Georges Poujouly
Encyclopedia
Georges Poujouly was a French
actor
who gained international acclaim as a child for his performance in the award-winning film Forbidden Games
. In the 1950s, he appeared in a number of other high-profile films, notably Les Diaboliques
, And God Created Woman
and Ascenseur pour l'échafaud. His later career was spent mainly in television
, where he specialised in voiceover
work.
René Clément for the role of Michel Dollé, befriender of the orphaned Paulette (Brigitte Fossey
), in the World War II
drama Forbidden Games
(Jeux interdits). The film was not greatly successful on its original release in France, but struck a chord with audiences and critics in other countries and went on to win numerous awards, including the 1952 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Forbidden Games is considered a classic of French cinema, and the spare, haunting performances of Poujouly and Fossey among the most notable of screen performances by child actors.
In 1952, Poujouly played the role of Michel le Guen in André Cayatte
's We Are All Murderers (Nous sommes tous des assassins). He played smaller parts in Henri-Georges Clouzot
's celebrated 1955 suspense film Les Diaboliques
, and Roger Vadim
's And God Created Woman
(Et dieu...créa la femme) in 1956. A more substantial role, as a car thief turned killer, came in 1958 in the Louis Malle
-directed thriller Ascenseur pour l'échafaud, with Jeanne Moreau
and Maurice Ronet
.
, with film appearances limited to small roles in such as Vice and Virtue
(1963) and Is Paris Burning?
(Paris brûle-t-il?) (1966). He appeared in a number of TV serials
, and moved into voice acting
.
Between 1959 and 1962 Poujouly was the voice of Tintin
in two series of animations based on Hergé
's books. In later years his voiceover credits included the Michael Douglas
character, Steve Keller, in the dubbed French TV version of The Streets of San Francisco
, and Merry in the 1978 animated version of The Lord of the Rings
.
. Little is known of the last years of his life. He died of cancer
, aged 60, on 28 October 2000.
Television
Voice
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
who gained international acclaim as a child for his performance in the award-winning film Forbidden Games
Forbidden Games
Forbidden Games , is a 1952 French-language film directed by René Clément and based on François Boyer's novel, Jeux interdits.While not initially successful in France, the film was a hit elsewhere. It won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, and is still one of the most popular French films...
. In the 1950s, he appeared in a number of other high-profile films, notably Les Diaboliques
Les Diaboliques (film)
Les Diaboliques , released as Diabolique in the United States and variously translated as The Devils or The Fiends, is a 1955 French black-and-white thriller feature film directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot, starring Simone Signoret, Véra Clouzot and Paul Meurisse...
, And God Created Woman
And God Created Woman (1956 film)
And God Created Woman is a French drama film directed by Roger Vadim and starring Brigitte Bardot. Though by no means her first film, it is widely recognized as the vehicle that launched Bardot into the public spotlight and immediately created her "sex kitten" persona, making her an overnight...
and Ascenseur pour l'échafaud. His later career was spent mainly in television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
, where he specialised in voiceover
VoiceOver
VoiceOver is a screen reader built into Apple Inc.'s Mac OS X, iOS and iPod operating systems. By using VoiceOver, the user can access their Macintosh or iOS device based on spoken descriptions and, in the case of the Mac, the keyboard. The feature is designed to increase accessibility for blind...
work.
1950s
At the age of 11, Poujouly was chosen by film directorFilm director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
René Clément for the role of Michel Dollé, befriender of the orphaned Paulette (Brigitte Fossey
Brigitte Fossey
Brigitte Fossey, born in Tourcoing, Nord, is a French actress.-Early years:The daughter of a schoolteacher, Fossey was five years old when she was cast by director René Clément to star in his film, Forbidden Games. Fossey played the role of an innocent child orphaned by World War II...
), in the World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
drama Forbidden Games
Forbidden Games
Forbidden Games , is a 1952 French-language film directed by René Clément and based on François Boyer's novel, Jeux interdits.While not initially successful in France, the film was a hit elsewhere. It won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, and is still one of the most popular French films...
