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Édouard Daladier
Prime Minister of France
In office 31 January 1933 – 26 October 1933
President	Albert Lebrun
Preceded by	Joseph Paul-Boncour
Succeeded by	Albert Sarraut
In office 30 January 1934 – 9 February 1934
President	Albert Lebrun
Preceded by	Camille Chautemps
Succeeded by	Gaston Doumergue
In office 10 April 1938 – 21 March 1940
President	Albert Lebrun
Preceded by	Léon Blum
Succeeded by	Paul Reynaud
Personal details
Born	18 June 1884 Carpentras, Vaucluse
Died	10 October 1970(1970-10-10) (aged 86) Paris
Political party	Radical

Édouard Daladier (French: [edwaʁ daladje]; 1884–1970) was a French Radical politician and the Prime Minister of France at the start of the Second World War.

Career[link]

Daladier was born in Carpentras, Vaucluse. Later, he would become known to many as "the bull of Vaucluse" because of his thick neck and large shoulders and determined look, although cynics also quipped that his horns were like those of a snail. During World War I, he rose from Private to Captain and Company Commander.

A government minister in various posts during the coalition governments between 1924 and 1928, he was instrumental in the Radical Party's break with the socialist SFIO in 1926, the first Cartel des gauches – "Left-wing Coalition"), and with the conservative Raymond Poincaré in November 1928.

Daladier became a leading member of the Radicals. He first became Prime Minister in 1933, and then again in 1934 for a few days when the Stavisky Affair led to the riots of 6 February 1934 instigated by the far right and the fall of the second Cartel des gauches.

Daladier became Minister of War for the Popular Front coalition in 1936; after the fall of the Popular Front, he became Prime Minister again on 10 April 1938.

While the forty-hour workweek was abolished under Daladier's government, a more generous system of family allowances was established, set as a percentage of wages: for the first child, 5%; for the second, 10%; and for each additional child, 15%. Also created was a home-mother allowance, which had been advocated by pronatalist and Catholic women’s groups since 1929. All mothers who were not professionally employed and whose husbands collected family allowances were eligible for this new benefit. In March 1939, the government added 10% for workers whose wives stayed home to take care of the children. Family allowances were enshrined in the Family Code of July 1939 and, with the exception of the stay-at-home allowance, have remained in force to this day.

Munich[link]

Édouard Daladier (centre) with Joachim von Ribbentrop at the Munich Summit 1938

Neville Chamberlain, Daladier, Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, and Italian Foreign Minister Galeazzo Ciano, as they prepared to sign the Munich Agreement.

Daladier's last government was in power at the time of the negotiations preceding the Munich Agreement, when France backed out of its obligations to defend Czechoslovakia against Nazi Germany. He was pushed into negotiating by Britain's Neville Chamberlain, without which war would have been inevitable at that time. Unlike Chamberlain, Daladier had no illusions about Hitler's ultimate goals. In fact, he told the British in a late April 1938 meeting that Hitler's real aim was to eventually secure "a domination of the Continent in comparison with which the ambitions of Napoleon were feeble." He went on to say "Today, it is the turn of Czechoslovakia. Tomorrow, it will be the turn of Poland and Romania. When Germany has obtained the oil and wheat it needs, she will turn on the West. Certainly we must multiply our efforts to avoid war. But that will not be obtained unless Great Britain and France stick together, intervening in Prague for new concessions but declaring at the same time that they will safeguard the independence of Czechoslovakia. If, on the contrary, the Western Powers capitulate again, they will only precipitate the war they wish to avoid."^[1]

Nevertheless, perhaps discouraged by the pessimistic and defeatist attitudes of both military and civilian members of the French government, as well as traumatized by France's blood-bath in World War I that he personally witnessed, Daladier ultimately let Chamberlain have his way. On his return to Paris, Daladier, who was expecting a hostile crowd, was acclaimed. He then commented to his aide, Alexis Léger: "Ah, les cons (the fools)!".^[2]

Rearmament[link]

In October 1938, Daladier opened secret talks with the Americans on how to bypass American neutrality laws and allow the French to buy American aircraft to make up for productivity deficiencies in the French aircraft industry.^[3] Daladier commented in October 1938, "If I had three or four thousand aircraft, Munich would never have happened", and he was most anxious to buy American war planes as the only way to strengthen the French Air Force.^[4] A major problem in the Franco-American talks was how the French were to pay for the American planes, as well as how to bypass the American neutrality acts^[5] In addition, France had defaulted on its World War I debts in 1932 and hence fell foul of the American Johnson Act of 1934, which forbade loans to nations that had defaulted on their World War I debts.^[6] In February 1939, the French offered to cede their possessions in the Caribbean and the Pacific together with a lump sum payment of 10 billion francs, in exchange for the unlimited right to buy, on credit, American aircraft.^[7] After torturous negotiations, an arrangement was worked out in the spring of 1939 to allow the French to place huge orders with the American aircraft industry; though most of the aircraft ordered had not arrived in France by 1940, the Americans arranged for French orders to be diverted to the British.^[8]

