencal dialect of Pagnol, especially when spoken by Fernandel, testifies to another nation which is also France.

Signs, impressions, shadows: reflecting on French culture

He invites her that evening to a film, a comedy starring Fernandel. This begins a liaison that continues over the summer.

(Albet) Camus' Stranger: a hero for out troubled times?

Otherwise, the films and musical selections presented are fairly representative of what one might expect from films of the era, embracing Renoir as much as Fernandel.

Le Cinema Francais des Annees 30

In his 1980's essay on Marseille(chkd), immortalised by Marcel Pagnol through his creations, Fanny, Marius and Cesar (chkd) and, of course, the film actors Fernandel and Raimu, Cobb wrote that the Marseille once depicted in Duvivier's film Carnet de Bal (chkd) is about as remote today as the Paris of Rene Clair.

Under the frills of Paris; Paris and Elsewhere . By Richard Cobb, selected writings edited and introduced by David Gilmour (John Murray, pounds 20). Reviewed by Richard Edmonds

Cayatte, 1942) to the Fernandel vehicle Simplet (Fernandel, 1942), the fantasy La symphonie fantastique (M.

Stylistic description as historical method: French films of the German Occupation

The character also figured in a series of successful French-language films (1950s and '60s) starring the French comic actor Fernandel.

Camillo, Don

Upon hearing his name, Wang immediately rose and, with his characteristic Fernandel smile, turned and bowed to thank the speaker, who was obviously addressing him.

In Praise of Wang Meng - II

En tant que comedien, il a partage des roles aux cotes des tenors du grand ecran francais tels Fernandel, Gabin, Raimu, Viviane Romance- pour finir comme un brillant realisateur ayant a son actif une filmographie riche et variee (Constantine, serenade a Meriem, Les plongeurs du desert, Aux Portes du Sahara-).