Aimé Clariond
French postcard by Editions P.I., no. 147. Photo: Pathé Cinema.
Aimé Clariond (1894-1960) was a French theatre and film actor and theatre director.
Clariond’s career was a-typical ine the sense that he never entered the Conservatoire despite three attempts. Clarion started his stage career in 1921 at the Théâtre de l'Odéon, where he interpreted the classics, before joining in 1926 the troupe of André Antoine and afterwards that of Lugné-Poë at the Théâtre de l'Œuvre. In 1936 he was engaged as ‘pensionnaire’ at the Comédie-Française when the government of the Front populaire apppointed Édouard Bourdet as general administrator. In 1937, one year after his engagement, he was appointed ‘sociétaire’ and remained at the Comédie-Française until his death in 1959. In the mid-1930s he met actress Renée Simonot, pensionnaire of the Théâtre de l'Odéon, with whom he had a daughter in 1937, but the couple separated soon after. Clariond was an actor with a great power in his performance, a slightly veiled voice, thus giving life to both characters little known to the big audiences as well as to characters from the classic repertory, such as Alceste in The Misanthropist by Molière, Othello in Shakespeare’s play, Marc Anthony in Gide’s adaptation Antoine et Cléopâtre, directed by Jean-Louis Barrault, or Le Carrosse du Saint-Sacrement by Prosper Mérimée (co-acting with Maria Casarès). He was also memorable in modern repertory such as Le Soulier de satin (Paul Claudel), Asmodée and Les Mal-Aimés by François Mauriac,and Port-Royal by Montherlant (alternating the lead with his comrade Jean Debucourt). Between 1946 and 1950 he also directed various plays, mainly at the Théâtre des Celestins.
Parallel to his stage career, Aimé Clariond developed a very prolfic career in French sound cinema, starting with Les Frères Karamazoff (Fedor Ozep 1931) in which he played Ivan Karamazoff. While he first played in several comedies, later on he specialised in historical dramas, such as Lucrèce Borgia (Abel Gance 1935), La route impériale (Marcel L’Herbier 1935), La mensonge de Nina Petrovna (Victor Tourjansky 1937), La Marseillaise (Jean Renoir 1938), Entente cordiale (L’Herbier 1939) and De Mayerling à Sarajevo (Max Ophüls 1940). This continued during the war years – during which Clariond was highly active - with films such as Mam’zelle Bonaparte (Maurice Tourneur 1942) and Le Comte de Monte Christo (Robert Vernay 1942), as well as after the war in films like Le Capitan (Vernay 1946) and Si Versailles m’était conté (Sacha Guitry 1954). His last part was that of Une fille pour l’été(1960)by Edouard Molinaro, which was released after Clariond’s death. Aimé Clariond was buried at Fouquenies (Oise) on 4 January 1960.
Sources: Wikipedia (French) and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.
Aimé Clariond
French postcard by Editions P.I., no. 147. Photo: Pathé Cinema.
Aimé Clariond (1894-1960) was a French theatre and film actor and theatre director.
Clariond’s career was a-typical ine the sense that he never entered the Conservatoire despite three attempts. Clarion started his stage career in 1921 at the Théâtre de l'Odéon, where he interpreted the classics, before joining in 1926 the troupe of André Antoine and afterwards that of Lugné-Poë at the Théâtre de l'Œuvre. In 1936 he was engaged as ‘pensionnaire’ at the Comédie-Française when the government of the Front populaire apppointed Édouard Bourdet as general administrator. In 1937, one year after his engagement, he was appointed ‘sociétaire’ and remained at the Comédie-Française until his death in 1959. In the mid-1930s he met actress Renée Simonot, pensionnaire of the Théâtre de l'Odéon, with whom he had a daughter in 1937, but the couple separated soon after. Clariond was an actor with a great power in his performance, a slightly veiled voice, thus giving life to both characters little known to the big audiences as well as to characters from the classic repertory, such as Alceste in The Misanthropist by Molière, Othello in Shakespeare’s play, Marc Anthony in Gide’s adaptation Antoine et Cléopâtre, directed by Jean-Louis Barrault, or Le Carrosse du Saint-Sacrement by Prosper Mérimée (co-acting with Maria Casarès). He was also memorable in modern repertory such as Le Soulier de satin (Paul Claudel), Asmodée and Les Mal-Aimés by François Mauriac,and Port-Royal by Montherlant (alternating the lead with his comrade Jean Debucourt). Between 1946 and 1950 he also directed various plays, mainly at the Théâtre des Celestins.
Parallel to his stage career, Aimé Clariond developed a very prolfic career in French sound cinema, starting with Les Frères Karamazoff (Fedor Ozep 1931) in which he played Ivan Karamazoff. While he first played in several comedies, later on he specialised in historical dramas, such as Lucrèce Borgia (Abel Gance 1935), La route impériale (Marcel L’Herbier 1935), La mensonge de Nina Petrovna (Victor Tourjansky 1937), La Marseillaise (Jean Renoir 1938), Entente cordiale (L’Herbier 1939) and De Mayerling à Sarajevo (Max Ophüls 1940). This continued during the war years – during which Clariond was highly active - with films such as Mam’zelle Bonaparte (Maurice Tourneur 1942) and Le Comte de Monte Christo (Robert Vernay 1942), as well as after the war in films like Le Capitan (Vernay 1946) and Si Versailles m’était conté (Sacha Guitry 1954). His last part was that of Une fille pour l’été(1960)by Edouard Molinaro, which was released after Clariond’s death. Aimé Clariond was buried at Fouquenies (Oise) on 4 January 1960.
Sources: Wikipedia (French) and IMDb.
And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.