# Daniel Gélin

Daniel Yves Alfred Gélin (19 May 1921 – 29 November 2002) was a French film and television actor.

## Early life

Gélin was born in Angers, Maine-et-Loire, the son of Yvonne (née Le Méner) and Alfred Ernest Joseph Gélin.
When he was ten, his family moved to Saint-Malo where Daniel went to college until he was expelled for 'uncouthness'. His father then found him a job in a shop that sold cans of salted cod. It was seeing the shooting of Marc Allégret's film Entrée des artistes that triggered his desire to go to Paris to train to be an actor. He trained at the Cours Simon in Paris before entering the Conservatoire national supérieur d'art dramatique . There he met Louis Jouvet and embarked on a theatrical career. He made his first film appearance in 1940 in Miquette and for several years was an extra or played small roles in French films. He appeared with Jean Gabin and Marlene Dietrich in Martin Roumagnac (1946).

## Career

He won his first leading role in Rendez-vous de juillet (1949). From that time, he went on to appear in more than 150 films, including Max Ophüls' films La Ronde (1950) and Le Plaisir (1952), Jacques Becker's Édouard et Caroline (1951), Sacha Guitry's films Si Versailles m'était conté (Royal Affairs in Versailles) (1954) and Napoléon (1955), Alfred Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956), Jean Cocteau's Le Testament d'Orphée (1960), Le souffle au cœur (Murmur of the Heart) (1971), and La Nuit de Varennes (That Night in Varennes) (1982). He also wrote and directed one film, The Long Teeth, in 1952.
Gélin was a leading man in French cinema during the 1950s, but his career declined with the coming of the New Wave. He worked in theater for several years, but later found new success on screen as a character actor. He appeared extensively in French films and television productions from the 1970s until his death, often playing cynical characters or grumpy old men.

## Personal life

In 1946, Gélin married actress Danièle Delorme with whom he had a son, actor, director and producer Xavier Gélin. They divorced in 1954. While still married to Delorme, he had an affair with 17-year-old model Marie Christine Schneider that produced a daughter, Maria Schneider. Due to his status as a married man, Gélin could not recognize Maria as his daughter. He visited the child several times but eventually severed his relationship with her mother. Maria Schneider and Daniel Gélin reconnected when she was sixteen and came to visit him. They remained in contact, although their relationship was irregular.
Gélin was married to model Sylvie Hirsch from 1954 until their divorce in 1968. This marriage produced three children: Pascal (who died aged one year), Fiona, and Manuel, the latter two also becoming actors. In 1973, he married Lydie Zaks, with whom he had a daughter, Laura.

## Death

Gélin died in Paris on 29 November 2002 of kidney failure.

