Great actors, glittering stars and acting influencers may have been many in these hundred-plus years of cinema’s dominance, but iconic actors who combine all of the above are few and far between. .

If the Americans had him Humphrey Bogard and the Marlon Brando, the Englishmen Laurence Olivier and Alec Guinness and the Italians Vittorio Gusman and Marcello Mastroianni, the French had to show off Jean Gabin. One could say them too Jean Paul Belmondo and Alain Delonbut they simply picked up the heavy legacy Gabin left them, never reaching his level.

THE Jean Gabin, with his characteristic melancholic and determined blue eyes, the actor is a symbol for the French, but also for all cinema lovers, although he will start from the bottom, he will erase an incredible path in the cinema, having a gigantic filmography that few can compete with . Working with the most important directors of his time, he will leave behind a great work, which even today moves and forms the basis for many later special and special actors, even for those who have not yet set foot on the board or on the sets.

Celebrating the 120th anniversary of his birth (May 17, 1904), we will remember the first steps of his life, the start of his exciting artistic career, his acclaim, his masterful performances and all that made him a symbol of a country and of cinema.

From Moulin Rouge to the cinema

THE Jean Alexis Montcorgetas his real name was, was born on its outskirts Paris and at the turn of the 20th century, while he quickly adopted the stage name of his father, who performed in cafes. He left school early, working as a laborer until the age of 19, when he entered the stage, in a production of the Folies Bergères. He continued to appear in small regional entertainment venues, until he joined the Moulin Rouge. There his talent began to be recognized and he accepted proposals for something better, participating in two silent films in 1928.

Jean Gabin

The meeting with Divier

From 1930, the space will be opened for him and imitating him Maurice Chevalierwould act for the next four years in many talkies, but his meeting in 1934 with the most important director Julien Divier, will change his course and his life. Divivier, today almost forgotten, but of the top three or four directors of French cinema, will give him the opportunity to acquire his own performance characteristics, to make him a romantic indala with the masterpiece films “La Belle Équipe” and the even today famous “Pepe Le Moco”. French cinephiles will put aside the sweet and light Chevalier, to establish themselves on the podium of the top, Jean Gabin. In his beautiful face, marginals, proletarians, popular heroes and “anti-heroes” had found their ideal expression. Gabin, with his suggestive appearance, will come to symbolize a forgotten world, which had been exiled from the proper cinema of the time.

The Great Chimera

In 1937 he will also star in the masterpiece anti-war drama by the great Jean Renoir “The Great Chimera”, a film that rightly ranks among the greatest productions of all time, which also had a huge impact in New York, where it ran for six months. The following year he will make, again with Renoir, the unrivaled film noir “The Human Beast”, delivering a role acting lesson. Immediately after, he will start his collaboration with Marcel Carnetin the film “Le Quai Des Brumes”, while proposals from Hollywood poured in, with Gabin rejecting them without hesitation.

From Hollywood to the front lines

During the first period of the German occupation in France, he will make the decision to travel to Hollywood, following Renoir and Divier, but without his films having any particular success. But he will be a huge hit with women, maintaining a fiery romance with the diva Marlene Diedrich and while he is already separated from his second wife. Although wanted, without a second thought, he will go to fight with General de Gaulle’s Free French Forces, from where he will leave with the Military Medal and the Military Cross, for his bravery in the battles of North Africa. After D-Day, Gabin served with the 2nd Armored Division that liberated Paris.

In love with Marlene

After World War II, the world and art had begun to change, but Gabin, a man with passions, wanted to make his dream come true, to make a film with Diedrich. Carnet proposed a film, but Diedrich did not like the script, citing as an excuse that her German ancestry would be an obstacle to the film’s success. Finally, the legendary couple will make a movie, the emotional drama “Before the Jury”, a forgettable film, as director Georges Lacombe turned out to be substandard, but the two will be excellent, especially the lovesick Gabin. Their tempestuous relationship will come to an inglorious end as Diedrich kicks into high gear while Gabin begins to fall apart.

The second circle

This is of course relevant, because the films he made with her Michelle Morgan and Daniel Darier “When Fate Protects”, “The Man I Loved”, respectively, you don’t call them indifferent – on the contrary, with the passage of time they acquired a delightful charm. In 1954, however, he will make his big comeback, with the thriller “Let Society Judge Me”by Jean Becker, where the now middle-aged Gabin, having next to him Lino Ventura and Jeanne Moreau, he will manage to show that a second great cycle is opening in his career. Leaving behind him the fringes and the despised heroes and anti-heroes, he will transform into a dominant protagonist, a heavy and sullen actor, who conveyed an invisible humanity, a depth of thought and concern for his neighbor. With a discreet smirk, a look, a movement, he managed, as few could, to give a way out, to warm the hearts of the spectators.

Giannis Agiannis, Megre and the Gang

THE Jean Gabin, he had again turned as a leader of French cinema. He will meet again with Divivier in the wonderful noir “Voici le Temps des Assassins»entered with absolute conviction the coat of Inspector Megre, in three police films, while he will be the forever unsurpassed Yiannis Ayiannis in “Wretches” which the lucky guy returned in 1958 Jean Paul Le Chanois.

Over the next thirty years he would make several more films, embracing the new generation of directors and even the new wave. It will enter in front of station films for the world cinema, as in the famous films “Sicilian Gang” by Henri Verneig, “Two Men in the Same Town” by Giovanni, “The Forger» by Gilles Granger. In 1963, together with his friend Fernandel they will create their own production company Gafer Films,

Fire and sea

Despite serious health problems, he will continue to work knowing that French cinema has entered other roads. On November 15, 1976, cold Paris will freeze with the announcement of his death, from a heart attack. All France will mourn him, while his body was cremated with military honors and his ashes scattered at sea—to travel forever his unassuming ruggedness, his heavy sturdy frame, his blue gaze…