Marcel Herrand

He is also memorable as the faithless policeman Corentin, who swears to ruin the Marquis de Montauran (Jean Marais), the scheming Don Salluste, who swears to ruin Ruy Blas (Jean Marais again!) and the Queen of Spain in Ruy Blas (1948) and the infamous killer Larsan in Le mystère de la chambre jaune (1949), in one of his rare leading roles.

He's responsible for launching the stage career of María Casares, whom he noted at Béatrix Dussane's acting classes because of the great passion she used to inject into her acting. She consequently hired her for a stage production of 'Deirdre of the Sorrows' and made her his muse. They also worked together in one film, Marcel Carné's masterpiece, Children of Paradise (1945). Despite his open homosexuality, there were rumors about Marcel falling in love with María.

As far as movies are concerned, Marcel Herrand made only twenty-six films (and only two during the nineteen thirties) but he was chosen by the best director of his time, Marcel Carné, for whom he appeared in two masterpieces, Les Visiteurs du Soir (1942) and the immortal Children of Paradise (1945), in which he was particularly impressive as Lacenaire, the dandy killer in revolt against the society in the time of King Louis-Philippe. And even if all the directors he worked with were not on par with Carné, Marcel Herrand mainly played in good quality films, most often in the role of the villain, but not any villain, the high-class scene-stealing villain, with exquisite manners but all the more dangerous for that.

He appeared in 3 movies with Jean Marais: Le pavillon brûle (1941), Les chouans (1947) and Ruy Blas (1948). Both Herrand and Marais played the role of Fantômas on the screen.

Lifetime companion of Jean Marchat. Together, they founded their own theatre company, 'Le rideau gris' (the grey curtain). In 1939, they were put in charge of directing the 'Théâtre des Mathurins' by Georges Pitoëff and Ludmilla Pitoëff, who were the owners of the theatre. They carried on their job very successfully for many years.

Treading the boards since 1920, Marcel Herrand lent his natural elegance and his exceptional presence to plays by major playwrights such as Jules Romains, Oscar Wilde, Arthur Schnitzler, John Ford or Albert Camus, under the direction of such geniuses as Jacques Copeau, Charles Dullin, or Georges Pitoëff. Not content to act, he also staged plays by 'Federico Garcia Lorca', Henrik Ibsen, Julien Gracq and many others, for which he was rightly acclaimed.

Accomplished stage actor and director. Having been lured to theatre since his childhood, he first tread the boards in 1917 at the Maubel theatre in the play 'Les Mamelles de Tirésias'. He later attended the acting courses of Jacques Copeau (as well as working on the stage under his direction) before Georges Pitoëff and Ludmilla Pitoëff would offer him to join their theatre company.