## Filmography

| Year | Title | Role | Director | Notes |
| 1940 | Miquette | | Jean Boyer | |
| 1940 | Radio Surprises | | Marcel Aboulker | Uncredited |
| 1941 | Premier rendez-vous | Monsieur Chauveau-Laplace | Henri Decoin | Uncredited |
| 1942 | The Strangers in the House | | Henri Decoin | Uncredited |
| 1942 | Soyez les bienvenus | | Jacques de Baroncelli | |
| 1942 | The Murderer Lives at Number 21 | Policeman | Henri-Georges Clouzot | Uncredited |
| 1943 | Lucrèce | Un collégien | Léo Joannon | |
| 1944 | Les Petites du quai aux fleurs | | Marc Allégret | Uncredited |
| 1945 | Les Cadets de l'océan | Philippe Dermantes | Jean Dréville | |
| 1946 | The Temptation of Barbizon | Michel | Jean Stelli | |
| 1946 | A Friend Will Come Tonight | Pierre Ribault | Raymond Bernard | |
| 1946 | Martin Roumagnac | Le surveillant du collège – épris de Blanche | Georges Lacombe | |
| 1946 | Ouvert pour cause d'inventaire | | Alain Resnais | |
| 1947 | Sybille's Night | Stany | Jean-Paul Paulin | |
| 1947 | Mirror | Charles Lussac | Raymond Lamy | |
| 1947 | The Woman in Red | Saladin | Louis Cuny | |
| 1948 | The Murdered Model | Léopold | Pierre de Hérain | |
| 1949 | Le Paradis des pilotes perdus | Lieutenant Villeneuve | Georges Lampin | |
| 1949 | Rendezvous in July | Lucien Bonnard | Jacques Becker | |
| 1950 | La Ronde | Alfred | Max Ophüls | |
| 1950 | God Needs Men | Joseph Le Berre | Jean Delannoy | |
| 1951 | Edward and Caroline | Édouard Mortier | Jacques Becker | |
| 1951 | Dirty Hands | Hugo Barine | Fernand Rivers, Simone Berriau | |
| 1951 | Young Love | Jean Bompart | Guy Lefranc | |
| 1951 | Traité de bave et d'éternité | Himself | Isidore Isou | |
| 1952 | Le Plaisir | Jean, the young painter | Max Ophüls | (segment "Le Modèle") |
| 1952 | Adorables Créatures | André Noblet | Christian-Jaque | |
| 1952 | La Minute de vérité | Daniel Prévost | Jean Delannoy | |
| 1953 | The Long Teeth | Louis Commandeur | Himself | |
| 1953 | Rue de l'Estrapade | Robert | Jacques Becker | |
| 1953 | Voice of Silence | Andrea Sanna / L'ancien prisonnier | Georg Wilhelm Pabst | |
| 1953 | The Slave | Michel Landa | Yves Ciampi | |
| 1954 | Royal Affairs in Versailles | Jean Collinet | Sacha Guitry | |
| 1954 | Stain in the Snow | Frank Friedmayer | Luis Saslavsky | |
| 1954 | Public Opinion | Paolo Jaier | Maurizio Corgnati and Goffredo Alessandrini | |
| 1954 | Love in a Hot Climate | Ricardo Garcia | Georges Rouquier and Munoz Suay | |
| 1954 | On Trial (L'affaire Maurizius) | Léonard Maurizius | Julien Duvivier | |
| 1954 | The Cheerful Squadron | Il soldato Frédéric d'Héricourt | Paolo Moffa | |
| 1954 | Woman of Rome | Mino | Luigi Zampa | |
| 1955 | The Lovers of Lisbon | Pierre Roubier | Henri Verneuil | |
| 1955 | Napoléon | Napoleon (as a young man) | Sacha Guitry | |
| 1956 | Maid in Paris | Antoine du Merlet | Pierre Gaspard-Huit | |
| 1956 | The Man Who Knew Too Much | Louis Bernard | Alfred Hitchcock | |
| 1956 | Plucking the Daisy | Daniel Roy | Marc Allégret | |
| 1956 | Bonsoir Paris, bonjour l'amour [fr] | Georges Bernier | Ralph Baum | |
| 1956 | I'll Get Back to Kandara | Bernard Cormière | Victor Vicas | |
| 1957 | Fugitive in Saigon | Paul Horcier | Marcel Camus | |
| 1957 | Three Days to Live | Simon Belin | Gilles Grangier | |
| 1957 | Retour de manivelle | Robert Montillon | Denys de La Patellière | |
| 1957 | Charming Boys | Alain Cartier | Henri Decoin | |
| 1958 | The Daughter of Hamburg | Pierre | Yves Allégret | |
| 1958 | Suivez-moi jeune homme | Michel Corbier | Guy Lefranc | |
| 1959 | Ce corps tant désiré | Guillaume Féraud | Luis Saslavsky | |
| 1959 | Julie the Redhead | Édouard Lavigne / Jean Lavigne | Claude Boissol | |
| 1960 | Carthage in Flames | Phégor | Carmine Gallone | |
| 1960 | Testament of Orpheus | L'interne / The intern | Jean Cocteau | Uncredited |
| 1960 | Le tre eccetera del colonnello | Lieutenant Villard | Claude Boissol | |
| 1961 | Prey for the Shadows | Eric Kraemmer | Alexandre Astruc | |
| 1961 | La Morte-Saison des amours | Jacques Saint-Ford | Pierre Kast | |
| 1961 | Dans la gueule du loup | Un drogué | Jean-Charles Dudrumet | |
| 1961 | Reveille-toi chérie | Masure | Claude Magnier [fr] | |
| 1962 | Girl on the Road | Le comédien | Jacqueline Audry | |
| 1962 | The Longest Day | Minor Role | Ken Annakin | (French Version) (scenes deleted) |
