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=mc2* (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)

## References