World War II[link]

When the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was signed, Daladier responded to the public outcry by outlawing the French Communist Party, which had refused to condemn Joseph Stalin's actions. In 1939, after the German invasion of Poland, he was reluctant to go to war, but he did so on 3 September 1939, inaugurating the Phony War. On 6 October of that year, Hitler offered France and Great Britain a peace proposal. There were more than a few in the French government prepared to take Hitler up on his offer; but, in a nationwide broadcast the next day, Daladier declared, "We took up arms against aggression. We shall not put them down until we have guarantees for a real peace and security, a security which is not threatened every six months.".^[9] On 29 January 1940, in a radio address delivered to the people of France entitled The Nazi's Aim is Slavery, Daladier left little doubt about his opinion of the Germans. In his radio address, he said: "For us, there is more to do than merely win the war. We shall win it, but we must also win a victory far greater than that of arms. In this world of masters and slaves, which those madmen who rule at Berlin are seeking to forge, we must also save liberty and human dignity."

In March 1940, Daladier resigned as Prime Minister in France because of his failure to aid Finland's defence during the Winter War, and he was replaced with Paul Reynaud. Daladier remained, however, Minister of Defence, and his antipathy to Paul Reynaud prevented Reynaud from dismissing Maurice Gamelin as Supreme Commander of all French armed forces. As a result of the massive German breakthrough at Sedan, Daladier swapped ministerial offices with Reynaud, taking over the Foreign Ministry while Reynaud took over Defence. Gamelin was finally replaced by Maxime Weygand on 19 May 1940, nine days after the Germans began their invasion campaign. Under the impression the government would continue in North Africa, Daladier fled with other members of the government to Morocco; but he was arrested and tried for treason by the Vichy government during the "Riom Trial". Daladier was interned in Fort du Portalet in the Pyrenees.^[10] He was kept in prison from 1940 to April 1943, when he was handed over to the Germans and deported to Buchenwald concentration camp in Germany. In May 1943, he was transported to the Itter Castle in North Tyrol with other French dignitaries, where he remained until the end of the war.

Later life[link]

After the conflict ended, Daladier was a member of the Chamber of Deputies, where he was an opponent of Charles de Gaulle. He was also mayor of Avignon from 1953 until 1958. He died in Paris in 1970 and is buried in the famous cemetery of Père-Lachaise.

Daladier's First Government, 31 January – 26 October 1933[link]

• Édouard Daladier – President of the Council and Minister of War
• Eugène Penancier – Vice President of the Council and Minister of Justice
• Joseph Paul-Boncour – Minister of Foreign Affairs
• Camille Chautemps – Minister of the Interior
• Georges Bonnet – Minister of Finance
• Lucien Lamoureux – Minister of Budget
• François Albert – Minister of Labour and Social Security Provisions
• Georges Leygues – Minister of Marine
• Eugène Frot – Minister of Merchant Marine
• Pierre Cot – Minister of Air
• Anatole de Monzie – Minister of National Education
• Edmond Miellet – Minister of Pensions
• Henri Queuille – Minister of Agriculture
• Albert Sarraut – Minister of Colonies
• Joseph Paganon – Minister of Public Works
• Charles Daniélou – Minister of Public Health
• Laurent Eynac – Minister of Posts, Telegraphs, and Telephones
• Louis Serre – Minister of Commerce and Industry

Changes

• 6 September 1933 – Albert Sarraut succeeds Leygues (d. 2 September) as Minister of Marine. Albert Dalimier succeeds Sarraut as Minister of Colonies.

Daladier's Second Ministry, 30 January – 9 February 1934[link]

• Édouard Daladier – President of the Council and Minister of Foreign Affairs
• Eugène Penancier – Vice President of the Council and Minister of Justice
• Jean Fabry – Minister of National Defence and War
• Eugène Frot – Minister of the Interior
• François Piétri – Minister of Finance
• Jean Valadier – Minister of Labour and Social Security Provisions
• Louis de Chappedelaine – Minister of Military Marine
• Guy La Chambre – Minister of Merchant Marine
• Pierre Cot – Minister of Air
• Aimé Berthod – Minister of National Education
• Hippolyte Ducos – Minister of Pensions
• Henri Queuille – Minister of Agriculture
• Henry de Jouvenel – Minister of Overseas France
• Joseph Paganon – Minister of Public Works
• Émile Lisbonne – Minister of Public Health
• Paul Bernier – Minister of Posts, Telegraphs, and Telephones
• Jean Mistler – Minister of Commerce and Industry

Changes

• 4 February 1934 – Joseph Paul-Boncour succeeds Fabry as Minister of National Defence and War. Paul Marchandeau succeeds Piétri as Minister of Finance.

