Marcel Herrand

Biography

Treading the boards since 1920, Marcel Herrand lent his natural elegance and his exceptional presence to plays by major playwrights such as Jules Romains, Oscar Wilde, Arthur Schnitzler, John Ford or Albert Camus, under the direction of such geniuses as Jacques Copeau, Charles Dullin, or Georges Pitoëff. Not content to act, he also staged plays by 'Federico Garcia Lorca', Henrik Ibsen, Julien Gracq and many others, for which he was rightly acclaimed. As far as movies are concerned, Marcel Herrand made only twenty-six films (and only two during the nineteen thirties) but he was chosen by the best director of his time, Marcel Carné, for whom he appeared in two masterpieces, The Devil's Envoys (1942) and the immortal Children of Paradise (1945), in which he was particularly impressive as Lacenaire, the dandy killer in revolt against the society in the time of King Louis-Philippe. And even if all the directors he worked with were not on par with Carné, Marcel Herrand mainly played in good quality films, most often in the role of the villain, but not any villain, the high-class scene-stealing villain, with exquisite manners but all the more dangerous for that. He is also memorable as the faithless policeman Corentin, who swears to ruin the Marquis de Montauran (Jean Marais), the scheming Don Salluste, who swears to ruin Ruy Blas (Jean Marais again!) and the Queen of Spain in Ruy Blas (1948) and the infamous killer Larsan in Le mystère de la chambre jaune (1949), in one of his rare leading roles. He was also an amusing King Louis XV in a merry adventure flick that has wonderfully stood the test of time, Fanfan la Tulipe (1952).