Gérard Philipe (French pronunciation: [ʒeʁaʁ filip]; born Gérard Albert Philip; 4 December 1922 – 25 November 1959) was a prominent French actor who appeared in 32 films between 1944 and 1959 known for his outspoken communist views. He came to prominence during the later period of the poetic realism movement of French Cinema in the late 1940s. His best known credits include Such a Pretty Little Beach (1949), Beauty and the Devil (1950), Fan Fan the Tulip (1953), Montparnasse 19 (1958) and Les liaisons dangereuses (1959).
During his career he performed with some of the most prominent ladies of the era including Jeanne Moreau, Michèle Morgan, Micheline Presle, Danielle Darrieux, Gina Lollobrigida, María Félix, and Anouk Aimée.
As well as a successful film career, he was also a highly regarded classical actor, later achieving further fame when he became a member of Jean Vilar's Théâtre national populaire where he performed in many of the greatest plays from the repertoire of French drama. He was, until his premature death, one of the main stars of the post-war period. His image has remained youthful and romantic, making him one of the most beloved cultural icons in French cinema.
Gérard Albert Philip was born on 4 December 1922 in the villa Les Cynanthes in Cannes (Alpes-Maritimes), into an affluent family, made up of Marcel Philip (1893-1973) who was a wealthy barrister, businessman and owner of various hotel establishments on the Côte d'Azur and in Paris. His mother was Maria Elisa "Minou" Philip, née Vilette (1894–1970) and he had an older brother, Jean, who was one year his senior. His mother was the daughter of a pastry chef based in Chartres and a Czech emigrant who came directly from Prague. Making Philipe one-quarter Czech ancestry from his maternal grandmother. In 1936, his father became a member of the Nationalist League of the Croix-de-Feu, later becoming enthusiastic about Jacques Doriot and his dream of national-socialism à la française, joined the French People's Party and became secretary of the federation of Cannes.
In 1928, Gérard was, with his brother Jean, an intern at the Stanislas Institutei High School in Cannes run by the Marianists, where he was a good student. There, at the beginning of the war, he obtained his baccalaureate.
As a teenager, Philipe took acting lessons before going to Paris to study at the Conservatoire of Dramatic Art.
In 1940, the Philip family moved to Grasse where Marcel managed the Parc Palace Hotel, Grasse. As the owner-manager of the Parc palace-hôtel, his father housed the Mussolinian general staff there in 1940 and then the Nazi general staff in 1943. However, it was during this period in the early 40s, that many artists joined the free zone, with the Côte d'Azur becoming a hive of intense activity.
In 1941, Philipe began studying law in Nice, as it was expected he would become a lawyer like his father, but after confiding in his mother, he considered leaving this path to become an actor, a move which his father opposed. The same year, the filmmaker Marc Allégret met Maria, who occasionally practiced as a clairvoyance at her husband's hotel. Knowing that her son dreamt of being in the theatre, she persuaded the director to audition him. He therefore auditioned Gérard, asking him to perform a scene from Étienne, a play by Jacques Deval where a 17-year-old son sees his vocation as an actor thwarted by his father. He is impressed by "a kind of violence [...] that we felt ready to boil over at any moment". The filmmaker advised him to enroll in the Center des jeunes du cinema in Nice, then sent him to take drama classes with Jean Wall and Jean Huet in Cannes.
Philipe had already enrolled in the faculty of law in Nice in 1942, but after meeting many refugee artists on the Côte d'Azur, then in the free zone since 1940, he finally made the decision to become an actor, with his mother supporting him in this endeavour.
Philipe auditioned in 1942 in front of Maurice Cloche for the adventure film 'Les Cadets de l'océan', but did not get a role. He also did an essay for Le Blé en herbe alongside Danièle Delorme, but the project was censored by the Vichy regime. He eventually made his theatre debut in Une grande fille tout simple, by André Roussin. The premiere of which took place on 11 July at the Cannes Casino. The play was a great success and toured in the south of France, as well as in Switzerland. His talent is already appreciated and recognized by his peers.
In order to satisfy his mother's superstition, he adds an 'e' to his surname, so his first name and surname now form 13 letters. He would use this name professionally for the rest of his life.
It was whilst attending the Conservatory of Dramatic Art in Paris that Philipe made his debut in Nice at the age of 19 on 11 October 1943 in Paris at the Théâtre Hébertot in a production by Georges Douking, where he played Angel in Jean Giradoux's 'Sodome et Gomorrhe' (1943) opposite Edwige Feuillère, this original production was a commercial success and ran for over two hundred performances. It was this performance that made him a star overnight. It was as a result of his success on the stage, that led to him receiving film offers, and within five years he would achieve international fame in the cinema.
In 1943, Philipe toured with the play Une Jeune Fille sais by André Haguet, which met with success in Paris. He confirmed his acting gifts. Marc Allégret first hired him for a silhouette in the film La Boîte aux rêves, directed by his brother Yves, then gave him a small role in Petites du quai aux fleurs. The Philip family moved to rue de Paradis, in the 10th arrondissement of Paris. Gérard acquires his financial independence and lived with Jacques Sigurd on the rue du Dragon, in Saint-Germain-des-Prés. His friend, who would write many screenplays and dialogues in the films in which Gérard would play, introduced him to modern literature and introduced him to Caligula by Albert Camus. He obtained his first success and fame at the age of twenty, in the role of the angel of Sodom and Gomorrah by Jean Giraudoux. The director of the theatre, Jacques Hébertot, testifies: “From the first rehearsals, we realised that we had nothing to teach this young actor. He was inhabited". Despite the success, Gérard Philipe enrolled at the National Conservatory of Dramatic Art, took lessons from Denis d'Inès and won the second prize for comedy the following year, having been admitted to compete despite being in first year. At the Conservatoire, in 1944 he met the future poet Georges Perros with whom he would remain linked all his life.
In February 1943, Philipe had a Cannes doctor draw up a certificate confirming that he had suffered from pleurisy three years earlier and that his condition remained fragile: "65kg for 1.83m", which allowed him to be reformed. Another certificate was made in June 1943. This pleurisy will cause health concerns for the young man later. If some of his friends joined the Resistance, it is not certain that Gérard Philipe knew it then: the displayed opinions of Mr. Philip must have made them quite suspicious. Gérard Philipe will not join the Resistance until the very last hour.
From 20 to 25 August 1944 he took part in the Liberation of Paris, notably from the Hôtel de Ville, Paris, in the company of thirty people under the orders of Roger Stéphane. From October he took lessons from Georges Le Roy “He taught me to stand up straight, with my knees outstretched, facing life, like a healthy man.
In 1945, his father, Marcel, was sentenced to death in absentia for his crimes of collaboration. This resulted in the confiscation of his property on 22 November 1945 for intelligence with the enemy and membership in an anti-national group. Using his son's contacts, he was able to flee to Spain where he became a French teacher in Barcelona. Gérard, Anne and their children would pay him frequent visits.
Philipe made his film debut in Les Petites du quai aux fleurs (1943), directed by Marc Allégret, in an uncredited role.