Henri Verneuil

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Henri Verneuil
File:Henri Verneuil.jpg
Born Ashot Malakian
(1920-10-15)15 October 1920
Rodosto, Ottoman Turkey
Died Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist.
Bagnolet, Seine-Saint-Denis
Occupation Director
Years active 1940s – 2000s
Spouse(s) Françoise Bonnot, Veronique
Children Patric, Sophie, Sevan, Gayane
Awards Cannes Film Festival, Golden Palm

1964 Cent mille dollars au soleil
Oscar Award (Nominated)

1956 Le Mouton à cinq pattes
César Awards 1996
Golden Globe Award
1961 Mélodie en sous-sol (1961)

Henri Verneuil, born Ashot Malakian (15 October 1920 - 11 January 2002), was a French-Armenian playwright and filmmaker, who made a successful career in France. He was nominated for Oscar and Palme d'Or awards, and won Locarno International Film Festival, Edgar Allan Poe Awards, French Legion of Honor, Golden Globe Award, French National Academy of Cinema and Honorary Cesar awards.

Life and career

Verneuil was born Ashot Malakian (Armenian: Աշոտ Մալաքեան) to Armenian parents in Rodosto, East Thrace, Turkey.[1] In 1924, when Ashot was a little child his family fled to Marseille in France,[2] to escape persecution after the Armenian Genocide.[1][3] He later recounted his childhood experience in the novel Mayrig, which he dedicated to his mother and made into a 1991 film with the same name, which was followed by a sequel, 588 Rue Paradis, the following year.[4] Verneuil entered the Ecole Nationale d'Arts et Metiers in Aix-en-Provence in 1942. After graduation, he worked as a journalist, then became editor of Horizon Armenian magazine.

In 1947, Verneuil managed to convince the established European film actor Fernandel to appear in his first film.[5] Later he also directed other movie stars including Jean Gabin, Yves Montand, Alain Delon, Lino Ventura (all together acting for him in "Le clan des siciliens" in 1969[6]), Jean-Paul Belmondo ("Le Corps de mon ennemi" in 1976[7] and other films), Omar Sharif, Claudia Cardinale (Mayrig)[8] and Michèle Morgan. Verneuil has filmed almost all the great figures of French cinema, with the exception of Bourvil, as even Louis de Funes has a small role in one of his films.

After the American experience (he was called the "most American of French directors"), in 1969 Verneuil "found" France. He was awarded a César[9] in 1996 and he was elected a member of the Academy of Fine Arts in 2000. He died at Bagnolet, a suburb of Paris, in 2002.

The opening of the seventh annual Golden Apricot International Film Festival in Yerevan paid tribute to Verneuil. His son, television director Patrick Malakian, who reclaimed the name of his historical ancestors, received the posthumous award, the Parajanov’s Thaler, for his father’s contribution to cinema.

Filmography

References

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External links