André Berley
French postcard. A.N., Paris, no. 644. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
André Berley (1890-1936) was a French stage and screen actor, known for his part in Carl Dreyer’s La passion de Jeanne d’Arc (1928).
André Berley, originally André Edmond Obrecht, was born 13 January 1890 in Paris. During his career, he was highly active on stage from the early 1910s on, in particular in 1925 in the play Les Marchands de gloire by Paul Nivoix and Marcel Pagnol and directed by Gabriel Signoret, and a musical comedy in 1929, Le Renard chez les poules. He debuted in film during the last years of silent cinema. A major part he performed in La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc (1928) by Carl Theodor Dreyer, where he played Jean d'Estivet, one of the evil judges, opposite Renée Falconetti (Jeanne d'Arc), Sylvain, Maurice Schutz, Michel Simon, and Antonin Artaud. He also acted in Harakiri (Marie-Louise Iribe, Henri Debain, 1928). Thanks to a contract with MGM, he stayed one year (around 1930-1931) in Hollywood to act in seven French versions of MGM’s early sound films (e.g. Buster se marie/Parlor, Bedroom and Bath, 1931, by Claude Autant-Lara) plus one more at Paramount: Le petit café/The Playboy of Paris (Ludwig Berger 1931). In Hollywood, he was directed by famous European directors, in addition to Autant-Lara and Berger also Jacques Feyder, Henri Chomette, Reinhold Schünzel, and Arthur Robison. After his return to France, he mainly acted in French sound cinema, until his death in 1936. Barley participated in the French versions of Franco-German multilinguals. Berley played, for instance, the part of Emil Jannings in the French version of Die Abenteuer des Königs Pausole (1933) by Alexis Granowsky. He also acted in one Franco-British coproduction (Juanita, Pierre Caron 1935), and in three Franco-American co-productions, among which the French version of The Merry Widow (1934) with Maurice Chevalier. André Berley died prematurely (age 46) on 26 November 1936, shortly after the shooting of La Maison d'en face, an adaptation of the play by Paul Nivoix and directed by Christian-Jaque. The film, which starred Elvire Popesco, was released in January 1937.
Sources: French and English Wikipedia, IMDB.
André Berley
French postcard. A.N., Paris, no. 644. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
André Berley (1890-1936) was a French stage and screen actor, known for his part in Carl Dreyer’s La passion de Jeanne d’Arc (1928).
André Berley, originally André Edmond Obrecht, was born 13 January 1890 in Paris. During his career, he was highly active on stage from the early 1910s on, in particular in 1925 in the play Les Marchands de gloire by Paul Nivoix and Marcel Pagnol and directed by Gabriel Signoret, and a musical comedy in 1929, Le Renard chez les poules. He debuted in film during the last years of silent cinema. A major part he performed in La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc (1928) by Carl Theodor Dreyer, where he played Jean d'Estivet, one of the evil judges, opposite Renée Falconetti (Jeanne d'Arc), Sylvain, Maurice Schutz, Michel Simon, and Antonin Artaud. He also acted in Harakiri (Marie-Louise Iribe, Henri Debain, 1928). Thanks to a contract with MGM, he stayed one year (around 1930-1931) in Hollywood to act in seven French versions of MGM’s early sound films (e.g. Buster se marie/Parlor, Bedroom and Bath, 1931, by Claude Autant-Lara) plus one more at Paramount: Le petit café/The Playboy of Paris (Ludwig Berger 1931). In Hollywood, he was directed by famous European directors, in addition to Autant-Lara and Berger also Jacques Feyder, Henri Chomette, Reinhold Schünzel, and Arthur Robison. After his return to France, he mainly acted in French sound cinema, until his death in 1936. Barley participated in the French versions of Franco-German multilinguals. Berley played, for instance, the part of Emil Jannings in the French version of Die Abenteuer des Königs Pausole (1933) by Alexis Granowsky. He also acted in one Franco-British coproduction (Juanita, Pierre Caron 1935), and in three Franco-American co-productions, among which the French version of The Merry Widow (1934) with Maurice Chevalier. André Berley died prematurely (age 46) on 26 November 1936, shortly after the shooting of La Maison d'en face, an adaptation of the play by Paul Nivoix and directed by Christian-Jaque. The film, which starred Elvire Popesco, was released in January 1937.
Sources: French and English Wikipedia, IMDB.