Andrew J. Brunelle
French postcard. in the Les Vedettes du Cinéma series by Editions Filma, no. 90. Photo: Pathé Consortium Cinéma.
Andrew Brunelle (1894-1943) was a French screen actor of the silent and sound era.
Andrew Brunelle was born on July 13, 1894 in Cambrai, Nord, France as André François Achille Eugène Brunelle. Brunelle's first serious role as a film actor - he had already played small parts in short comedies with Prince - was when playing Dr. Howey in Louis Feuillade's Gaumont serial sequel La nouvelle mission de Judex (1917), starring René Cresté as Judex. Brunelle played an evil doctor, a member of the dangerous gang La rafle aux secrets (the raiders of the secrets), who avid to steal and resell important technological inventions. Together with his accomplice, the dangerous Baronne d'Apremont (Juana Borguèse), he has the capacity to hypnotise the innocent female leading characters and make them do things against their will. Dr. Hewey and the Baronne die when their boat explodes.
After that, Brunelle switched to Pathé, where he played for years, in films such as La Maison d'argile (Gaston Ravel, 1918), Chignole (René Plaissetty, 1919), La Force de la vie (René Leprince, 1920), L'aiglonne ( Émile Keppens, René Navarre, 1922), and L'Empereur des pauvres (René Leprince, 1922) starring Léon Mathot. For Film d'Art he acted in Louis Delluc's films Le Silence (1920) and Fièvre (1921). Subsequently, he played opposite Édouard de Max in Le Carillonneur (René Coiffard, 1922), opposite Manuel Caméré, Claude Mérelle and Gaston Rieffler in Stella Lucente (Raoul d'Auchy, 1922), and opposite Pierre Alcover in La Faute des autres (Jacques Oliver, 1923). He repeated his role of Jimmy Bartnett in the prequel to Chignole, La Grande envolée (René Plaissetty, 1927), and his last role was in the period piece Tarakanova (Raymond Bernard, 1930), opposite Edith Jéhanne in the female lead, and Olaf Fjord as her lover. Brunelle also was a film director, of mostly short films, starting with the silent comedy Théodore cherche des allumettes (1923), but most of his directions were in the sound era (1931-1936) after he stopped acting. Examples are Bouton d'or (1933) with Jeanne Helbling and Vaccin 48 (1934) with Alice Tissot. All in all, Brunelle directed 9 films and acted in 13 ones. He ended his career as scriptwriter of the 1938 farce, Deux de la réserve (René Pujol), and editor of the comedy, Bach en correctionnelle (Henry Wulschleger, 1940). Brunelle died young, at the age of 49, on August 17, 1943, in Paris, France.
For La nouvelle mission de Judex, see our blogpost: filmstarpostcards.blogspot.com/2014/01/la-nouvelle-missio...
Sources: IMDB, Ciné-ressources.
Andrew J. Brunelle
French postcard. in the Les Vedettes du Cinéma series by Editions Filma, no. 90. Photo: Pathé Consortium Cinéma.
Andrew Brunelle (1894-1943) was a French screen actor of the silent and sound era.
Andrew Brunelle was born on July 13, 1894 in Cambrai, Nord, France as André François Achille Eugène Brunelle. Brunelle's first serious role as a film actor - he had already played small parts in short comedies with Prince - was when playing Dr. Howey in Louis Feuillade's Gaumont serial sequel La nouvelle mission de Judex (1917), starring René Cresté as Judex. Brunelle played an evil doctor, a member of the dangerous gang La rafle aux secrets (the raiders of the secrets), who avid to steal and resell important technological inventions. Together with his accomplice, the dangerous Baronne d'Apremont (Juana Borguèse), he has the capacity to hypnotise the innocent female leading characters and make them do things against their will. Dr. Hewey and the Baronne die when their boat explodes.
After that, Brunelle switched to Pathé, where he played for years, in films such as La Maison d'argile (Gaston Ravel, 1918), Chignole (René Plaissetty, 1919), La Force de la vie (René Leprince, 1920), L'aiglonne ( Émile Keppens, René Navarre, 1922), and L'Empereur des pauvres (René Leprince, 1922) starring Léon Mathot. For Film d'Art he acted in Louis Delluc's films Le Silence (1920) and Fièvre (1921). Subsequently, he played opposite Édouard de Max in Le Carillonneur (René Coiffard, 1922), opposite Manuel Caméré, Claude Mérelle and Gaston Rieffler in Stella Lucente (Raoul d'Auchy, 1922), and opposite Pierre Alcover in La Faute des autres (Jacques Oliver, 1923). He repeated his role of Jimmy Bartnett in the prequel to Chignole, La Grande envolée (René Plaissetty, 1927), and his last role was in the period piece Tarakanova (Raymond Bernard, 1930), opposite Edith Jéhanne in the female lead, and Olaf Fjord as her lover. Brunelle also was a film director, of mostly short films, starting with the silent comedy Théodore cherche des allumettes (1923), but most of his directions were in the sound era (1931-1936) after he stopped acting. Examples are Bouton d'or (1933) with Jeanne Helbling and Vaccin 48 (1934) with Alice Tissot. All in all, Brunelle directed 9 films and acted in 13 ones. He ended his career as scriptwriter of the 1938 farce, Deux de la réserve (René Pujol), and editor of the comedy, Bach en correctionnelle (Henry Wulschleger, 1940). Brunelle died young, at the age of 49, on August 17, 1943, in Paris, France.
For La nouvelle mission de Judex, see our blogpost: filmstarpostcards.blogspot.com/2014/01/la-nouvelle-missio...
Sources: IMDB, Ciné-ressources.