Daladier's Third Ministry, 10 April 1938 – 21 March 1940[link]

Édouard Daladier (right) with ambassador André François-Poncet at the Munich Agreement 1938

• Édouard Daladier – President of the Council and Minister of National Defence and War
• Camille Chautemps – Vice President of the Council
• Georges Bonnet – Minister of Foreign Affairs
• Albert Sarraut – Minister of the Interior
• Paul Marchandeau – Minister of Finance
• Raymond Patenôtre – Minister of National Economy
• Paul Ramadier – Minister of Labour
• Paul Reynaud – Minister of Justice
• César Campinchi – Minister of Military Marine
• Louis de Chappedelaine – Minister of Merchant Marine
• Guy La Chambre – Minister of Air
• Jean Zay – Minister of National Education
• Auguste Champetier de Ribes – Minister of Veterans and Pensioners
• Henri Queuille – Minister of Agriculture
• Georges Mandel – Minister of Colonies
• Ludovic-Oscar Frossard – Minister of Public Works
• Marc Rucart – Minister of Public Health
• Alfred Jules-Julien – Minister of Posts, Telegraphs, and Telephones
• Fernand Gentin – Minister of Commerce

Changes

• 23 August 1938 – Charles Pomaret succeeds Ramadier as Minister of Labour. Anatole de Monzie succeeds Frossard as Minister of Public Works.
• 1 November 1938 – Paul Reynaud succeeds Paul Marchandeau as Minister of Finance. Marchandeau succeeds Reynaud as Minister of Justice.
• 13 September 1939 – Georges Bonnet succeeds Marchandeau as Minister of Justice. Daladier succeeds Bonnet as Minister of Foreign Affairs, remaining also Minister of National Defence and War. Raymond Patenôtre leaves the Cabinet and the Position of Minister of National Economy is abolished. Alphonse Rio succeeds Chappedelaine as Minister of Merchant Marine. Yvon Delbos succeeds Zay as Minister of National Education. René Besse succeeds Champetier as Minister of Veterans and Pensioners. Raoul Dautry enters the Cabinet as Minister of Armaments. Georges Pernot enters the Cabinet as Minister of Blockade.

v t e Heads of government of France Restoration Talleyrand Richelieu Dessolles Decazes Richelieu Villèle Martignac Polignac July Monarchy V. de Broglie Laffitte Perier Soult Gérard Maret Mortier V. de Broglie Thiers Molé Soult Thiers Soult Guizot Molé Second Republic Dupont de l'Eure Arago Cavaignac Barrot Hautpoul Faucher Second Empire Ollivier Cousin-Montauban Interregnum Trochu Third Republic Dufaure A. de Broglie Cissey Buffet Dufaure Simon A. de Broglie Rochebouët Dufaure Waddington Freycinet Ferry Gambetta Freycinet Duclerc Fallières Ferry Brisson Freycinet Goblet Rouvier Floquet Tirard Freycinet Loubet Ribot Dupuy Casimir-Perier Dupuy Ribot Bourgeois Méline Brisson Dupuy Waldeck-Rousseau Combes Rouvier Sarrien Clemenceau Briand Monis Caillaux Poincaré Briand Barthou Doumergue Ribot Viviani Briand Ribot Painlevé Clemenceau Millerand Leygues Briand Poincaré François-Marsal Herriot Painlevé Briand Herriot Poincaré Briand Tardieu Chautemps Tardieu Steeg Laval Tardieu Herriot Paul-Boncour Daladier Sarraut Chautemps Daladier Doumergue Flandin Bouisson Laval Sarraut Blum Chautemps Blum Daladier Reynaud Pétain Vichy France Pétain Laval Brinon Provisional Government de Gaulle Gouin Bidault Auriol Blum Fourth Republic Ramadier Schuman Marie Schuman Queuille Bidault Queuille Pleven Queuille Pleven Faure Pinay Mayer Laniel Mendès France Faure Mollet Bourgès-Maunoury Gaillard Pflimlin de Gaulle Fifth Republic de Gaulle Debré Pompidou Couve de Murville Chaban-Delmas Messmer Chirac Barre Mauroy Fabius Chirac Rocard Cresson Bérégovoy Balladur Juppé Jospin Raffarin de Villepin Fillon Ayrault Italics indicates interim holder