(Jeux interdits). The film was not greatly successful on its original release in France, but struck a chord with audiences and critics in other countries and went on to win numerous awards, including the 1952 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Forbidden Games is considered a classic of French cinema, and the spare, haunting performances of Poujouly and Fossey among the most notable of screen performances by child actors.
In 1952, Poujouly played the role of Michel le Guen in André Cayatte
André Cayatte
André Cayatte was a French New Wave filmmaker and lawyer, who became known for his films centering on themes of crime, justice, and moral responsibility, themes which Cayatte persisted in affirming regardless of changing contemporary attitudes.Some of Cayatte's earlier films that covered these...
's We Are All Murderers (Nous sommes tous des assassins). He played smaller parts in Henri-Georges Clouzot
Henri-Georges Clouzot
Henri-Georges Clouzot was a French film director, screenwriter and producer. He is best remembered for his work in the thriller film genre, having directed The Wages of Fear and Les Diaboliques, which are critically recognized to be among the greatest films from the 1950s...
's celebrated 1955 suspense film Les Diaboliques
Les Diaboliques (film)
Les Diaboliques , released as Diabolique in the United States and variously translated as The Devils or The Fiends, is a 1955 French black-and-white thriller feature film directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot, starring Simone Signoret, Véra Clouzot and Paul Meurisse...
, and Roger Vadim
Roger Vadim
Roger Vadim was a French screenwriter, director, and producer as well as a journalist, author and actor, who launched Brigitte Bardot's career in the film And God Created Woman.-Early life:...
's And God Created Woman
And God Created Woman (1956 film)
And God Created Woman is a French drama film directed by Roger Vadim and starring Brigitte Bardot. Though by no means her first film, it is widely recognized as the vehicle that launched Bardot into the public spotlight and immediately created her "sex kitten" persona, making her an overnight...
(Et dieu...créa la femme) in 1956. A more substantial role, as a car thief turned killer, came in 1958 in the Louis Malle
Louis Malle
Louis Malle was a French film director, screenwriter, and producer. He worked in both French cinema and Hollywood. His films include Ascenseur pour l'échafaud , Atlantic City , and Au revoir, les enfants .- Early years in France :Malle was born into a wealthy industrialist family in Thumeries,...
-directed thriller Ascenseur pour l'échafaud, with Jeanne Moreau
Jeanne Moreau
Jeanne Moreau is a French actress, singer, screenwriter and director.She made her theatrical debut in 1947, and established herself as one of the leading actresses of the Comédie-Française...
and Maurice Ronet
Maurice Ronet
Maurice Ronet was a French film actor, director and writer.-Biography:Maurice Ronet was born Maurice Julien Marie Robinet in Nice, Alpes Maritimes, the only child of professional stage actors Émile Robinet and Gilberte Dubreuil. He made his stage debut in 1941, along side his parents, in Sacha...
.
Later career
From the 1960s, Poujouly worked mainly in televisionTelevision
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
, with film appearances limited to small roles in such as Vice and Virtue
Vice and Virtue
Vice and Virtue is a 1963 war-time French film starring Annie Girardot, Robert Hossein and Catherine Deneuve, in her first notable film role....
(1963) and Is Paris Burning?
Is Paris Burning?
Is Paris Burning? is a 1966 film dealing with the 1944 liberation of Paris by rival branches of the French Resistance and the Free French Forces.-Plot:...
(Paris brûle-t-il?) (1966). He appeared in a number of TV serials
Serial (radio and television)
Serials are series of television programs and radio programs that rely on a continuing plot that unfolds in a sequential episode by episode fashion. Serials typically follow main story arcs that span entire television seasons or even the full run of the series, which distinguishes them from...
, and moved into voice acting
Voice acting
Voice acting is the art of providing voices for animated characters and radio and audio dramas and comedy, as well as doing voice-overs in radio and television commercials, audio dramas, dubbed foreign language films, video games, puppet shows, and amusement rides.Performers are called...
.
Between 1959 and 1962 Poujouly was the voice of Tintin
Tintin (character)
Tintin is a fictional character in The Adventures of Tintin, the series of classic Belgian comic books written and illustrated by Hergé. Tintin is the protagonist of the series, a reporter and adventurer who travels around the world with his dog Snowy....
in two series of animations based on Hergé
Hergé
Georges Prosper Remi , better known by the pen name Hergé, was a Belgian comics writer and artist. His best known and most substantial work is the 23 completed comic books in The Adventures of Tintin series, which he wrote and illustrated from 1929 until his death in 1983, although he was also...
