Henri Verneuil

A filmmaker of Armenian origin, he was born Achod Malakian in the former Ottoman Empire in 1920, and at the age of four he arrived with his family in Marseilles, fleeing the infamous genocide perpetrated by the Turks. Such an experience would inspire his novel “Mayrig”, from 1991, which would lead to two films, his last work behind the camera.

He studied decorative arts in Aix-en-Provence, and practiced journalism in the press and on the radio. The name with which he signed his articles, Henri Verneuil, was inspired by a tourist poster in the city of Verneuil. The cinema attracted him, and the comedian Fernandel would give him his great opportunity, after seeing him develop as an assistant director and in short films, with him he made La table aux crevés (1951), the first of six titles, including Le Mouton à cinq pattes , whose argument was nominated for an Oscar, and The Cow and the Prisoner (1959), which gave him international recognition.

Many actors worked with Verneuil repeatedly, no doubt they were comfortable under him. Among the most notable are Françoise Arnoul – Les Amants du Tage (1955)–, Jean Gabin –it is ironic that their first film together was titled Des gens sans importance (1956), with how important that collaboration was for him, also with Arnoul, which was followed by the magnificent reflection on politics The President (1961), based on a text by Georges Simenon, or Great Play on the Côte d’Azur (1963), with Alain Delon – and Jean-Paul Belmondo – faced with Gabin in Un singe en hiver (1962) and The clan of the Sicilians(1969), he also made titles as popular as One Hundred Thousand Dollars in the Sun (1964). It was great commercial cinema, American-style but with a European touch, we could say.

And although the new batch of the “nouvelle vague” would see his as outdated cinema, he did not back down and continued working at a good pace, popularity was on his side, and he made two consecutive war films in English with Anthony Quinn , The Twenty-five hours (1967), and Los canones de San Sebastián (1968). In the 70s he would continue delivering interesting films to show off Belmondo and with a musical score by a great collaborator, Ennio Morricone , such as The Furor of Greed (1971) and Panic in the City .(1975). In allusion to Morricone, Verneuil assured that “I always thought that the musical support in a film was not very logical. The contribution of music to a scene bothers me, except when you’re with great musicians who get involved, and then you don’t even realize it.” Surely his last great film was I… as Icaro (1979), with Yves Montand , then his star began to fade.

Married twice, had four children. French cinema would finally give him the recognition he deserved by awarding him the César for his entire career in 1996.