Albert Dieudonné
French postcard. Editions Cinémagazine. G.L. Manuel Frères.
Albert Dieudonné (1889-1976) was a French actor, author and director, who became famous as the title character in Abel Gance’s epic film Napoléon (1927).
Albert Dieudonné was born 26 November 1889 in Paris. His uncle, the actor Alphonse Dieudonné, brought him into contact with the world of theatre. Albert had already played minor parts on stage when he got a small part in the 1908 Film d’Art production L’Assassinat du Duc de Guise by André Calmettes and Charles Le Bargy. In addition to his stage acting, Diedonné continued to act in film, in the 1910s with directors such as Albert Capellani (Le roi s’amuse, 1909; La bouteille de lait, 1910), Georges Monca (Jim Blackwood, jockey, 1910; , Georges Denola (Le heureux accident, 1910; Pour les beaux jeux de la voisine, 1910) and Alfred Machin (Le Diamant noir, 1913). In 1915-1916 he performed in five films directed by Abel Gance: La Folie du docteur Tube (1915), L'Héroïsme de Paddy (1915), Ce que les flots racontent (1915), Le Fou de la falaise (1915), and Le Périscope (1916). He also acted in the war propaganda drama Alsace (1916) by Henri Pouctal. In the 1910s Dieudonné als tried to estblaish himself as director and scriptwriter. In 1913 he directed the film L’Idole brisée. He (co-)scripted the films A Woman of Impulse (Edward José, 1917), Angoisse (André Hugon, 1917), and Chacals (Hugon 1917), while he directed himself La Gloire rouge (1917, also scriptwriter ), Sous la griffe (1921) and Son Crime (1922). In 1923 Diedonné met Jean Renoir an co-directed with him Renoir’s debut film Cathérine/Une vie sans joie (1924), but because of a disagreement between the directors the film was only released in 1927.
Dieudonné’s breakthrough and lasting claim of fame he got with his performance as Napoléon Bonaparte in the monumental biopic by Abel Gance, which focuses on Napoléon’s early career, from the military school in Brienne which he visited as a kid, to the Italian campaign of 1796, and including the French revolution, the Siege of Toulon,and Napoleon’s love affair and mariage with Joséphine de Beauharnais (played by Gina Manès in the film). Gance planned this film of six movies on Napoleon’s career, but already the extreme length and the extreme costs of his ‘first episode’ made clear it would be impossible to shoot the sequels. Although Dieudonné was considered too old for the part, he offered himself to Abel Gance in 1925. Gance was so impressed by Dieudonné’s make over and performance that he gave him the title part in his mega-film in 1927. An anecdote Dieudonné himself told in Kevin Brownlow’s TV series Cinema Europe goes like this. He visited Fontainebleau castle in his Napoleon costume and said to one of the nightwatchmen, who since claiemd he had seen Napoleon’s ghost: "I flung open the door. I was in uniform and I said, "Asleep on duty, Matat?" The poor fellow woke up completely bewildered, rubbed his eyes and stared at me. Then I went. Next day, he told the curator D'Esparbes about it. He confessed that in the past he'd been joking a little but this time he'd really seen Napoleon. Unfortunately, the poor soul died eight days later and I may have been one of the causes."
Shooting took place in 1925 and – with a break due to a krach of one of the financiers – in 1926. On 7 April 1927 the French first night of the film took place at the Parisian Opéra Garnier, with a score by Arthur Honegger, a metrage of 5.600 metres and a triptych finale. When Napoléon came out, it was only shown in 8 major European cities when MGM bought the rights and drastically reduced its length for an American release. Because of the introduction of sound cinema in 1927, the American reception was not as enthusiast as in Europe. In 1934-35 a sonorised version was released, with some added scenes, and a 1971 a reworking of this sound version was established in collaboration with French television. Especially the latter version was felt indequate. In 1981 Kevin Brownlow finished a major restoration of the film and afterwards the film was shown around the world with an orchestra conducted by Carmine Coppola, father of the film director. Brownlow continued the restoration afterwards, using materials at the Cinémathèque française as well, and these restorations came out in 1990 and 2001.
After the 1927 version, Dieudonné hardly acted in film anymore, but continued as scriptwriter and director. He wrote the scripts for La Douceur d’aimer (René Hervil, 1930), La Garçonne (Jean de Limur, 1936, also production manager), L’Homme du Niger (Jacques de Baroncelli, 1939), and co-adapted Le Brigand gentilhomme (Emile Couzinet, 1942). His only acting part in those years was in Madame Sans-Gêne (Roger Richebé 1941), in which he played: Bonaparte. Actually, according to French historian Jean Tulard, Dieudonné’s method acting resulted in the actor himself behaving more and more like the French Emperor. Dieudonné would also lecture on Napoleon and in 1957 he wrote the play Moi, Napoléon, staged by Alain Quercy at the Theatre des Arts. Albert Dieudonné died on 19 March 1976 in Boulogne-Billancourt. He lies buried in the cemetery of Courçay, a small village where he spent his last years. According to his last wish, he was buried in his costume of Napoléon.
Sources: French, English and German Wikipedia, IMDB, commenting-the-commentaries.blogspot.nl/2007/03/albert-di....