v t e Foreign Ministers of France Ancien régime Revol Villeroy A. J. Richelieu Sillery R. Phélypeaux Bouthillier Chavigny Brienne Lionne Pomponne Croissy Torcy Huxelles Dubois Morville Chauvelin Chaillou Noailles Argenson Puisieulx Saint-Contest Rouillé Bernis E. Choiseul C. Choiseul E. Choiseul L. Phélypeaux Aiguillon Bertin Vergennes Montmorin Vauguyon Montmorin Lessart Dumouriez Naillac Chambonas Dubouchage Sainte-Croix Lebrun First Republic Lebrun Deforgues Goujon Herman Delacroix Talleyrand Reinhard Talleyrand First Empire Talleyrand Champagny Bassano Caulaincourt Restoration Laforest Talleyrand Hundred Days Caulaincourt Bignon Restoration Talleyrand A. E. Richelieu Dessolles Pasquier M. Montmorency Chateaubriand Damas La Ferronays A. Montmorency Portalis Polignac Mortemart July Monarchy Bignon Jourdan Molé Maison Sébastiani V. Broglie Rigny Bresson Rigny V. Broglie Thiers Molé Montebello Soult Thiers Guizot Second Republic Lamartine Bastide Bedeau Bastide Drouyn de Lhuys Tocqueville Rayneval La Hitte Drouyn de Lhuys Brénier Baroche Turgot Drouyn de Lhuys Second Empire Drouyn de Lhuys Walewski Baroche Thouvenel Drouyn de Lhuys La Valette Moustier La Valette La Tour Auvergne Daru Ollivier Gramont La Tour d'Auvergne Third Republic Favre Rémusat A. Broglie Decazes Banneville Waddington Freycinet Barthélemy-Saint-Hilaire Gambetta Freycinet Duclerc Fallières Challemel-Lacour Ferry Freycinet Flourens Goblet Spuller Ribot Develle Casimir-Perier Hanotaux Berthelot Bourgeois Hanotaux Delcassé Rouvier Bourgeois Pichon Cruppi Selves Poincaré Jonnart Pichon Doumergue Bourgeois Viviani Doumergue Delcassé Viviani Briand Ribot Barthou Pichon Millerand Leygues Briand Poincaré Lefebvre Herriot Briand Herriot Briand Laval Tardieu Herriot Paul-Boncour Daladier Barthou Laval Flandin Delbos Paul-Boncour Bonnet Daladier Reynaud Daladier Reynaud Baudouin Vichy France Baudouin Laval Flandin Darlan Laval Provisional Government Bidault Blum Fourth Republic Bidault Schuman Bidault Mendès France Faure Pinay Pineau Pleven Couve de Murville Fifth Republic Couve de Murville Debré Schumann Bettencourt Jobert Sauvagnargues Guiringaud François-Poncet Cheysson Dumas Raimond Dumas Juppé Charette Védrine Villepin Barnier Douste-Blazy Kouchner Alliot-Marie Juppé Fabius

See also[link]

Wikisource has original works written by or about: Édouard Daladier

• French Third Republic
• 6 February 1934 crisis

Endnotes[link]

References[link]

• Adamthwaite, Anthony France and the Coming of the Second World War 1936-1939, Frank Cass, London, United Kingdom, 1977.
• Cairns, John C. "Reflections on France, Britain and the Winter War Problem" pages 269–295 from The French Defeat of 1940 Reassessments edited by Joel Blatt Berghahn Books, Providence, Rhode Island, United States of America, 1998, ISBN 1-57181-109-5.
• Imlay, Talbot "France and the Phoney War, 1939-1940" pages 261–282 from French Foreign and Defence Policy, 1918-1940 The Decline and Fall of A Great Power edited by Robert Boyce, London, United Kingdom: Routledge, 1998, ISBN 0-415-15039-6.
• Irvine, William "Domestic Politics and the Fall of France in 1940" pages 85–99 from The French Defeat of 1940 Reassessments edited by Joel Blatt Berghahn Books, Providence, Rhode Island, United States of America, 1998, ISBN 1-57181-109-5.
• Jackson, Peter "Intelligence and the End of Appeasement" pages 234–260 from French Foreign and Defence Policy, 1918-1940 The Decline and Fall of A Great Power edited by Robert Boyce, London, United Kingdom: Routledge, 1998, ISBN 0-415-15039-6.
• Lacaze, Yvon “Daladier, Bonnet and the Decision-Making Process During the Munich Crisis, 1938” pages 215–233 from French Foreign and Defence Policy, 1918-1940 The Decline and Fall of A Great Power edited by Robert Boyce, London, United Kingdom: Routledge, 1998, ISBN 0-415-15039-6.
• Réau, Elisabeth du "Edouard Daladier: The Conduct of the War and the Beginnings of Defeat" pages 100–126 from The French Defeat of 1940 Reassessments edited by Joel Blatt Berghahn Books, Providence, Rhode Island, United States of America, 1998,, ISBN 1-57181-109-5.
• Shirer, William L. The Collapse of the Third Republic An Inquiry into the Fall of France in 1940, Simon & Schuster, New York, New York, United States of America, 1969.
• Thomas, Martin "France and the Czechoslovak Crisis" pages 122–159 from The Munich Crisis 1938 Prelude to World War II edited by Igor Lukes and Erik Goldstein, Frank Cass, London, United Kingdom, 1999.
• France since 1870: Culture, Politics and Society by Charles Sowerine.
• Origins of the French Welfare State: The Struggle for Social

Reform in France, 1914–1947 by Paul V. Dutton

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Édouard Daladier

• In Defence of France a 1939 book by Daladier at archive.org

Jean Gabin (17 May 1904 – 15 November 1976) was a French actor.

Biography[link]

Born Jean-Alexis Moncorgé in Paris, he grew up in the village of Mériel in the Seine-et-Oise (now Val-d'Oise) département, about 22 mi (35 km) north of Paris. The son of cabaret entertainers, he attended the Lycée Janson de Sailly. Leaving school early, he worked as a laborer until the age of 19 when he entered show business with a bit part in a Folies Bergères production. He continued performing in a variety of minor roles before going into the military.

