Pierre Boulle

**Pierre François Marie Louis Boulle** (20 February 1912 – 30 January 1994) was a French writer. He was born in Avignon, France. Boulle wrote many novels and short stories in French. Two stories became popular English language movies: _Planet of the Apes_ and _The Bridge on the River Kwai_. Boulle won the award for Best Adapted Screenplay and BAFTA Award for Best British Screenplay for _The Bridge over the River Kwai_.  He is said to have given the shortest acceptance speech in Academy Award history, the single word, _"Merci"_, which means "Thank you".

Boulle served in the army in World War II.

Boulle died in Paris on 30 January 1994, at age 81.

## Novels

- _William Conrad_ (1950; tr. in 1955 as _Not the Glory_ by Xan Fielding; also issued as _Spy Converted_)
- _Le sacrilège malais_ (1951; tr. in 1959 as _Sacrilege in Malaya_ by Xan Fielding; also issued as _S.O.P.H.I.A._)
- _Le Pont de la rivière Kwaï_ (1952; tr. in 1954 as _The Bridge over the River Kwai_ by Xan Fielding)
- _Le Bourreau_ (1954; tr. in 1961 by Xan Fielding, US title: _The Executioner_, UK title: _The Chinese Executioner_)
- _L'épreuve des hommes blancs_ (1955; tr. in 1957 as _The Test_ by Xan Fielding; also issued as _White Man's Test_)
- _La face_ (1956; tr. in 1956 as _Saving Face_ by Xan Fielding; also issued as _Face of a Hero_)
- _Les voies du salut_ (1958; tr. in 1958 as _The Other Side of the Coin_ by Richard Howard)
- _Un métier de seigneur_ (1960; tr. in 1960 as _A Noble Profession_ by Xan Fielding; also issued as _For a Noble Cause_)
- _La planète des singes_ (1963; tr. in 1964 as _Monkey Planet_ by Xan Fielding; later issued as _Planet of the Apes_)
- _Le jardin de Kanashima_ (1964; tr. in 1965 as _Garden on the Moon_ by Xan Fielding)
- _Le Photographe_ (1967; tr. in 1967 by Xan Fielding, US title: _The Photographer_, UK title: _An Impartial Eye_)
- _Les Jeux de l'esprit_ (1971; tr. in 1973 as _Desperate Games_ by Patricia Wolf)
- _Les Oreilles de jungle_ (1972; tr. in 1972 as _Ears of the Jungle_ by Michael Dobry and Lynda Cole) - story of the Vietnam war told from the perspective of a North Vietnamese commander
- _Les Vertus de l'enfer_ (1974; tr. in 1974 as _The Virtues of Hell_ by Patricia Wolf)
- _Le Bon Léviathan_ (1978; tr. in 1978 as _The Good Leviathan_ by Margaret Giovanelli)
- _Les Coulisses du Ciel_ (1979; tr. in 1985 as _Trouble in Paradise_ by Patricia Wolf)
- _L'Énergie du désespoir_ (1981)
- _Miroitements_ (1982; tr. in 1986 as _Mirrors of the Sun_ by Patricia Wolf)
- _La Baleine des Malouines_ (1983; tr. in 1984 by Patricia Wolf, US title: _The Whale of the Victoria Cross_, UK title: _The Falklands Whale_)
- _Pour l'amour de l'art_ (1985)
- _Le Professeur Mortimer_ (1988)
- _Le Malheur des uns..._ (1990)
- _A nous deux, Satan!_ (1992)
- _L'Archéologue et le mystère de Néfertiti_ (2005; posthumous)

## Short story collections

- _Contes de l'absurde_ (1953)
- _E=mc<sup>2</sup>_ (1957)
- _Histoires charitables_ (1965)
- _Time Out of Mind: And Other Stories_ (1966; twelve stories from Boulle's first three collections tr. by Xan Fielding and Elisabeth Abbott)
- _Quia absurdum: sur la Terre comme au Ciel_ (1966; tr. in 1970 as _Because It Is Absurd: On Earth as It Is in Heaven_ by Elisabeth Abbott)
- _Histoires perfides_ (1976; tr. in 1977 as _The Marvelous Palace And Other Stories_ by Margaret Giovanelli)
- _L'enlèvement de l'obélisque_ (2007; posthumous)

## Non-fiction

- _Le Siam (Walt Disney)_ (1955; tr. in 1958 as _Walt Disney's Siam_ by Herbert Knapp) — in Walt Disney's "Le Monde et ses habitants"/"The World and its Inhabitants" series
- _L'étrange croisade de l'empereur Frédéric II_ (1963)
- _Aux sources de la rivière Kwaï_ (1966; tr. in 1967 by Xan Fielding, US title: _My Own River Kwai_, UK title: _The Source of the River Kwai_) — memoir
- _L'univers ondoyant_ (1987)
- _L'îlon_ (1990) — memoir

## Movies and television series based on Pierre Boulle books

- _The Bridge on the River Kwai_ (1957)
- _Planet of the Apes_ (1968)
- _Beneath the Planet of the Apes_ (1970)
- _Escape from the Planet of the Apes_ (1971)
- _Conquest of the Planet of the Apes_ (1972)
- _Battle for the Planet of the Apes_ (1973)
- _Planet of the Apes (TV series)_ (1974)
- _Return to the Planet of the Apes (Animated TV Series)_ (1975)
- _Planet of the Apes_ (2001)
- _Rise of the Planet of the Apes_ (2011)

## Infobox (writer)

- **name**: Pierre Boulle
- **birth place**: Avignon, France
- **death place**: Paris, France
- **occupation**: Author
- **nationality**: France, French
- **period**: 1950–1992
- **notableworks**: _The Bridge over the River Kwai_
_Planet of the Apes (novel), Planet of the Apes_