1. Charles-Marie Vanel was a French actor and director.
24 Facts About Charles Vanel
1. 2.
Charles Vanel is perhaps best remembered for his role as a desperate truck driver in Clouzot's The Wages of Fear for which he received a Special Mention at the Cannes Film Festival in 1953.
3.
Charles Vanel came from a seafaring family and his parents were traders who moved to Paris when he was twelve years old.
4.
Charles Vanel was expelled from all the schools he attended.
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Charles Vanel tried to enlist in the navy, but was rejected due to his poor eyesight.
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Charles Vanel was mobilized for the First World War in July 1915, but was diagnosed in September with "mental disorders" and sent home.
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Charles Vanel became a member of the Firmin Gemier theatre company at the Theatre Antoine, before devoting himself exclusively to cinema.
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Charles Vanel began a successful career as an actor, appearing in numerous silent films in the 1910s and 1920s, particularly in the roles of gruff and bitter characters.
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Charles Vanel considered his "real" film debut to be in Robert Boudrioz's Tillers of the Soil, which was produced by Abel Gance in 1919 but held up for release.
10.
Charles Vanel appeared in Alexandre Volkoff's 10-part serial film The House of Mystery which pleased audiences and critics.
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Charles Vanel appeared in six films directed by Jacques de Baroncelli, including Pecheur d'Islande, based on the novel by Pierre Loti, which was one of the most popular French films of the decade and showed Vanel's greater range and depth.
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Charles Vanel appeared as a barkeeper in Le Grand Jeu directed by Jacques Feyder and as an airman in Anatole Litvak's L'Equipage.
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Charles Vanel appeared with Fernandel in The Marvelous Night directed by Jean-Paul Paulin.
14.
Charles Vanel explained that his support for Marshal Petain was because of his memories as a veteran of the First World War.
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Charles Vanel won an award for best actor at the Cannes Film Festival.
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Charles Vanel was again directed by Clouzot two years later in Les Diaboliques and in The Truth.
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Charles Vanel appeared as a prosecutor in L'Affaire Maurizius by Julien Duvivier and in Sacha Guitry's Royal Affairs in Versailles.
18.
Charles Vanel won best actor at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival for L'Affaire Maurizius.
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Charles Vanel was Best Actor at the 1957 San Sebastian International Film Festival for Le feu aux poudres.
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Charles Vanel remained very active during this decade, in particular in the role of a judge in The Most Wonderful Evening of My Life directed by Ettore Scola.
21.
Charles Vanel received a nomination for Best Actor at the Cesar Awards for Sept morts sur ordonnance in 1975 and in 1979, he received an honorary Cesar Award for his career.
22.
Charles Vanel directed his only feature film in 1929, Dans la nuit.
23.
Charles Vanel retired to Mouans-Sartoux in Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur, near Cannes, where he lived with Arlette Bailly, his third wife, 36 years his junior.
24.
Charles Vanel was hospitalized in Cannes on the night of Friday, 14 April 1989 and died in the early hours of the morning the following day.