Jean-Claude Brialy

Jean-Claude Brialy (30 March 1933 – 30 May 2007) was a French actor, director and socialite.

Biography

Brialy was born in Aumale, French Algeria, where his father was stationed with the French Army. Brialy moved to mainland France with his family in 1942, moved to Paris in 1954, and appeared in his first film in 1955.

He became a star in the late 1950s when he was one of the most prolific actors of the French "nouvelle vague". He made films with such important nouvelle vague filmmakers as Claude Chabrol, Éric Rohmer, Jean-Luc Godard, Louis Malle, François Truffaut, Agnès Varda, and Jacques Rozier; and with other filmmakers such as Roger Vadim, Claude Lelouch and Luis Buñuel.

He was also, himself, a director of a number of films, including Églantine (1971). In his autobiographies, Le Ruisseau des singes (River of Monkeys) (2000) and J'ai oublié de vous dire... (I Forgot to Tell You ...) (2004) he revealed that he was bisexual.

Trivia

He was an alumnus of the Prytanée National Militaire. He owned a restaurant, L'Orangerie, on the Île Saint-Louis, worked as a TV presenter, a singer and a radio host.

Honors

•  Monaco: Commander of the Order of Cultural Merit (November 2002)