Background
BARRAULT, Jean-Louis was born on September 8, 1910 in Vesinet. Son of Jules Barrault and Marcelle Helene Vallette.
BARRAULT, Jean-Louis was born on September 8, 1910 in Vesinet. Son of Jules Barrault and Marcelle Helene Vallette.
Jean-Louis Barrault studied with Charles Dullin in whose troupe he acted from 1933 to 1935. At 25 years of age, he met and studied with the mime Étienne Decroux (who played Baptiste"s father in the Carné film).
Les beaux jours, Helene 1936, Mademoiselle Docteur, Drole de drame, Un grand amour de Beethoven, Le puritain 1937, L’or dans la montagne 1939, Louisiana symphonie fantastique 1942, Les enfants du paradis 1944, Le cocu magnifique 1946, Louisiana ronde 1950, Versailles 1955, That Night at Varennes 1982; Director Odeon Theatre de France 1959-1968, Theatre des Nations 1965-1967, 1972-1974.Over his career, he acted in nearly 50 movies including Les beaux jours, Jenny, L"Or dans la Montagne and Sous les Yeux d"occident. They founded a number of theatres together and toured extensively, including in South America. He was the uncle of actress Marie-Christine Barrault and sometime sponsor of Peter Brook.
He died from a heart attack in Paris at the age of 83.
Jean-Louis Barrault, Reflections on the Theatre:
"In fact it is the simplest things that are the most tricky to do well. To read, for example.
To be able to read exactly what is written without omitting anything that is written and at the same time without adding anything of one"s own. To be able to capture the exact context of the words one is reading.
To be able to read!"
Barrault from Melinda Camber Porter"s Through Parisian Eyes: Reflections on Contemporary French Arts and Culture: "When I wake up in the morning I want to feel hungry for life.
Desire is what drives medical When I go to sleep, I feel I have experienced a small death, so that I can wake up in the morning renewed and reborn.".
From 1940 to 1946 Barrault was a member of the Comédie-Française, where he directed productions of Paul Claudel"s Le Soulier de satin and Jean Racine"s Phèdre, two plays that made his reputation.
Married Madeleine Renaud in 1940.