- published: 12 Jan 2016
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Romain Gary (21 May [O.S. 8 May] 1914 – 2 December 1980) was a French diplomat, novelist, film director and World War II aviator of Litvak origin. He is the only author to have won the Prix Goncourt twice (under his own name and under a pseudonym).
Gary was born in Vilnius under the name Roman Kacew (Yiddish: קצב, Russian: Рома́н Ка́цев). In his books and interviews, he presented many different versions of his parents' origins, ancestry, occupation and his own childhood. His mother, Mina Owczyńska (1879—?), was a Litvak actress from Švenčionys and his father was a businessman Arieh-Leib Kacew (1883—1942) from Trakai, also a Lithuanian Jew. Arieh Leib abandoned the family in 1925 and remarried. When Gary was fourteen, he and his mother moved to Nice, France. Gary studied law, first in Aix-en-Provence and then in Paris. He learned to pilot an aircraft in the French Air Force in Salon-de-Provence and in Avord Air Base, near Bourges.
Following the Nazi occupation of France in World War II, he fled to England and under Charles de Gaulle served with the Free French Forces in Europe and North Africa. As a pilot, he took part in over 25 successful sorties,[citation needed] logging over 65 hours[citation needed] of air time. During this time, he changed his name to Romain Gary. He was greatly decorated for his bravery in the war, receiving many medals and honours among which Compagnon de la Libération and commander of the Légion d'honneur. It was in 1945 that he published his first novel Education européenne . Immediately following his service in the war, he worked in the French diplomatic service in Bulgaria and Switzerland., ultimately becoming the secretary of the French Delegation to the United Nations in New York, in 1952. In 1956, he became Consul General of France in Los Angeles. It was in this post he became acquainted with Hollywood.
Apostrophe - Romain Gary et Emile Ajar
Romain GARY a propos de son roman "Les racines du ciel"
Apostrophes: Romain Gary et Emile Ajar | Archive INA
Romain Gary - Interview
Jean Seberg & Romain Gary "Un Coup de Foudre"
Romain Gary par Joann Sfar - Entrée libre
Passion Romain Gary, partie 1
Passion Romain Gary, partie 3
Passion Romain Gary, partie 7
Romain Gary / Jacques Chancel - Radioscopie
Aristophil présente: Romain Gary, la vie devant soi
Romain Gary-La promesse de l'aube
Romain Gary / André Bourin - Le nomade multiple - Les Grandes Heures Radio France/Ina
chien blanc Romain Gary