
Birthday:
02-20-1885
Deathday:
07-24-1957 (72 years)
Birthplace:
Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire [now Russia]
Biography
Alexandre-Pierre Georges Guitry (21 February 1885 – 24 July 1957), known as Sacha Guitry, was a French stage actor, film actor, director, screenwriter, and playwright of the boulevard theatre. He was the son of a leading French actor, Lucien Guitry, and followed his father into the theatrical profession. He became known for his stage performances, particularly in boulevardier roles. He was also a prolific playwright, writing 115 plays throughout his career. He was married five times, always to rising actresses whose careers he furthered. Probably his best-known wife was Yvonne Printemps to whom he was married between 1919 and 1932.
Guitry's plays range from historical dramas to contemporary light comedies. Some have musical scores, by composers including André Messager and Reynaldo Hahn. When silent films became popular Guitry avoided them, finding the lack of spoken dialogue fatal to dramatic impact. From the 1930s to the end of his life he enthusiastically embraced the cinema, making as many as five films in a single year.
The later years of Guitry's career were overshadowed by accusations of collaborating with the occupying Germans after the capitulation of France in the Second World War. The charges were dismissed, but Guitry, a strongly patriotic man, was disillusioned by the vilification he received from some of his compatriots. By the time of his death, his popular esteem had been restored to the extent that 12,000 people filed past his coffin before his burial in Paris.
Guitry was born at No 12 Nevsky Prospect, Saint Petersburg, Russia, the third son of the French actors Lucien Guitry and his wife Marie-Louise-Renée née Delmas de Pont-Jest (1858–1902). The couple had eloped, in the face of family disapproval, and were married at St Martin in the Fields, London, in 1882. They then moved to the then Russian capital, where Lucien ran the French theatre company, the Théâtre Michel, from 1882 to 1891. The marriage was brief. Guitry senior was a persistent adulterer, and his wife instituted divorce proceedings in 1888. Two of their sons died in infancy (one in 1883 and the other in 1887); the other surviving son, Jean (1884–1920) became an actor and journalist. The family's Russian nurse habitually shortened Alexandre-Pierre's name to the Russian diminutive "Sacha", by which he was known all his life. The young Sacha made his stage debut in his father's company at the age of five.
Lucien Guitry, considered the most distinguished actor in France since Coquelin, was immensely successful, both critically and commercially. When he returned to Paris he lived in a flat in a prestigious spot, overlooking the Place Vendôme and the Rue de la Paix. The young Sacha lived there, and for his schooling he was first sent to the well-known Lycée Janson de Sailly in the fashionable Sixteenth arrondissement. He did not stay long there, and went to a succession of other schools, both secular and religious, before abandoning formal education at the age of sixteen. ...
Source: Article "Sacha Guitry" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
Guitry's plays range from historical dramas to contemporary light comedies. Some have musical scores, by composers including André Messager and Reynaldo Hahn. When silent films became popular Guitry avoided them, finding the lack of spoken dialogue fatal to dramatic impact. From the 1930s to the end of his life he enthusiastically embraced the cinema, making as many as five films in a single year.
The later years of Guitry's career were overshadowed by accusations of collaborating with the occupying Germans after the capitulation of France in the Second World War. The charges were dismissed, but Guitry, a strongly patriotic man, was disillusioned by the vilification he received from some of his compatriots. By the time of his death, his popular esteem had been restored to the extent that 12,000 people filed past his coffin before his burial in Paris.
Guitry was born at No 12 Nevsky Prospect, Saint Petersburg, Russia, the third son of the French actors Lucien Guitry and his wife Marie-Louise-Renée née Delmas de Pont-Jest (1858–1902). The couple had eloped, in the face of family disapproval, and were married at St Martin in the Fields, London, in 1882. They then moved to the then Russian capital, where Lucien ran the French theatre company, the Théâtre Michel, from 1882 to 1891. The marriage was brief. Guitry senior was a persistent adulterer, and his wife instituted divorce proceedings in 1888. Two of their sons died in infancy (one in 1883 and the other in 1887); the other surviving son, Jean (1884–1920) became an actor and journalist. The family's Russian nurse habitually shortened Alexandre-Pierre's name to the Russian diminutive "Sacha", by which he was known all his life. The young Sacha made his stage debut in his father's company at the age of five.
