René Dary

Biography

Young Clément Mary, as was his original name, was born 18 July 1905 in Paris 6th arrondissement. He got his chance in the Spring of 1910 when he was only five. His father Abélard Mary had put in his head to go and promote himself and his two young kids as extras at the Gaumont studio. Mary, who had been an actor, had become a rundown clown in bars because of his gambling and kept things going with some furniture trade. He had set his hopes for his kids, and gambled well this time, as they were all hired for a peplum, Les Derniers Jours de Babylone. Young Clément's native playfulness, his histrionic acting making him older than he was, his borrowed street talk, and his ease on the set to charm everyone, from actors to technicians, soon began to attract the attention of producer-director Louis Feuillade. Feuillade tested him and designed a whole series around him, the Bébé series. All in all Mary would play in 74 Bébé comedies between 1910 and 1912, according to Braquet (76 between December 1910 and February 1913, according to Lacassin, while IMDb lists 73 titles), such as Bébé apache, Napoléon, Bébé et les cosaques, Bébé en Maroc etc. Feuillade permitted little Mary to do anything forbidden at home. Often his character would be a spoiled brat, have impossible tantrums and pester all adults around him, but he could also help children and old people in distress, showing his good heart after all. Often his mother would be played by Renée Carl, a leading Gaumont actress in her own. And often the child was placed in adult situations, as millionaire, marriage candidate or underworld 'apache'. For over two years Bébé was the best known child actor worldwide. The extremely good box office made papa Mary wealthy too, but his money hunger caused also the downfall of his son. Abélard bought a small cinema in Ménilmontant and called it Bébé-Cinéma, counting on a franchise by Gaumont to show his son's films. This was the limit for Feuillade, who was already fed up with the pretense of the father's self-promotion as his son's manager and his continuous demands for raises for his son. Besides, Clément was reaching an age where his cuteness as child actor was passing. Already mid-1912 another young kid had been picked up in Belleville, near the studios, and had started as supporting actor to Clément in the film Bébé adopte un petit frère, but replaced him completely in March 1913 (February 1913, according to Francis Lacassin) under the character name of Bout-de-Zan (a name he already wore as Bébé's co-actor). Abélard went to court against Gaumont. The court ruled that the breach of contract was just, but also that Mary was allowed to continue acting as Bébé at Pathé's subsidiary Eclectic Films, and he did so until 1916. Yet, it was no competition for Gaumont's Bout-de-Zan. As Abel mentions, Bout-de-Zan was more plebeian while Bébé was 'au fond' bourgeois as type. Still, in the end Poyen did some 50 films for Gaumont, less than Mary. As a young man Clément Mary tried professional boxing but acting stuck in his blood, so he took acting lessons with Lucien Guitry and joined stage tours under the name of René Duclos. Harry Baur advised him to focus on Paris, where he acted in the operetta Pour ton Bonheur, and in Les trois valses with Pierre Fresnay and Yvonne Printemps. In 1934 he debuted in French sound cinema with bit parts, e.g. Le Train de 8:47, starring Fernandel. Director Jean-Benoit Lévy convinced him to change his name again, now to René Dary. His role of the anarchist sailor in Le Révolte by Léon Mathot finally put him in the spotlight. Dary then specialized in tough, taciturn sailors who under outside brawling hid true generosity, in films like Nord-Atlantique, Forte Tête, Le Café du port, and À la belle frégate. In 1944 René Dary peaked as the bad boy repented in Carrefour des enfants perdus (Crossroads of the Lost Children) by Léo Joannon. During the war, in 1943, while acting in the film 120, Quai de la Gare, by Jacques Daniel-Norman, and with Sophie Desmarets and Jean Paredes acting, Dary was the first to embody for the cinema the character of Nestor Burma, the famous shock detective imagined by novelist Léo Malet. After that his popularity as film actor declined, apart from his part of Riton, the friend of Max (Jean Gabin), in Touchez pas au grisbi! Dary continued to act on stage and was quite successful there in the 1960s. He also acted in television dramas. Clément Mary/Bébé/René Dary died on 9 October 1974 in Plan-de-Cuques (Bouche-du-Rhône). He had also written one novel, Express 407.