After completing his military service, Gabin returned to the entertainment business, working under the stage name of Jean Gabin at whatever was offered in the Parisian music halls and operettas, imitating the singing style of Maurice Chevalier, which was the rage at the time. He was part of a troupe that toured South America, and upon returning to France found work at the Moulin Rouge. His performances started getting noticed, and better stage roles came along that led to parts in two silent films in 1928.

Two years later, he easily made the transition to talkies in a 1930 Pathé Frères production titled Chacun sa Chance. Playing secondary roles, Gabin made more than a dozen films over the next four years, including films directed by Maurice and Jacques Tourneur. However, he only gained real recognition for his performance in Maria Chapdelaine, a 1934 production directed by Julien Duvivier. Cast as a romantic hero in a 1936 war drama titled La Bandera, this second Duvivier-directed film established Gabin as a major star. The following year, he teamed up with Duvivier again, this time in the highly successful Pépé le Moko that became one of the top grossing films of 1937 worldwide; its popularity brought Gabin international recognition. That same year, he starred in the Jean Renoir masterpiece La Grande Illusion, an anti-war film that was a huge box office success and given universal critical acclaim, even running at a New York City theatre for an unprecedented six months. This was followed by another one of Renoir's great successes: La Bête Humaine (The Human Beast), a film noir tragedy based on the novel by Émile Zola and starring Gabin and Simone Simon, as well as Le Quai Des Brumes (Port of Shadows), one of director Marcel Carné's most acclaimed films.

Flooded with offers from Hollywood, for a time Gabin turned them all down until the outbreak of World War II. Following the German occupation of France, he joined Jean Renoir and Julien Duvivier in the United States. Divorced from his second wife in 1939, during his time in Hollywood, Gabin began a torrid romance with actress Marlene Dietrich. However, his films in America proved less than successful.

A difficult personality, he did serious damage to his Hollywood career while working for RKO Pictures. Scheduled to star in an RKO film, at the last minute he demanded Dietrich be given the co-starring role. The studio refused. After Gabin remained steadfast in his demand, he was fired, and the film project was shelved.

Undaunted, Jean Gabin joined General Charles de Gaulle's Free French Forces and earned the Médaille militaire and a Croix de guerre for his wartime valor fighting with the Allies in North Africa. Following D-Day, Gabin was part of the military contingent that entered a liberated Paris.

In 1946, Gabin was hired by Marcel Carné to star in the film, Les Portes de la Nuit, but his conduct got him fired again. He then found a French producer and director willing to cast him and Marlene Dietrich together, but their film Martin Roumagnac was not a success and their personal relationship soon ended. Following another box office failure in 1947, Gabin returned to the stage, but there too, the production was another financial disaster. Nevertheless, he was cast in the lead role of the 1949 René Clément film Au-Delà Des Grilles that won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Despite this recognition, the film did not do well at the French box office, and the next five years brought little more than repeated box office failures.

Gabin and Jacques Prévert in 1961.

Gabin's career seemed headed for oblivion. However, he made a comeback in the 1954 film, Touchez pas au grisbi (Don't Touch the Loot). Directed by Jacques Becker, his performance earned him critical acclaim, and the film was a very profitable international success. Later, he worked once again with Jean Renoir in French Cancan, with María Félix and Françoise Arnoul. Over the next twenty years, Gabin made close to 50 more films, most of them very successful commercially and critically, including many for Gafer Films, his production partnership with fellow actor Fernandel.

His co-stars included leading figures of post-war cinema such as Brigitte Bardot (En cas de malheur), Alain Delon (Le Clan des Siciliens, Mélodie en sous-sol and Deux hommes dans la ville), Jean-Paul Belmondo (Un singe en hiver) and Louis de Funès (Le Tatoué).

Gabin died of leukaemia at the American Hospital of Paris, in the Parisian suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine. His body was cremated and with full military honours, his ashes were dispersed into the sea from a military ship.

Considered one of the great stars of French cinema, he was made a member of the Légion d'honneur. The Musée Jean Gabin in his native town, Mériel, contains his story and features, his war and film memorabilia.

Selected filmography[link]

