Michel Simon


Michel Simon was a Swiss actor of German origin active primarily in France. He appeared in many notable French films, including La Chienne, Boudu Saved from Drowning, L'Atalante, Port of Shadows, The Head, and The Train. Charlie Chaplin said he was ‘the greatest actor in the world’.

Early years

Simon was born on 9 April 1895 in Geneva, Switzerland to Joseph Simon, a pork butcher from Villingen (Baden), and Véronique Burnat. He left his family and moved 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 and peddling smuggled lighters.
His career began modestly in 1912, working as a magician, clown, acrobat, and 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 spent 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, and was inspired to become an actor himself. In 1920 he made his first brief appearance on stage, with Pitoëff's company, speaking three lines in Shakespeare's Measure for Measure. He also worked at this time as the company's photographer. One of his early successes was a supporting role in George Bernard Shaw's Androcles and the Lion. In 1922, Pitoëff's company moved to Paris at the Comédie des Champs-Élysées.
Simon quit the company in 1923 to become a light comedy actor in plays by Tristan Bernard, Marcel Achard and Yves Mirande. Achard presented him to Charles Dullin, in whose company he acted in Je ne vous aime pas with Valentine Tessier.

Theatrical success and his transition to film

Louis Jouvet, who had replaced Pitoëff, hired Simon at the Comédie des Champs-Élysées. Simon then gave a successful performance in Archard's Jean de la Lune as Cloclo.
In the 1930s, Simon's theatrical career rose to prominence with performances in works by Shakespeare, Bernard Shaw, Pirandello, Oscar Wilde, Bourdet, and Henri Bernstein. However, it was film that brought him stardom and international recognition.
Simon's first film appearance was in the 1925 silent film, Feu Mathias Pascal, adapted from a Pirandello novel and directed by Marcel L'Herbier. In the same year, he starred in the modestly budgeted The Vocation of André Carel, directed by Jean Choux. As the silent era ended, he appeared in Carl Theodor Dreyer's The Passion of Joan of Arc.
Simon's film career was boosted with the advent of talking pictures. People remarked that his elocution and gravelly voice were as original as his appearance. These features were exploited by notable 1930s French directors, including Jean Renoir, Jean Vigo and Marcel Carné.
He appeared in 55 plays from 1920 to 1965, and 101 from 1965 to 1975.
In the 1950s, Simon reined in his activities following an accident involving a makeup dye that left part of his face and body paralyzed.
In 1967, he won the Silver Bear for Best Actor at the 17th Berlin International Film Festival for his role in 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.

Eccentricities

Simon would say that he preferred "living with animals than humans". He lived for a long time in a bohemian house in Noisy-le-Grand, near Paris. He built a series of exterior wire tunnels that linked the various floors and allowed his pet monkeys freedom to roam around. The house was filled with bric-a-brac, including his large collection of erotic photographs and films. The collection was dispersed after his death.

Selected filmography

La galerie des monstres The Vocation of André Carel, Gaston LebeauFeu Mathias Pascal, Jérôme PominoL'inconnue des six jours, Le valet de chambreThe Loves of Casanova, SbireThe Passion of Joan of Arc, Jean LemaîtreTire au flanc, Joseph TurlotPivoine L'enfant de l'amour, LorédanJean de la Lune, Clothaire dit Clo-CloOn purge bébé, ChouillouxLa Chienne, Maurice LegrandBaleydier, BaleydierBoudu Saved from Drowning, Priape BouduHigh and Low, Maximilian PodeletzLéopold le bien-aimé, M. PonceMiquette, MonchablonLake of Ladies, Oscar LyssenhopL'Atalante, Old JulesLe Bonheur, Noël MalpiazThe Squadron's Baby, Perrot-JolyAdémaï in the Middle Ages, Lord PickwickdamLovers and Thieves, DoizeauUnder Western Eyes, LesparaMoutonnet, FrèchevilleThe Brighton Twins, LabrosseGirls of Paris, Baron de Beaupoil and his brotherDeath on the Run, Achille BaluchetLet's Make a Dream, Un invité Le choc en retour, LaverdacBoulot the Aviator, Baron GobècheThe Silent Battle, SauvinBizarre, Bizarre, Irwin MolyneuxThe Kiss of Fire, MichelMirages, MichelBoys' School, LemelPort of Shadows, ZabelThe New Rich, MartinetBeautiful Star, LéonThe Gutter, Le comte Edouard de BourgogneMother Love, Michel QuercyLe règne de l'esprit malin, LucNoix de coco, JosserandDeputy Eusèbe, Eusèbe BonbonneauBehind the Facade, PickingThe End of the Day, CabrisssadeThe Last Turning, Nick MarinoFric-Frac, JoExtenuating Circumstances, M. Gaetan Le Sentencier, 'La Sentence'Love Cavalcade, Diogenes, Monseigneur de Beaupré, and LacouretMusicians of the Sky, Captain SimonParis-New York, Commissioner BoucheronLa Comédie du bonheur, François Jourdain/Giambattista Giordano Tosca, Baron ScarpiaThe King's Jester, RigolettoGirl of the Golden West, Butler / CarrasShop Girls of Paris, BauduVautrin, Jacques Collin dit VautrinA Friend Will Come Tonight, Michel LemaretPanic , Monsieur HireThe Crowned Fish Tavern, Capitaine PalmerNot Guilty, Le docteur Michel AncelinThe Lovers of Pont Saint Jean, Alcide GaronneLa carcasse et le tord-cou, Joseph Ferdinand Anselme Midot, dit 'Le tord-cou'Fabiola, Senator Fabius SeverusBeauty and the Devil, Mephistopheles / Old Professor Henri FaustPoison, Paul-Louis Victor BraconnierMonsieur Taxi, Pierre Verger Full House, Le commissaire Jules Maigret The Secret of the Mountain Lake, Bürgermeister The Girl with the Whip, Le tuteur d'AngelinaThe Temptress, CidoniCrimson Curtain, Bertal / BanquoThe Road to Damascus, CaïpheThe Merchant of Venice, ShylockThe Virtuous Scoundrel, Albert and Alain Ménard-LacosteWomen of Paris, Professor Charles BuissonSaadia, Bou RezzaL'Étrange Désir de monsieur Bard, Auguste BardA Slice of Life, Padre Silvio Hungarian Rhapsody, General von Sayn-WittgensteinAt the Order of the Czar, Prince de Sayn-WittgensteinThe Impossible Mr. Pipelet, Maurice MartinMemories of a Cop, Le commissaire principal Henri DominiqueLa joyeuse prison, Benoit - le surveillant-chefThree Make a Pair, Commissaire BernardA Certain Monsieur Jo, Joseph 'Jo' GuardiniIt Happened in Broad Daylight, JacquierThe Head, Professor AbelAusterlitz, Alboise', PierrotCandide ou l'optimisme au XXe siècle, Colonel Nanar