# Jacques Dumesnil

Jacques Dumesnil (born Marie Émile Eugène André Joly; 9 November 1903 – 8 May 1998) was a French film and television actor.

## Early life

Jacques Dumesnil was born as Marie Émile Eugène André Joly on 9 November 1903, in Paris, France. Before becoming an actor, he received training as a mechanical engineer. After starting as a secretary at the aviation school, he became an industrial designer, a profession he left to devote himself to the theater.

## Career

He adopted the pseudonym Dumesnil because of the admiration he had to French actor Camille Dumény.
He started out as a fanciful singer in a café located in Paris Place de l'Hôtel de Ville, he was paid in sandwiches and glasses of beer.
Dumesnil started on stage in 1927 and divided his career between theater and cinema. Having spent two years at the Comédie-Française, he played among other things in Les Tontons flingueurs and provided the French voice of Charlie Chaplin in Monsieur Verdoux (1947) and A King in New York (1957).
His role as Duke of Plessis-Vaudreuil in the television series Au plaisir de Dieu, earned him a resurgence of popularity and the 7 d'Or for best actor.

## Personal life

Jacques Dumesnil had a son, Pierre Joly dit Dumesnil, who was a French swimming champion and participated in the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland.

## Death

Dumesnil died on 8 May 1998 in Bron, Rhône. He was buried three days later in the Miribel Cemetery in Miribel, Ain, the town where his sister Odette Joly had been a teacher and where he had chosen to study. install at the end of its life. Since then, a rue de Miribel has also been called “rue Jacques-Dumesnil”.

## Filmography

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1932 | Mon amant l'assassin [fr] | Bondizi | |
| 1932 | Danton | Fabre d'Églantine | |
| 1933 | Rivaux de la piste [fr] | Banz | |
| 1933 | The Ironmaster | Le duc Gaston de Bligny | |
| 1934 | Beauty of the Night | Jean Fournier | |
| 1934 | Gold | Malescot | French-language version |
| 1934 | Three Sailors | Stephen Warren | |
| 1934 | Le Roi des Champs-Élysées | Un gangster | |
| 1935 | Un homme de trop à bord | Clay | |
| 1935 | Lucrezia Borgia | Giannino Sforza, Duke of Milano | |
| 1936 | Bach the Detective | Stefani | |
| 1937 | Wells in Flames | Garcia | |
| 1937 | The Heart Disposes | Le baron Houzier | |
| 1938 | Rail Pirates | André Rolland | |
| 1938 | Women's Prison | L'avocat | |
| 1938 | Return at Dawn | Dick Farmer aka 'Keith' | |
| 1939 | Behind the Facade | Albert Durant, le jouer de poker | |
| 1939 | Yamilé sous les cèdres | Osman Hel Hussein | |
| 1940 | The Man from Niger | Le lieutenant Jacques Parent | |
| 1940 | L'Empreinte du dieu | Gomar | |
| 1942 | Bolero | Georges | |
| 1942 | Chiffon's Wedding | Max de Bray | |
| 1942 | Twisted Mistress | Guy Carbonnel | |
| 1943 | White Wings | Gérard Clairval | |
| 1943 | Secrets | Pierre | |
| 1943 | Malaria | Jean Barral | |
| 1943 | Pierre and Jean | Le docteur Henri Marchat | |
| 1944 | Sowing the Wind | Le sculpteur Bruno Horp | |
| 1944 | Le bal des passants | Claude Amadieu | |
| 1944 | Night Shift | Pierre Jansen | |
| 1945 | The Great Pack | Côme de Lambrefaut | |
| 1945 | Father Serge | Le prince Stéphane | |
| 1946 | Women's Games | Stanislas | |
| 1947 | Rumours | Jean | |
| 1947 | La dernière chevauchée | André Valérian | |
| 1947 | Les trafiquants de la mer | L'inspecteur principal Gardy | |
| 1949 | 56 Rue Pigalle | Jean Vigneron | |
| 1949 | The Farm of Seven Sins | Paul-Louis Courier | |
| 1950 | Julie de Carneilhan | Léon de Carneilhan | |
| 1951 | Anna | Il professor Ferri | |
| 1954 | Ulysses | Alicinous | |
| 1954 | The Count of Bragelonne | d'Artagnan | |
| 1955 | Napoleon | Le maréchal Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte | |
| 1956 | If Paris Were Told to Us | Richelieu | |
| 1956 | Plucking the Daisy | General Dumont | |
| 1956 | Mitsou ou Comment l'esprit vient aux filles | Eugène | |
| 1957 | The Seventh Commandment | Gilbert Odet | |
| 1958 | Life Together | Le professeur Henri Girane | |
| 1958 | La p... sentimentale | Pierre Berger | |
| 1960 | La tricheuse | Le docteur Armand Merville | |
| 1961 | Famous Love Affairs | Maître Hans - le bourreau | (segment "Agnès Bernauer") |
| 1961 | ¿Pena de muerte? | Padre de Pablo | |
| 1962 | First Criminal Brigade | Commissar Masson | |
| 1962 | Dossier 1413 | Docteur Pira | |
| 1962 | La planque | Garnier - le directeur | |
| 1963 | Les Tontons flingueurs | Louis le Mexicain | |
| 1964 | Que personne ne sorte | Le directeur de la police | |