• 1930: Ohé! les valises
• 1930: On demande un dompteur or Les lions
• 1930: Méphisto (by Henri Debain and Georges Vinter)
• 1930: Chacun sa chance
• 1933: Du haut en bas
• 1934: Maria Chapdelaine
• 1934: Zouzou
• 1935: Golgotha (by Julien Duvivier)
• 1935: La Bandera
• 1936: The Lower Depths (Les Bas-fonds)
• 1936: La belle équipe
• 1937: Pépé le Moko
• 1937: The Grand Illusion (La Grande illusion)
• 1937: Le Messager
• 1937: Gueule d'amour
• 1938: Le Récif de corail
• 1938: Port of Shadows (Le quai des brumes)
• 1938: The Human Beast (La Bête humaine) (by Jean Renoir)
• 1939: Le Jour se lève (Daybreak) (by Marcel Carné)
• 1941: Remorques
• 1942: Moontide
• 1946: Martin Roumagnac (The Room Upstairs) (by Georges Lacombe)
• 1949: The Walls of Malapaga (Italian: Le mura di Malapaga, French: Au-delà des grilles) (by René Clément)
• 1951: His Last Twelve Hours
• 1952: La Vérité sur Bébé Donge
• 1952: Le Plaisir (by Max Ophüls)
• 1952: La Minute de vérité
• 1954: Touchez pas au grisbi (Don't Touch the Loot) (by Jacques Becker)
• 1954: Razzia sur la chnouf (Razzia in Paris) (by Henri Decoin)
• 1955: Napoléon (bu Sacha Guitry)
• 1955: French Cancan (by Jean Renoir)
• 1956: Des gens sans importance
• 1956: Voici le temps des assassins (by Julien Duvivier)
• 1956: La Traversée de Paris
• 1958: Maigret Sets a Trap
• 1958: Les Misérables
• 1959: Archimède le clochard (The Magnificent Tramp) (by Gilles Grangier) - won the Silver Bear for Best Actor at the 9th Berlin International Film Festival^[1]
• 1960: Le Président (by Henri Verneuil)
• 1960: Le baron de l'écluse (Le baron Jérôme, Napoléon Antoine) (by Jean Delannoy)
• 1961: Le cave se rebiffe (The Counterfeiters of Paris) (by Gilles Grangier)
• 1962: Un singe en hiver (by Henri Verneuil) with Jean-Paul Belmondo
• 1962: Le Gentleman d'Epsom (by Gilles Grangier)
• 1963: Mélodie en sous-sol (by Henri Verneuil)
• 1963: Maigret voit rouge (by Gilles Grangier)
• 1964: Monsieur (by Jean-Paul Le Chanois)
• 1964: L'Âge ingrat (by Gilles Grangier)
• 1965: Le Tonnerre de Dieu (by Denys de La Patellière)
• 1965: Du rififi à Paname (by Denys de La Patellière)
• 1966: Le Jardinier d'Argenteuil (by Jean-Paul Le Chanois)
• 1967: Le Soleil des voyous (by Jean Delannoy) with Robert Stack
• 1968: Le Pacha (by Georges Lautner)
• 1968: Le tatoué (by Denys de La Patellière)
• 1969: Sous le signe du taureau (by Gilles Grangier)
• 1969: Le Clan des Siciliens (by Henri Verneuil) with Alain Delon
• 1970: La Horse (by Pierre Granier-Deferre) - Auguste Maroilleur
• 1971: Le Chat - Julien Bouin - won the Silver Bear for Best Actor at the 21st Berlin International Film Festival^[2]
• 1971: Le Drapeau noir flotte sur la marmite - Victor Ploubaz
• 1972: Le Tueur - Commissaire Le Guen
• 1973: L'Affaire Dominici - Gaston Dominici
• 1973: Deux hommes dans la ville - Germain Cazeneuve
• 1974: Verdict - Leguen
• 1976: Échos de plateau
• 1976: L'Année sainte - Max Lambert

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Jean Gabin

• Jean Gabin at the Internet Movie Database
• Jean Gabin at AllRovi
• Jean Gabin at Yahoo! Movies
• The Jean Gabin Museum of Mériel
• website in italian language

v t e Cinema of France Actors Directors Cinematographers Editors Films A-Z Producers Score composers Screenwriters Film festivals Films by year: 1892–1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Bernard Blier
Bernard Blier in Amici miei (1975).
Born	(1916-01-11)11 January 1916 Buenos Aires, Argentina
Died	29 March 1989(1989-03-29) Saint-Cloud, France
Nationality	French
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1937 - 1989

Bernard Blier (11 January 1916 – 29 March 1989) was a French character actor. His rotund features and premature baldness allowed him to often play cuckolded husbands in his early career. He proved to be one of France's most versatile and sought-after character actors, performing interchangeably in comedies and dramas. He often worked in Italian films, particularly in the last decade of his life.

He was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where his father, a researcher at the Institut Pasteur, was posted at the time. He is the father of director Bertrand Blier, and appeared in a number of his son's films, most notably Buffet froid (1979). He was awarded an Honorary César (the French Oscar) in 1989, a month before he died.