's books. In later years his voiceover credits included the Michael Douglas
Michael Douglas
Michael Kirk Douglas is an American actor and producer, primarily in movies and television. He has won three Golden Globes and two Academy Awards; first as producer of 1975's Best Picture, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and as Best Actor in 1987 for his role in Wall Street. Douglas received the...
character, Steve Keller, in the dubbed French TV version of The Streets of San Francisco
The Streets of San Francisco
The Streets of San Francisco is a 1970s television police drama filmed on location in San Francisco, California, and produced by Quinn Martin Productions, with the first season produced in association with Warner Bros...
, and Merry in the 1978 animated version of The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings (1978 film)
J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings is a 1978 American fantasy film directed by Ralph Bakshi. It contains both animation and live action footage which is rotoscoped to give it a more consistent look throughout the length of the movie. It is an adaptation of the first half of the high fantasy...
.
Death
Poujouly's last-known credit is Robinson et compagnie, a 1991 animated French language film version of Robinson CrusoeRobinson Crusoe
Robinson Crusoe is a novel by Daniel Defoe that was first published in 1719. Epistolary, confessional, and didactic in form, the book is a fictional autobiography of the title character—a castaway who spends 28 years on a remote tropical island near Trinidad, encountering cannibals, captives, and...
. Little is known of the last years of his life. He died of cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
, aged 60, on 28 October 2000.
Selected credits
Film- 1952 : Forbidden GamesForbidden GamesForbidden Games , is a 1952 French-language film directed by René Clément and based on François Boyer's novel, Jeux interdits.While not initially successful in France, the film was a hit elsewhere. It won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, and is still one of the most popular French films...
- dir. René Clément - 1952 : La Jeune Folle - dir. Yves AllégretYves AllégretYves Allégret was a French film director in the film noir genre.He is noted as having been the husband of actress Simone Signoret between the years 1944–1949.-Selected filmography:...
- 1952 : We Are All Murderers - dir. André CayatteAndré CayatteAndré Cayatte was a French New Wave filmmaker and lawyer, who became known for his films centering on themes of crime, justice, and moral responsibility, themes which Cayatte persisted in affirming regardless of changing contemporary attitudes.Some of Cayatte's earlier films that covered these...
- 1952 : Son dernier Noël - dir. Jacques Daniel-Norman
- 1953 : Quitte ou double - dir. Robert Vernay
- 1953 : Le Gang des pianos à bretelles - dir. Gilles A. de Turenne
- 1954 : Il Tesoro del Bengala - dir. Gianni Vernuccio
- 1954 : Dix-huit heures d'escale - dir. René Jolivet
- 1955 : Il Piccolo Vetraio - dir. Giorgio Capitani
- 1955 : Les DiaboliquesLes Diaboliques (film)Les Diaboliques , released as Diabolique in the United States and variously translated as The Devils or The Fiends, is a 1955 French black-and-white thriller feature film directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot, starring Simone Signoret, Véra Clouzot and Paul Meurisse...
- dir. Henri-Georges ClouzotHenri-Georges ClouzotHenri-Georges Clouzot was a French film director, screenwriter and producer. He is best remembered for his work in the thriller film genre, having directed The Wages of Fear and Les Diaboliques, which are critically recognized to be among the greatest films from the 1950s... - 1955 : Cortile - L'enfant de la rue - dir. Antonio Petrucci
- 1956 : Les Assassins du dimanche - dir. Alex Joffé
- 1956 : And God Created WomanAnd God Created Woman (1956 film)And God Created Woman is a French drama film directed by Roger Vadim and starring Brigitte Bardot. Though by no means her first film, it is widely recognized as the vehicle that launched Bardot into the public spotlight and immediately created her "sex kitten" persona, making her an overnight...
