1. Jean-Pierre Melville's works include the crime dramas Bob le flambeur, Le Doulos, Le Samourai, and Le Cercle Rouge, and the war films Le Silence de la mer and Army of Shadows.
20 Facts About Jean-Pierre Melville
1. 2.
Jean-Pierre Melville kept it as his stage name once the war was over.
3.
Jean-Pierre Melville Grumbach was born in 1917 in Paris, the son of Alsatian Jewish parents Berthe and Jules Grumbach.
4.
Jean-Pierre Melville's father was a rag merchant; the family lived in the ninth arrondissement of Paris.
5.
Jean-Pierre Melville adopted the nom de guerre 'Melville' after the American author Herman Melville, a favourite of his.
6.
Jean-Pierre Melville did not find out that his brother had been killed until the war ended.
7.
Jean-Pierre Melville served in the Free French Army for two years, mainly in the artillery.
8.
Jean-Pierre Melville became an independent filmmaker and owned his own studio, rue Jenner, in Paris 13eme.
9.
On 29 June 1967, the studio and Jean-Pierre Melville's apartment burnt down.
10.
Jean-Pierre Melville became well known for his minimalist film noir, such as Le Doulos, Le Samourai and Le Cercle rouge, starring major actors such as Alain Delon, Jean-Paul Belmondo and Lino Ventura.
11.
Jean-Pierre Melville displayed an interest in Eastern philosophies and martial traditions, as demonstrated in Le Samourai and Le Cercle rouge.
12.
Jean-Pierre Melville self-described his style to Andre S Labarthe as "nostalgic", while many commentators have noted its existentialist overtones.
13.
Jean-Pierre Melville ultimately became so identified with the style that The New Yorkers Anthony Lane wrote the following about a 2017 retrospective of his films:.
14.
Jean-Pierre Melville was married to his wife, Florence, from 1952 until his death.
15.
Jean-Pierre Melville worked as a producer on Two Men in Manhattan.
16.
Jean-Pierre Melville died on 2 August 1973 while dining with writer Philippe Labro at the Hotel PLM Saint-Jacques restaurant in Paris; the cause of death has been variously given as a heart attack or a ruptured aneurysm.
17.
Jean-Pierre Melville was 55 years old and was writing his next film, Contre-enquete, a spy thriller for producer Jacques-Eric Strauss with Yves Montand in the lead.
18.
Jean-Pierre Melville apparently wrote the first 200 shots for the film.
19.
When Godard was having difficulty editing the film, Jean-Pierre Melville suggested that he just cut directly to the best parts of a shot.
20.
Jean-Pierre Melville influenced the work of directors Michael Mann and John Woo.