Selected films[link]

• Hôtel du Nord (1938)
• Le Jour se lève (1939)
• Le Pavillon brûle (1941)
• La Symphonie fantastique (1942)
• Quai des Orfèvres (1947)
• Dédée d'Anvers (1948)
• 1848 (1949)
• Return to Life (1949)
• Manèges (1950)
• ...Sans laisser d'adresse (1951)
• Agence matrimoniale (1951)
• Je l'ai été trois fois (1952)
• Before the Deluge (1954)
• Scènes de ménage (1954)
• Black Dossier (1955)
• Les Hussards (1955)
• The Man in the Raincoat (1957)
• Retour de manivelle (1957)
• Les Misérables (1958)
• Archimède le clochard (1959)
• Le 7 éme juré (1962)
• Les Tontons flingueurs (1963)
• Les Barbouzes (1964)
• High Infidelity (1964)
• Greed in the Sun (1964)
• A Question of Honour (1965)
• Les Bons Vivants (1965)
• Le Grand Restaurant (1966)
• The Stranger (1967)
• Coplan Saves His Skin (1968)
• Riusciranno i nostri eroi a ritrovare l'amico misteriosamente scomparso in Africa? (1968)
• My Uncle Benjamin (1969)
• Le Distrait (1970)
• Le grand blond avec une chaussure noire (1972) — The film is known in UK as Follow That Guy with the One Black Shoe, in Germany as Der Große Blonde mit dem schwarzen Schuh, and recast in the USA as The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe.
• Je sais rien, mais je dirai tout (1973)
• Le retour du grand blond (1974)
• Ante Up (1974)
• Cher Victor (1975)
• Calmos (Femmes Fatales) (1976)
• Golden Night (1976)
• Buffet froid (1979)
• Série noire (1979)
• Passion of Love (1981)
• The Two Lives of Mattia Pascal (1985)
• Madman at War (1985)
• The Possessed (1988)
• Migrations (1988)

External links[link]

• Bernard Blier at the Internet Movie Database

This article about a French actor or actress is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Paul Reynaud
Paul Reynaud (1933)
118th Prime Minister of France
In office 21 March 1940 – 16 June 1940
Preceded by	Édouard Daladier
Succeeded by	Philippe Pétain
Personal details
Born	(1878-10-15)15 October 1878 Barcelonnette, France
Died	21 September 1966(1966-09-21) (aged 87) Neuilly-sur-Seine, France
Political party	Democratic Republican Alliance

Paul Reynaud (French pronunciation: [pɔl ʁɛjno]; 15 October 1878 – 21 September 1966) was a French politician and lawyer prominent in the interwar period, noted for his stances on economic liberalism and militant opposition to Germany. He was the penultimate Prime Minister of the Third Republic and vice-president of the Democratic Republican Alliance center-right party.

Refusing to participate in the Vichy government, he resigned and was arrested in June 1940 by Philippe Petain's administration. First held at Fort du Portalet, Reynaud was transferred to German custody in 194x and held in Germany until the end of the war. Elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 1946, he became a prominent figure again in French political life, serving in several cabinet positions. He favored a United States of Europe. He participated in drafting the constitution for the Fifth Republic and resigned from government in 1962.

Early life and politics[link]

Reynaud was born in Barcelonnette, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence. His father had made a fortune in the textile industry, enabling Reynaud to study law at the Sorbonne. He entered politics and quickly became active.

Reynaud was elected to the French Chamber of Deputies from 1919 to 1924, representing Basses-Alpes, and again from 1928, representing a Paris district. Although he was first elected as part of the conservative "Blue Horizon" bloc in 1919, Reynaud shortly thereafter switched his allegiance to the center-right Democratic Republican Alliance party. Reynaud later became the vice-president of his party.

In the 1920s, Reynaud developed a reputation for laxity on German reparations, at a time when many in the French government backed harsher terms for Germany. In the 1930s during the Great Depression, particularly after 1933, Reynaud's stance hardened against the Germans at a time when all nations were struggling economically. Reynaud backed a strong alliance with the United Kingdom and, unlike many others on the French Right, better relations with the Soviet Union as a counterweight against the Germans.^[1]:517

Reynaud held several cabinet posts in the early 1930s, but he clashed with members of his party after 1932 over French foreign and defense policy. He was not given another cabinet position until 1938. Like Winston Churchill, Reynaud was a maverick in his party and often alone in his calls for rearmament and resistance to German aggrandizement. Reynaud was a supporter of Charles de Gaulle's theories of mechanized warfare in contrast to the static defense doctrines that were in vogue among many of his countrymen, symbolized by the Maginot Line. He strongly opposed appeasement in the run-up to the Second World War.

He also clashed with his party on economic policy, backing the devaluation of the franc as a solution to France's economic woes. Pierre Étienne Flandin, the leader of the Democratic Republican Alliance, agreed with several of Reynaud's key policy stances, particularly on Reynaud's defense of economic liberalism.

Return to government[link]

Reynaud returned to the cabinet in 1938 as Minister of Finance under Édouard Daladier. The Sudeten Crisis, which began not long after Reynaud was named Minister of Justice, again revealed the divide between Reynaud and the rest of the Alliance Démocratique; Reynaud adamantly opposed abandoning the Czechs to the Germans, while Flandin felt that allowing Germany to expand eastward would inevitably lead to a conflict with the Soviets that would weaken both. Reynaud publicly made his case, and in response Flandin pamphleted Paris in order to pressure the government to agree to Hitler's demands.^[1]:519 Reynaud subsequently left his party to become an independent. Reynaud still had Daladier's support, however, whose politique de fermeté was very similar to Reynaud's notion of deterrence.