- dir. Roger VadimRoger VadimRoger Vadim was a French screenwriter, director, and producer as well as a journalist, author and actor, who launched Brigitte Bardot's career in the film And God Created Woman.-Early life:... - 1956 : Si tous les gars du mondeIf All the Guys in the WorldIf All the Guys in the World is a film made in 1955, which won a Golden Laurel at the Edinburgh Film Festival.-External links:* from 1957 San Francisco International Film Festival...
- dir. Christian-JaqueChristian-JaqueChristian-Jaque was a French filmmaker. He was married to actress Martine Carol from 1954 to 1959.Christian-Jaque was born at Paris.... - 1957 : Les Œufs de l'autruche - dir. Denys de La PatellièreDenys de La PatellièreDenys de La Patellière is a French film director and scriptwriter.He was born in Nantes.-Filmography as director:* 1955 : Les Aristocrates with Pierre Fresnay...
- 1958 : Ascenseur pour l'échafaud - dir. Louis MalleLouis MalleLouis Malle was a French film director, screenwriter, and producer. He worked in both French cinema and Hollywood. His films include Ascenseur pour l'échafaud , Atlantic City , and Au revoir, les enfants .- Early years in France :Malle was born into a wealthy industrialist family in Thumeries,...
- 1958 : Guinguette - dir. Jean DelannoyJean DelannoyJean Delannoy was a French actor, film editor, screenwriter and film director.Although Delannoy was born in a Paris suburb, his family is from Haute-Normandie in the north of France...
- 1959 : Pêcheur d'Islande - dir. Pierre SchoendoerfferPierre SchoendoerfferPierre Schoendoerffer is a French film director, a screenwriter, a writer, a war reporter, a war cameraman, a renowned First Indochina War veteran, a cinema academician and since 2001 the President of the Académie des Beaux-Arts.-Family:...
- 1960 : Une fille pour l'été - dir. Edouard MolinaroÉdouard MolinaroÉdouard Molinaro is a French film director, actor, and screenwriter. He was born in Gironde, Bordeaux.He is best known for his comedies with Louis de Funès , My Uncle Benjamin , Dracula and Son , and the Academy Award-nominated La Cage aux Folles Édouard Molinaro (born 13 May 1928) is a French...
- 1960 : Vacances en enfer - dir. Jean Kerchbron
- 1961 : Une grosse tête - dir. Claude de Givray
- 1963 : Vice and VirtueVice and VirtueVice and Virtue is a 1963 war-time French film starring Annie Girardot, Robert Hossein and Catherine Deneuve, in her first notable film role....
- dir. Roger Vadim - 1966 : Paris brûle-t-il?Is Paris Burning?Is Paris Burning? is a 1966 film dealing with the 1944 liberation of Paris by rival branches of the French Resistance and the Free French Forces.-Plot:...
- dir. René Clément - 1970 : Biribi - dir. Daniel Moosmann
- 1970 : Paix sur les champsPeace in the FieldsPeace in the Fields is a 1970 French-language Belgian film directed by Jacques Boigelot and based on the eponymous novel by Marie Gevers. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.-Cast:* Christian Barbier as Stanne Vanasche...
- dir. Jacques BoigelotJacques BoigelotJacques Boigelot is a Belgian film director and screenwriter. He was for many years the head of the French Belgian television film department. His film Paix sur les champs was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.... - 1972 : Hellé - dir. Roger Vadim
- 1981 : Le Guépiot - dir. Joska Pilissy
Television
- 1964 : Les beaux yeux d'Agatha (TV serial)
- 1964 : Le théâtre de la jeunesse (TV film)
- 1965 : Frédéric le gardian (TV serial)
- 1967 : Par quatre chemins (TV film)
- 1974 : La passagère (TV serial)
- 1975 : Esprits de famille (TV film)
Voice
- 1954 : Le Petit Prince
- 1959-62 : Les aventures de Tintin
- 1972-80 (approx.) : The Streets of San FranciscoThe Streets of San FranciscoThe Streets of San Francisco is a 1970s television police drama filmed on location in San Francisco, California, and produced by Quinn Martin Productions, with the first season produced in association with Warner Bros...
- 1978 : Le seigneur des anneaux (Lord of the Rings)
- 1991 : Robinson et compagnie