Jean Desailly - biography

Although he is perhaps better regarded for his stage work, the actor Jean Desailly had an impressive film career.  Over five decades, he appeared in over fifty films, showing a remarkable versatility which earned him a reputation as one of France’s most gifted and sought-after character actors.  He was born on 24th August 1920 and made his screen debut in Louis Daquin’s 1943 film Le Voyageur de la Toussaint.  He subsequently worked with some of the best French filmmakers – Jean Delannoy in La Symphonie pastorale (1946), Claude Autant-Lara in Occupe-toi d’Amélie (1949), Jean-Pierre Melville in Le Doulos (1962) and François Truffaut in La Peau douce (1964), the latter showing arguably his best film performance.

Cinema may be what confers on Jean Desailly immortality after his death but his real passion in life was the stage.  After a period with the Comédie Française, he became the star performer with the theatre company run by Jean-Louis Barrault and Madeleine Renault.  He then founded his own theatre company with his wife, Simone Valère, and managed several Parisian theatres successfully in the 1970s and 1980s, including the Théâtre Hebertot and the Théâtre de la Madeleine.   For his tireless stage work, Jean Desailly was recognised with the prestigious Molière prize in 2002.  He died in hospital in Paris on 11th June 2008, aged 87.  His appearance in so many classic French films will ensure his name will live on, his work appreciated by many future generations.

Jean Desailly has appeared in the following films:
Le Voyageur de la Toussaint (1943)
Le Père Goriot (1945)
Le Jugement dernier (1945)
Sylvie et le fantôme (1946)
Patrie (1946)
La Symphonie pastorale (1946)
La Revanche de Roger la Honte (1946)
Amours, délices et orgues (1947)
Carré de valets (1947)
Une grande fille toute simple (1948)
L’Échafaud peut attendre (1949)
La Veuve et l’innocent (1949)
Véronique (1949)
Le Point du jour (1949)
Occupe-toi d’Amélie (1949)
Chéri (1950)
Demain nous divorçons (1951)
La course de taureaux (1951)
Jocelyn (1952)
Chicago Digest (1952)
Si Versailles m’était conté (1954)
Les Grandes manoeuvres (1955)
On ne badine pas avec l’amour (1955)
Maigret tend un piège (1958)
Les Grandes familles (1958)
Marchands de rien (1958)
125 rue Montmartre (1959)
Le Secret du Chevalier d’Éon (1959)
Les Seigneurs de la forêt (1959)
Préméditation (1960)
Le Baron de l’écluse (1960)
La Française et l’amour (1960)
Le Saint mène la danse (1960)
Un soir sur la plage (1961)
La Mort de Belle (1961)
Legge di guerra (1961)
Les Amours célèbres (1961)
Le Doulos (1962)
Les Sept péchés capitaux (1962)
Le Septième juré (1962)
L’Année du bac (1964)
La Peau douce (1964)
Les Deux orphelines (1965)
De Dans van de reiger (1966)
La Vingt-cinquième heure (1967)
Comptes à rebours (1971)
Un flic (1972)
The Assassination of Trotsky (1972)
L’Héritier (1973)
L’Ironie du sort (1974)
Je te tiens, tu me tiens par la barbichette (1979)
Le Cavaleur (1979)
Pile ou face (1980)
Le Professionnel (1981)
Le Fou du roi (1984)
Le Radeau de la Méduse (1994)
La Dilettante (1999)
En face (2000)