Reynaud, however, had always wanted the Finance ministry. He endorsed radically liberal economic policies in order to draw France's economy out of stagnation, centered on a massive program of deregulation, including the elimination of the forty-hour work week.^[1]:503 The notion of deregulation was very popular among France's businessmen, and Reynaud believed that it was the best way for France to regain investors' confidence again and escape the stagnation its economy had fallen into. The collapse of Léon Blum's government in 1938 was a response to Blum's attempt to expand the regulatory powers of the French government; there was therefore considerable support in the French government for an alternative approach like Reynaud's.

Paul Marchandeau, Daladier's first choice for finance minister, offered a limited program of economic reform that was not to Daladier's satisfaction; Reynaud and Daladier swapped portfolios, and Reynaud went ahead with his radical liberalization reforms. Reynaud's reforms were successfully implemented, and the government stood down a one-day strike in opposition. Reynaud addressed France's business community, arguing that "We live in a capitalist system. For it to function we must obey its laws. These are the laws of profits, individual risk, free markets, and growth by competition."^[1]:504

Reynaud's reforms proved remarkably successful; a massive austerity program was implemented (although armament measures were not cut) and France's coffers expanded from 37 billion francs in September 1938 to 48 billion francs at the outbreak of war a year later. More importantly, France's industrial productivity jumped from 76 to 100 (base=1929) from October 1938 to May 1939.^[1]:505 At the outbreak of war, however, Reynaud was not bullish on France's economy; he felt that the massive increase in spending that a war entailed would stamp out France's recovery.

The French Right was ambivalent about the war in late 1939 and early 1940, feeling that the greater threat was from the Soviets.^{[1]:522–523} The Winter War put these problems into stark relief; Daladier refused to send aid to the Finns while war with Germany continued. News of the Soviet-Finnish armistice in March 1940 prompted Flandin and Pierre Laval to hold secret sessions of the legislature that denounced Daladier's actions; the government fell on 19 March. The government named Reynaud Prime Minister of France two days later.

Prime minister and arrest[link]

Although Reynaud was increasingly popular, the Chamber of Deputies elected Reynaud premier by only a single vote with most of his own party abstaining; over half of the votes for Reynaud came from the French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO) party. With so much support from the left – and the opposition from many parties on the right – Reynaud's government was especially unstable; many on the Right demanded that Reynaud attack not Germany, but the Soviet Union.^[1]:524 The Chamber also forced Daladier, whom Reynaud held personally responsible for France's weakness, to be Reynaud's Minister of National Defense and War. One of Reynaud's first acts was to sign a declaration with British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain that neither of the two countries would sign a separate peace.

Reynaud abandoned any notion of a "long war strategy" based on attrition. Reynaud entertained suggestions to expand the war to the Balkans or northern Europe; he was instrumental in launching the allied campaign in Norway, though it ended in failure. Britain's decision to withdraw on 26 April prompted Reynaud to travel to London to personally lobby the British to stand and fight in Norway.^[1]:533

The Battle of France began less than two months after Reynaud came to office. France was badly mauled by the initial attack in early May 1940, and Paris was threatened. On 15 May, five days after the invasion began, Reynaud contacted his British counterpart and famously remarked, "We have been defeated... we are beaten; we have lost the battle.... The front is broken near Sedan." Charles de Gaulle, whom Reynaud had long supported and one of the few French commanders to have fought the Germans successfully in 1940, was promoted to brigadier general and named undersecretary of war.^[2] On 18 May Reynaud removed commander-in-chief Maurice Gamelin in favor of Maxime Weygand.

As France's situation grew increasingly desperate, Reynaud accepted Marshal Philippe Pétain as Minister of State. Pétain, an aged veteran of the First World War, advised an armistice. Soon after the occupation of Paris, there was increasing pressure on Reynaud to come to a separate peace with Germany. Reynaud refused to be a party to such an undertaking, and was among the few in the cabinet to support accepting the British proposal on 16 June to unite France and the United Kingdom to avoid surrender. Discouraged by the cabinet's hostile reaction to the proposal and its preference for an armistice, and believing that his ministers no longer supported him,^[3] Reynaud resigned that evening.

Pétain, who became the leader of the new government (the last one of the Third Republic), signed the armistice on 22 June. On 28 June, Reynaud and his mistress the Comtesse Helène de Portes were involved in a road accident in the south of France. The car Reynaud was driving left the road and hit a tree. De Portes was killed instantly; Reynaud suffered a head injury. It has been suggested they were fleeing to Spain,^[4] but were travelling to Reynaud's holiday home on the Riviera. Hospitalized at Montpellier, Reynaud allegedly told Bill Bullitt, American ambassador, 'I have lost my country, my honour and my love'.^[5] After his discharge from hospital, Reynaud was arrested on Pétain's orders and imprisoned at Fort du Portalet.^[6]

Pétain decided against having him charged during the Riom Trial, and transferred him to the Germans. They held him as prisoner until the end of the war. Reynaud was liberated by Allied troops with other French prisoners in the Itter Castle near Wörgl, Austria, on 7 May 1945.