| 1963 | Règlements de compte | Nicky | Pierre Chevalier | |
| 1963 | Portuguese Vacation | Daniel | Pierre Kast | |
| 1963 | Three Girls in Paris | Raymond | Gabriel Axel | |
| 1964 | La Bonne Soupe | Raymond | Robert Thomas | |
| 1964 | Cherchez l'idole | Un invité au spectacle de Sylvie Vartan | Michel Boisrond | Uncredited |
| 1965 | The Sleeping Car Murders | the veterinary | Constantin Costa-Gavras | |
| 1965 | The Hour of Truth [fr] | David | Henri Calef | |
| 1965 | The Sleeping Car Murders | Le vétérinaire | Costa-Gavras | Uncredited |
| 1966 | Witness Out of Hell [de] | Bora Petrović | Žika Mitrović | |
| 1966 | Zwei Girls vom Roten Stern [de] | Ballard | Sammy Drechsel | |
| 1966 | The Sultans | Léo | Jean Delannoy | |
| 1966 | Line of Demarcation | Doctor Jacques Lafaye | Claude Chabrol | |
| 1966 | Living It Up | Bernard | Pierre Gaspard-Huit | |
| 1966 | Is Paris Burning? | Yves Bayet | René Clément | |
| 1966 | Black Sun | Guy Rodier | Denys de La Patellière | |
| 1968 | La Trêve | Arno | Claude Guillemot | |
| 1968 | The Most Beautiful Month | Le capitaine du Génie | Guy Blanc | |
| 1969 | Slogan | Evelyne's father | Pierre Grimblat | |
| 1969 | Hallucinations sadiques | Charles | Jean-Pierre Bastid | |
| 1969 | Détruire, dit-elle | Bernard Alione | Marguerite Duras | |
| 1970 | La servante | Dr. Robert Marbois | Jacques-Paul Bertrand | |
| 1971 | Murmur of the Heart | Charles Chevalier | Louis Malle | |
| 1971 | Swedish Fly Girls | André | Jack O'Connell | |
| 1972 | Aimez-vous les uns les autres... mais pas trop | Paul Roccard | Daniel Moosmann | |
| 1972 | Far from Dallas | Jean | Philippe Toledano | |
| 1973 | The Police Serve the Citizens? | Brera | Romolo Guerrieri | |
| 1974 | Un linceul n'a pas de poches | Laurence | Jean-Pierre Mocky | |
| 1974 | Ariane | Le comédien | Pierre-Jean de San Bartolomé | |
| 1975 | Dialogues of Exiles | - | Raoul Ruiz | |
| 1975 | Trop c'est trop | Un flic | Didier Kaminka | |
| 1977 | Nous irons tous au paradis | Bastien | Yves Robert | |
| 1977 | Urgent ou À quoi bon exécuter des projets puisque le projet est en lui-même une jouissance suffisante | Himself | | |
| 1978 | L'honorable société | Max de Marcilly | Anielle Weinberger | |
| 1978 | The Suspended Vocation | Malagrida | Raoul Ruiz | |
| 1979 | Qu'il est joli garçon l'assassin de papa | Don Gomez | Michel Caputo | |
| 1980 | L'oeil du maître | Samuel | Stéphane Kurc | |
| 1981 | Signé Furax | Broutechoux | Marc Simenon | |
| 1981 | Peacetime in Paris | Gérard Courant | Predrag Golubovic | |
| 1982 | Guy de Maupassant | Gustave | Michel Drach | |
| 1982 | That Night in Varennes | Monsieur de Wendel | Ettore Scola | |
| 1985 | Les Enfants | Enrico | Marguerite Duras | |
| 1986 | Killing Cars [de] | Kellermann | Michael Verhoeven | |
| 1987 | Via Monte Napoleone | Elena's father | Carlo Vanzina | |
| 1987 | Sécurité publique | Martino Morando | Gabriel Benattar | |
| 1988 | Dandin | Monsieur de Sotenville | Roger Planchon | |
| 1988 | Life Is a Long Quiet River | Le docteur Mavial | Étienne Chatiliez | |
| 1988 | Itinéraire d'un enfant gâté | Pierrot Duvivier | Claude Lelouch | |
| 1990 | Mister Frost | Simon Scolari | Philippe Setbon | |
| 1990 | Promotion canapé | Le responsable des Inspecteurs Justice | Didier Kaminka | |
| 1991 | Mauvaise Fille | Fernand | Régis Franc | |
| 1991 | Les secrets professionnels du Dr Apfelglück | Roland Grumaud | Alessandro Capone | |
| 1991 | Un type bien | Docteur Avril | Laurent Bénégui | |
| 1992 | Les Eaux dormantes | Le docteur Nedelec | Jacques Tréfouel | |
| 1993 | Coup de jeune | Gaudeamus à 70 ans | Xavier Gélin | |
| 1993 | De force avec d'autres | L'autre lui-même | Simon Reggiani | |
| 1993 | Roulez jeunesse ! | Jean Moulinier | Jacques Fansten | |
| 1993 | Les Marmottes | Léo | Élie Chouraqui | |
| 1993 | Les Ténors | Maître Léon Montlucet | Francis de Gueltzl | |
| 1994 | Des feux mal éteints | Le monsieur de la plage | Serge Moati | |
| 1994 | La Cité de la peur | Monsieur Mireille | Alain Berbérian | |
| 1994 | Pushing the Limits | Himself | Thierry Donard | |
| 1995 | Fugueuses | Bruno | Nadine Trintignant | |
| 1996 | Fantôme avec chauffeur | Le passeur | Gérard Oury | |
| 1996 | Les Bidochon | Le père Bidochon | Serge Korber | |
| 1996 | Hommes, femmes, mode d'emploi | the widower | Claude Lelouch | |
| 1997 | Obsession | Xavier Fabre | Peter Sehr | |