Lucien Guitry, considered the most distinguished actor in France since Coquelin, was immensely successful, both critically and commercially. When he returned to Paris he lived in a flat in a prestigious spot, overlooking the Place Vendôme and the Rue de la Paix. The young Sacha lived there, and for his schooling he was first sent to the well-known Lycée Janson de Sailly in the fashionable Sixteenth arrondissement. He did not stay long there, and went to a succession of other schools, both secular and religious, before abandoning formal education at the age of sixteen. ...
Source: Article "Sacha Guitry" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
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Their works
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Bluebeard's Eighth Wife
Act like Man Leaving Hotel in France (uncredited)
event1938 star_border 7
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American multi-millionaire Michael Brandon marries his eighth wife, Nicole, the daughter of a broken French Marquis. But she doesn't want to be only a number in the row of his ex-wives and starts her own strategy to tame him.
Napoleon
Act like Talleyrand
event1955 star_border 6.3
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The film follows the life of Napoleon from his early life in Corsica to his death at Saint Helena. The film is notable for its use of location shooting for numerous scenes, especially at the French estates of Malmaison and Fontainebleau, the Palace of Versailles, and sites of Napoleonic battles including Austerlitz and Waterloo.
My Father Was Right
Act like Charles Bellanger
event1936 star_border 5.9
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After being left for another man by his wife, Charles Bellanger raises his only son to fear and suspect women. Years later, such an education is bearing fruit.
Good Luck
Act like Claude
event1935 star_border 6.3
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A girl, Marie, who got engaged to a boy who is leaving for military training (thirteen days) wins two million on the raffle, thanks to an older man, Claude, whom she calls her good luck …
Nine Bachelors
Act like Jean Lécuyer
event1939 star_border 6.4
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Nine Bachelors is a 1939 French comedy film directed by Sacha Guitry and starring Guitry, Max Dearly and Elvire Popesco.[1] An opportunist dreams up a new scheme to make money when the French government passes a law forbidding foreigners from living in France. It's French title is Ils étaient neuf célibataires.
The Story of a Cheat
Act like le tricheur
event1936 star_border 7.5
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Life story of a charming scoundrel, with little dialogue other than the star/director's witty narration. As a boy, only he survives a family tragedy when he's deprived of supper (poisonous mushrooms!) for stealing...concluding that dishonesty pays. Through years of dabbling in crime and amusing adventures, two women appear and reappear in his life, a dazzling blonde jewel thief and a stunning brunette gambler. Finally, he meets the mysterious Charbonnier who had saved his life in World War I, leading to the surprising next phase in his career...
The Devil Who Limped
Act like Talleyrand
event1948 star_border 6.4
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The film is a 125-minute, black-and-white biography of French priest and diplomat Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord (1754–1838), who served for 50 years under five different French regimes: the Absolute Monarchy, the Revolution, the Consulate, the Empire, and the Constitutional Monarchy. Its title comes from one of the main historical nicknames for Talleyrand, that he shares with demon king Asmodeus and English poet Lord Byron.
Tu m'as sauvé la vie
Act like Le baron de Saint-Rambert
event1950 star_border 5.4
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A wealthy baron, without offspring, who knows death is approaching, wants to adopt a man who kept him alive a bit longer, when he was almost run over by a horse drawn cart.
Deburau
Act like Jean-Gaspard Deburau
event1951 star_border 7
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Jean-Gaspard Deburau is a very successful mime, the most famous in his category. One day, he falls head over heels in love with Marie Duplessis, a courtesan better known as "La Dame aux Camélias". But he soon realizes that he is but a number in her long list of lovers. He will find comfort in devoting his time teaching his art to his son Charles.
If Paris Were Told to Us
Act like le narrateur et Louis XI
event1956 star_border 5.7
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Historical film directed and written by Sacha Guitry follows the the history of Paris from its founding through the significant events in the city's history.
Le Mot de Cambronne
Act like Le Général Pierre Cambronne
event1937 star_border 5.9
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Madame Cambronne, who is English, "it's historic", would really like to know what this famous "Cambronne word" is, which she has never heard. General Cambronne stubbornly refuses to repeat his famous saying.
La Malibran
Act like Eugène Malibran
event1944 star_border 5.7
top_panel_open
On the death of the famous singer Maria Malibran, Countess Merlin retraces the main lines of the unusual destiny of this young woman entirely devoted to her art.
