Michel Simon

Michel Simon (9 April 1895, Geneva, Switzerland – 30 May 1975, Bry-sur-Marne, France), was a Swiss actor. He appeared in the notable films La Chienne (1931), Boudu Saved from Drowning (1932), L'Atalante (1934), Port of Shadows (1938) and The Train (1964). The actor François Simon is his son.

Early years

Simon used to say about himself that he was born in 1895 and, "as misfortune never comes singly, cinema was born the same year".

Son of a Protestant sausage maker, Simon soon left his family and town to go to Paris, where he first lived at the Hotel Renaissance, Saint-Martin Street, then in Montmartre. He worked many different jobs to survive, such as giving boxing lessons or peddling smuggled lighters. He devoured every book he could find, with special preference for Georges Courteline's writings.

His artistic beginnings in 1912 were modest: magician, clown and acrobat stooge in a dancers' show called "Ribert's and Simon's", in the Montreuil-sous-Bois Casino.

Conscripted into the Swiss Army in 1914, he was often insubordinate, spending a lot of time in the stockade. He also contracted tuberculosis.

In 1915, while on leave, he saw Georges Pitoëff's early work in the French language, at the Theatre de la Comédie of Geneva, acting in Hedda Gabler.

He then decided to become an actor too, but had to wait until 1920 before making his first brief appearance on stage, with Pitoëff's company, speaking three lines for the registrar role in the Shakespeare's Measure for Measure. He also worked at this time as the company's photographer. He was spotted for the first time in a supporting role in George Bernard Shaw's Androcles and the Lion. In 1922, his company moved to Paris at the Comédie des Champs-Élysées.

He quit the following year to become a light comedy actor in plays by Tristan Bernard, Marcel Achard and Yves Mirande. Marcel Achard presented him to Charles Dullin, in whose company he acted in Je ne vous aime pas with Valentine Tessier.

Later years

Louis Jouvet, who had meanwhile replaced Pitoëff, hired him at the Comédie des Champs-Élysées. Simon then gave a brilliant performance in Jean de la Lune, a play by Marcel Achard. His inimitable talent transformed his Cloclo supporting role to the big attraction of the play.

His theatrical career then blossomed with a large repertoire: Shakespeare, Bernard Shaw, Pirandello, Oscar Wilde, Bourdet, Henri Bernstein, but it was film that made him most popular. His first film appearance was Feu Mathias Pascal, adapted from Pirandello and directed by Marcel L'Herbier. Very soon after, he appeared in La vocation d'André Carel, directed by Jean Choux. The film used small-scale production methods, just as the Nouvelle Vague would do starting in 1958.

In silent movies, he brought his amazing appearance and his unusual face - a talent with an exceptional mobility, but truly without mannerism. He easily played with his body using an unlimited virtuosity, especially his ugliness, evolving from smartness to sympathy, goodness to naivety, ludicrousness to frightening, stupidity to comical, mischievousness to cruelty.

His film career was really boosted with the advent of talking pictures. People remarked that his elocution and voice tone were as original as his appearance and play. He then revealed his unclassifiable talent: action comedy, drama, tragedy, light comedy.

He appeared in 55 plays from 1920 to 1965, and 101 from 1965 to 1975.

Simon was a trusted friend of elite brothel-keeper Madame Claude, who referred to him as one of her “essayeurs”: he "tried out" her new girls for her. “I could judge their physical qualities,” Claude said. “I could judge if she was pretty, intelligent, and cultivated, but I didn’t know how she was in bed. So I had some boys, good friends, who told me exactly. I would ring them up and say, ‘There’s a new one.’ And afterwards they’d ring back and say, ‘Not bad,’ ‘Could be better,’ or ‘Nulle.’ Or, on the contrary, ‘She’s perfect.’”

He appeared in Dreyer's 1928 The Passion of Joan of Arc. He acted in films for Jean Renoir (La Chienne, Boudu Saved From Drowning), Jean Vigo (L'Atalante) and Marcel Carné (Port of the Shadows, Bizarre, Bizarre).

In the 1950s, he reined in his activities following an accident involving a makeup dye that left part of his face and body paralysed.

In 1967, he won the Silver Bear for Best Actor at the 17th Berlin International Film Festival for his role in Le vieil homme et l'enfant (The Two of Us).

He died at 80 years of age from a pulmonary embolism and is buried in the Grand-Lancy Cemetery of Geneva, next to his parents, as per his testamentary wishes.

The eccentric

In the 1920s/1930s, Simon enjoyed associating with the Parisian lower classes.

Simon would say that he preferred "living with animals than humans". He lived for a long time in a kind of bohemian house in Noisy-le-Grand, near Paris. The house was surrounded by rank weeds, and filled with amazing bric-a-brac, including his large collection of erotica, including photographs and films. This collection was dispersed after his death.

Select filmography

• 1925 Feu Mathias Pascal by Marcel L'Herbier ... Pomino
• The Loves of Casanova (1927)
• 1928 The Passion of Joan of Arc by Carl Theodor Dreyer
• 1931 On purge bébé by Jean Renoir
• 1931 La Chienne by Jean Renoir ... Maurice Legrand
• 1932 Boudu Saved from Drowning by Jean Renoir ... Priape Boudu
• 1933 High and Low by G. W. Pabst
• 1934 L'Atalante by Jean Vigo ... Old Jules
• 1934 Le Bonheur by Marcel L'Herbier ... Noël Malpiaz
• 1937 Bizarre, Bizarre by Marcel Carné ... Irwin Molyneux
• 1938 Boys' School by Christian-Jaque ... Lemel, the drawing teacher
• 1939 Port of Shadows by Marcel Carné ... Zabel
• 1939 Le Dernier tournant
• 1939 The End of the Day ... Cabrisssade
• 1939 Fric-Frac by Claude Autant-Lara & Maurice Lehmann ... Jo
• 1940 Les Musiciens du ciel
• 1940 La Comédie du bonheur by Marcel L'Herbier ... M. Jourdain
• 1941 The King's Jester
• 1941 The Story of Tosca by Carl Koch ... Scarpia
• 1942 Girl of the Golden West
• 1946 Panic by Julien Duvivier ... Monsieur Hire
• 1947 Les Amants du pont Saint-Jean
• 1949 Fabiola
• 1950 La Beauté du diable by René Clair ... Mephistopheles/Old Professor Henri Faust
• 1951 Poison by Sacha Guitry ... Paul-Louis Victor Braconnier
• 1952 Monsieur Taxi
• 1953 La Vie d'un honnête homme (1953)
• 1953 The Merchant of Venice
• 1953 L'Étrange Désir de monsieur Bard (1954)
• 1955 The Impossible Mr. Pipelet by André Hunebelle ... Maurice Martin
• 1959 It Happened in Broad Daylight by Ladislao Vajda ... Jacquier
• 1959 Die Nackte und der Satan by Victor Trivas ... Professor Abel
• 1960 Pete the Tender by François Villiers ... Pierrot
• 1960 Candide ou l'optimisme au XXe siècle
• 1962 Le Diable et les Dix Commandements by Julien Duvivier
• 1964 The Train by John Frankenheimer ...Papa Boule
• 1967 The Two of Us by Claude Berri ... Pepe
• 1971 Blanche by Walerian Borowczyk
• 1972 The Most Wonderful Evening of My Life by Ettore Scola ... Attorney Zorn
• 1975 The Red Ibis by Jean-Pierre Mocky ... Zizi with Michel Serrault and Michel Galabru