Albert Dieudonné
French postcard. Editions Cinémagazine. G.L. Manuel Frères.
Albert Dieudonné (1889-1976) was a French actor, author and director, who became famous as the title character in Abel Gance’s epic film Napoléon (1927).
Albert Dieudonné was born 26 November 1889 in Paris. His uncle, the actor Alphonse Dieudonné, brought him into contact with the world of theatre. Albert had already played minor parts on stage when he got a small part in the 1908 Film d’Art production L’Assassinat du Duc de Guise by André Calmettes and Charles Le Bargy. In addition to his stage acting, Diedonné continued to act in film, in the 1910s with directors such as Albert Capellani (Le roi s’amuse, 1909; La bouteille de lait, 1910), Georges Monca (Jim Blackwood, jockey, 1910; , Georges Denola (Le heureux accident, 1910; Pour les beaux jeux de la voisine, 1910) and Alfred Machin (Le Diamant noir, 1913). In 1915-1916 he performed in five films directed by Abel Gance: La Folie du docteur Tube (1915), L'Héroïsme de Paddy (1915), Ce que les flots racontent (1915), Le Fou de la falaise (1915), and Le Périscope (1916). He also acted in the war propaganda drama Alsace (1916) by Henri Pouctal. In the 1910s Dieudonné als tried to estblaish himself as director and scriptwriter. In 1913 he directed the film L’Idole brisée. He (co-)scripted the films A Woman of Impulse (Edward José, 1917), Angoisse (André Hugon, 1917), and Chacals (Hugon 1917), while he directed himself La Gloire rouge (1917, also scriptwriter ), Sous la griffe (1921) and Son Crime (1922). In 1923 Diedonné met Jean Renoir an co-directed with him Renoir’s debut film Cathérine/Une vie sans joie (1924), but because of a disagreement between the directors the film was only released in 1927.
Dieudonné’s breakthrough and lasting claim of fame he got with his performance as Napoléon Bonaparte in the monumental biopic by Abel Gance, which focuses on Napoléon’s early career, from the military school in Brienne which he visited as a kid, to the Italian campaign of 1796, and including the French revolution, the Siege of Toulon,and Napoleon’s love affair and mariage with Joséphine de Beauharnais (played by Gina Manès in the film). Gance planned this film of six movies on Napoleon’s career, but already the extreme length and the extreme costs of his ‘first episode’ made clear it would be impossible to shoot the sequels. Although Dieudonné was considered too old for the part, he offered himself to Abel Gance in 1925. Gance was so impressed by Dieudonné’s make over and performance that he gave him the title part in his mega-film in 1927. An anecdote Dieudonné himself told in Kevin Brownlow’s TV series Cinema Europe goes like this. He visited Fontainebleau castle in his Napoleon costume and said to one of the nightwatchmen, who since claiemd he had seen Napoleon’s ghost: "I flung open the door. I was in uniform and I said, "Asleep on duty, Matat?" The poor fellow woke up completely bewildered, rubbed his eyes and stared at me. Then I went. Next day, he told the curator D'Esparbes about it. He confessed that in the past he'd been joking a little but this time he'd really seen Napoleon. Unfortunately, the poor soul died eight days later and I may have been one of the causes."
Shooting took place in 1925 and – with a break due to a krach of one of the financiers – in 1926. On 7 April 1927 the French first night of the film took place at the Parisian Opéra Garnier, with a score by Arthur Honegger, a metrage of 5.600 metres and a triptych finale. When Napoléon came out, it was only shown in 8 major European cities when MGM bought the rights and drastically reduced its length for an American release. Because of the introduction of sound cinema in 1927, the American reception was not as enthusiast as in Europe. In 1934-35 a sonorised version was released, with some added scenes, and a 1971 a reworking of this sound version was established in collaboration with French television. Especially the latter version was felt indequate. In 1981 Kevin Brownlow finished a major restoration of the film and afterwards the film was shown around the world with an orchestra conducted by Carmine Coppola, father of the film director. Brownlow continued the restoration afterwards, using materials at the Cinémathèque française as well, and these restorations came out in 1990 and 2001.
After the 1927 version, Dieudonné hardly acted in film anymore, but continued as scriptwriter and director. He wrote the scripts for La Douceur d’aimer (René Hervil, 1930), La Garçonne (Jean de Limur, 1936, also production manager), L’Homme du Niger (Jacques de Baroncelli, 1939), and co-adapted Le Brigand gentilhomme (Emile Couzinet, 1942). His only acting part in those years was in Madame Sans-Gêne (Roger Richebé 1941), in which he played: Bonaparte. Actually, according to French historian Jean Tulard, Dieudonné’s method acting resulted in the actor himself behaving more and more like the French Emperor. Dieudonné would also lecture on Napoleon and in 1957 he wrote the play Moi, Napoléon, staged by Alain Quercy at the Theatre des Arts. Albert Dieudonné died on 19 March 1976 in Boulogne-Billancourt. He lies buried in the cemetery of Courçay, a small village where he spent his last years. According to his last wish, he was buried in his costume of Napoléon.
Sources: French, English and German Wikipedia, IMDB, commenting-the-commentaries.blogspot.nl/2007/03/albert-di....