The Private Life of an Actor
Act like Lucien Guitry et Sacha Guitry
event1948 star_border 6.9
top_panel_open
Biography of Lucien Guitry, stage comedian, by his son, movie director, and a poetic reflection on the passionate love of both men for their chosen art forms.
The Treasure of Cantenac
Act like Baron of Cantenac
event1950 star_border 5.6
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While he was about to end his life, Baron de Cantenac wanted to return one last time to the land of his ancestors. He then discovers a treasure that he will strive to use to revive his village.
Let’s Go Up the Champs-Élysées
Act like Le Professeur, Louis XV, Ludovic, Jean-Louis et Napoléon III
event1938 star_border 5.7
top_panel_open
The history of one of France's most famous streets is retold, featuring multiple performances from Guitry himself.
The Pearls of the Crown
Act like Jean Martin / François Ier / Barras / Napoléon III
event1937 star_border 6.2
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The story of the seven pearls of the English Crown, from Henry VIII to 1937 – three of them missing.
Camille: The Fate of a Coquette
Act like Mancha y Zaragosa
event1926 star_border 4
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A home movie version of the Dumas play. A young woman becomes a courtesan and tragedy befalls her. Appearances are made by many socialites of 1920s Paris and New York.
I Was It Three Times
Act like Jean Renneval
event1952 star_border 4.9
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A husband who had divorced twice because he had been betrayed by his former wives, takes his precautions to prevent the deed from happening a third time. And yet it does.
Let's Make a Dream
Act like L'Amant
event1936 star_border 7.1
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A husband who has just cheated on his wife returns home in the early morning, puzzled. He finds there, without knowing it, the lover of his wife, to whom he confesses his infidelity.
The New Testament
Act like Le Docteur Marcelin
event1936 star_border 6.7
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Husbands and wives, lovers and gigolos, all break a sweat when Dr. Marcelin’s newly-revised last will and testament is prematurely exposed.
Désiré
Act like Désiré
event1937 star_border 7.1
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Sacha Guitry exchanges his usual top hat for a uniform in Désiré, playing a cavalier valet embroiled in an awkward flirtation with his new employer (played by the actor-director's real-life wife, Jacqueline Delubac), who is involved with a stuffy politician. A carefree class farce filled with memorable supporting characters, Désiré blurs the distinction between upstairs and downstairs.
Quadrille
Act like Philippe de Morannes
event1938 star_border 6
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The battle of the sexes as drawing room social satire. Philippe, a middle-aged newspaper editor, has lived for six years with Paulette, a successful stage actress. He tells her friend Claudine, a realistic and enterprising reporter, that he's thinking of proposing. Into the mix steps Carl Erickson, a charming Hollywood matinée idol in Paris briefly. He meets Paulette, sees her act (his box seat compliments of Philippe), and sets out to seduce her. The next two days bring talk, tears, separation, despair, surprises, and, perhaps, reconciliation as characters speak "exactly half the truth." It's a quadrille of changing partners.
Two Doves
Act like Maître Jean-Pierre Walter
event1949 star_border 6.7
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A man remarried his wife's sister whom he believes died in a fire. The alleged deceased reappears and sows trouble and discord in the new household.
The Virtuous Scoundrel
event1953 star_border 6.1
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La Vie d'un honnête homme English: The Virtuous Scoundrel, is a French comedy drama film from 1953, directed by Sacha Guitry, written by Sacha Guitry, starring Michel Simon and Louis de Funès.
Mlle. Desiree
Act like Napoléon 1er
event1941 star_border 5.8
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Julie and Désirée Clary are courted by the brothers Joseph and Napoleon Bonaparte. Joseph marries Julie and Napoleon is affianced to Désirée. When Napoleon breaks the engagement and marries Joséphine de Beauharnais, Désirée becomes involved with General Bernadotte.
My Last Mistress
Act like François
event1943 star_border 6.8
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A renowned sculptor aged about fifty years, François Bressolles falls for the young Catherine Collet whom he convinces without difficulty to pose for him. Complications ensue when he starts to go blind.
Pasteur
Act like Louis Pasteur
event1935 star_border 5
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Guitry reprises his role as Pasteur which he played successfully at the Vaudeville Theatre in 1919.
Royal Affairs in Versailles
Act like Louis XIV (older)
event1954 star_border 6.8
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Witty narration follows the history of Versailles Palace; founded by Louis XIII, enlarged by autocratic Louis XIV, whose personal affairs and amours, and those of his two successors, are followed in more detail to the start of the Revolution, after which the story is brought rapidly up to date. A huge cast plays mainly historical persons who appear briefly.
Toâ
Act like Michel Desnoyers
event1949 star_border 2.5
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Michel Desnoyer has turned his private life into a comic stage play. But the volcanic Ecaterina is not at all pleased to find out that Michel's sister is the mistress of the man she loves.
Dîner de gala aux Ambassadeurs
Act like Self
event1934 star_border 5
top_panel_open
Three successive sketches: Sacha Guitry successively calls Pauline Carton, Gaston Severin and Paul Pauley by telephone, to invite them to the Ambassadors gala dinner.
From Joan of Arc to Philippe Pétain
Act like Narrator (voice)
event1944
top_panel_open
Sitting at his desk, Guitry gives us a lecture on French history from Joan of Arc to the Occupation, with some focus on a number of its great writers and musicians.
Encyclopédie audiovisuelle du cinéma
Act like Self (archive footage) (1 ep.)
event1978
top_panel_open
Produced for television by Claude-Jean Philippe, the « Encyclopédie audiovisuelle du cinéma », recounts the history of French cinema from its birth to the beginning of the 1960s. With commentary read by Jean Rochefort.
Poison
Director (1 ep.)
event1951 star_border 7.1
top_panel_open
Paul Braconnier and his wife Blandine only have one thing in mind: to find a way to kill each other without risk. After listening to a radio show, Paul decides to go to Paris to meet a famous lawyer in the acquittal of the murderers. He tells the lawyer that he killed his wife. The lawyer asks Paul to reconstruct the circumstances of the drama. Without knowing it, he explains, in spite of himself, the way for Paul to murder his wife by putting the odds on his side to avoid death penalty or even be released...
Three Make a Pair
Director (1 ep.)
event1957 star_border 5.2
top_panel_open
Jojo’s ambition is to become a gangster, but to be admitted into a gang he has to prove himself by committing a daring act. To that end, he kills someone in broad daylight, not knowing that his victim is an actor who is playing a scene in a film directed by a cranky film-maker (Darry Cowl). The murder is caught on film, leading Commissaire Bernard (Michel Simon) to think that the killer will be easy to find. Sure enough, Bernard soon makes his arrest, a clown from a circus, but then he faces an almost insurmountable problem. The clown has an identical twin, who is also a clown with the same circus. Both men claim to be innocent…
Those of Our Land
Director (1 ep.)
event1915 star_border 6
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With family connections to some famous French artists, writers, and musicians of the time, Sacha Guitry decided to film the individuals in action, to celebrate the greatness of his culture, threatened by Germany in the ongoing Great War.
A Crime in Paradise
Writer (1 ep.)
event2001 star_border 6.6
top_panel_open
In the 1980 French countryside, farmer Jojo and his ill-tempered wife Lulu hate each other, though their respective interests speak against divorce. The only thing that keeps the oppressed Jojo from murder is the threat of the guillotine...
Rendezvous in July
Story (1 ep.)
event1949 star_border 5.7
top_panel_open
Hopes and love and ambitions and friendship in a group of young jazz-loving Parisians.
Adhémar or the Toy of Destiny
Writer (1 ep.)
event1951 star_border 5.6
top_panel_open
Is it because his father was a groom that Adhémar Pomme has a long horse head and a horse- toothed smile? Maybe but the fact is that his head has invariably caused laughter whatever the circumstances, which is the tragedy of his life. After having worked as an undertaker, a theater prompter, a casino bouncer, and so on, and failing at each job, he applies out of desperation to an institution where those rejected for physical reasons can hide and live together. But Adhémar immediately starts... laughing at them and gets kicked out as a result! In the end though, he finds his way as a circus artist.
Murderers and Thieves
Director (1 ep.)
event1956 star_border 6.2
top_panel_open
A man becomes the lover of his former persecutor's wife.
Life Together
Writer (1 ep.)
event1958 star_border 6.1
top_panel_open
The writer Pierre Carot became rich and famous with his book "Life as a Couple", which was based on the loving relationships of four couples. Now he's setting up his will and wants to leave his wealth to the couples among the four, which are still as deeply in love - if any: else, his companions get the money. He sends them out to visit the couples and test their love.
Lucky Partners
Story (1 ep.)
event1940 star_border 6
top_panel_open
Two strangers split a sweepstake prize to go on a fake honeymoon with predictable results.
Mon père avait raison
Writer (1 ep.)
event1996
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After being abandoned by his wife, a man raises his son alone for twenty years.
L'Accroche-cœur
Writer (1 ep.)
event1938 star_border 9
top_panel_open
A seasoned con-man devises an elaborate plan to relieve a rich socialite of a hefty chunk of her fortune but her falling in love with him complicates matters.
The Clairvoyant
Theatre Play (1 ep.)
event1924
top_panel_open
Jean is thrown out of the house by his father, a remarried politician, out of jealousy for his friendship with his mother-in-law. He finds refuge at an artist's apartment. In the same building lives a famous fortune teller that the mother-in-law just happens to consult. With her help, Jean will be able to marry his young sweetheart and his father will solve his political troubles.
Quadrille
Screenplay (1 ep.)
event1997 star_border 5
top_panel_open
Carl Herickson, a big American film star, unwillingly upsets a Parisian trio: a newspaper editor, his theater actress wife, and their fiery journalist best friend.
The Nabob Affair
Writer (1 ep.)
event1960 star_border 3
top_panel_open
Serge, alias Count Fornari, is hired by a mysterious employer to try to steal the Nabob, an exceptionally valuable diamond that Jeannette, alias Aménita (Perrette Pradier), the companion of a billionaire, wears as a locket. She covets the diamond and steals it from the safe. About to be caught in the act, she keeps it hidden in a handkerchief in her hand and manages to conceal it in Serge's pocket during the hotel ball. When she rejoins the billionaire, he asks her to open her hand, but the diamond is gone. The result is a chase full of misunderstandings and twists and turns between the three protagonists.
Sleeping Partners
Theatre Play (1 ep.)
event1930
top_panel_open
A neglected wife spends the night with a roué after drinking a sleeping draught.
La jalousie
Screenplay (1 ep.)
event1976
top_panel_open
Returning late from a romantic date, a man searches for every possible and unimaginable excuse to explain his lateness to his wife. His guilt turns on him when he finds out she's not home. The character created by Sasha Guitry in 1915, eaten away by jealousy, then imagines all her adventures.
Edgar Degas Filmed Walking Down a Paris Street
Director (1 ep.)
event1915
top_panel_open
Unique film of the Impressionist painter Edgar Degas captured walking down a street in Paris in 1915.
Oscar rencontre mademoiselle Manageot
Director (1 ep.)
event1918 star_border 5
top_panel_open
A young man tries to woo a married woman.
Black and White
Theatre Play (1 ep.)
event1931 star_border 6
top_panel_open
A one-night stand with an entertainer threatens to destroy a woman's marriage after she gives birth to a black child.
The Lover of Camille
Novel (1 ep.)
event1924
top_panel_open
The Lover of Camille was a 1924 American silent romantic drama film directed by Harry Beaumont, and starring Monte Blue. The film was based on the French novel Deburau by Sacha Guitry, which was also adapted into a Broadway play by Harley Granville-Barker.
Paris Nineteen Hundred
Consulting Producer (1 ep.)
event1948 star_border 5.3
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Nicole Védrès' chronicle of Paris from 1900 to 1914 is brought to life through the use of original material, all authentic, secured from more then 700 films belonging to public and private collections. A few of the celebrities of the time shown are Enrico Caruso, Sarah Bernhardt, and Maurice Chevalier.
At Theatre Tonight
Theatre Play (1 ep.)
event1966 star_border 7.5
top_panel_open
At Theater tonight is a TV show broadcasted from 25th August 1966 to 21st September 1985. The show is broadcast plays recorded in two or three days, during public performances at the Théâtre Marigny on the Champs-Élysées, or sometimes Edouard VII theater.
Ooh La La!
Theatre Play (2 ep.)
event1968
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Series based on the short French farces written by Georges Feydeau, Eugène Labiche, Marc Michel and Sacha Guitry. All of them include mistaken identities and impeccable timing.
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