Born Jean-Alexis Moncorgé in Paris, he grew up in the village of Mériel in the Seine-et-Oise département, about 22 mi (35 km) north of Paris. The son of cabaret entertainers, he worked as a laborer, but at age 19 entered show business with a bit part in a Folies Bergères production. He continued performing in a variety of minor roles before going into the military.
After completing his military service, Gabin returned to the entertainment business, working under the stage name of Jean Gabin at whatever was offered in the Parisian music halls and operettas imitating the singing style of Maurice Chevalier which was the rage at the time. He was part of a troupe that toured South America and upon returning to France found work at the Moulin Rouge. His performances started getting noticed and better stage roles came along that led to parts in two silent films in 1928.
Two years later, he easily made the transition to talkies in a 1930 Pathé Frères production titled Chacun sa Chance. Playing secondary roles, Gabin made more than a dozen films over the next four years, including films directed by Maurice and Jacques Tourneur. However, he only gained real recognition for his performance in Maria Chapdelaine, a 1934 production directed by Julien Duvivier. Cast as a romantic hero in a 1936 war drama titled La Bandera, this second Duvivier-directed film established Gabin as a major star. The following year, he teamed up with Duvivier again, this time in the highly successful Pépé le Moko that became one of the top Grossing Films of 1937 worldwide; its popularity brought Gabin international recognition. That same year, he starred in the Jean Renoir masterpiece La Grande Illusion, an anti-war film that was a huge box office success and given universal critical acclaim, even running at a New York City theatre for an unprecedented six months. This was followed by another one of Renoir's great successes: La Bête Humaine (The Human Beast), a film noir tragedy based on the novel by Émile Zola and starring Gabin and Simone Simon, as well as Le Quai Des Brumes (Port of Shadows), one of director Marcel Carné's most acclaimed films.
Flooded with offers from Hollywood, for a time Gabin turned them all down until the outbreak of World War II. Following the German occupation of France, he joined Jean Renoir and Julien Duvivier in the United States. Divorced from his second wife in 1939, during his time in Hollywood, Gabin began a torrid romance with actress Marlene Dietrich. However, his films in America proved less than successful.
A difficult personality, he did serious damage to his Hollywood career while working for RKO Pictures. Scheduled to star in an RKO film, at the last minute he demanded Dietrich be given the co-starring role. The studio refused. After Gabin remained steadfast in his demand, he was fired, and the film project was shelved.
Undaunted, Jean Gabin joined General Charles de Gaulle's Free French Forces and earned the Médaille militaire and a Croix de guerre for his wartime valor fighting with the Allies in North Africa. Following D-Day, Gabin was part of the military contingent that entered a liberated Paris.
In 1946, Gabin was hired by Marcel Carné to star in the film, Les Portes de la Nuit, but his conduct got him fired again. He then found a French producer and director willing to cast him and Marlene Dietrich together, but their film Martin Roumagnac was not a success and their personal relationship soon ended. Following another box office failure in 1947, Gabin returned to the stage, but there too, the production was another financial disaster. Nevertheless, he was cast in the lead role of the 1949 René Clément film Au-Delà Des Grilles that won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Despite this recognition, the film did not do well at the French box office, and the next five years brought little more than repeated box office failures.
Gabin and Jacques Prévert in 1961.
Gabin's career seemed headed for oblivion. However, he made a comeback in the 1954 film, Touchez pas au grisbi (Don't Touch the Loot). Directed by Jacques Becker, his performance earned him critical acclaim, and the film was a very profitable international success. Later, worked once again with Jean Renoir in French Cancan, with María Félix and Françoise Arnoul. Over the next twenty years, Gabin made close to 50 more films, most of them very successful commercially and critically, including many for Gafer Films, his production partnership with fellow actor Fernandel.
His co-stars included leading figures of post-war cinema such as Brigitte Bardot (En cas de malheur), Alain Delon (Le Clan des Siciliens and Deux hommes dans la ville), Jean-Paul Belmondo (Un singe en hiver) and Louis de Funès (Le Tatoué).
Gabin died of leukaemia at the American Hospital of Paris, in the Parisian suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine. His body was cremated and with full military honours, his ashes were dispersed into the sea from a military ship.
Considered one of the great stars of French cinema, he was made a member of the Légion d'honneur. The Musée Jean Gabin in his native town, Mériel, contains his story and features, his war and film memorabilia. [edit] Selected filmography 1930: Ohé! les valises 1930: On demande un dompteur or Les lions 1930: Méphisto (by Henri Debain and Georges Vinter) 1930: Chacun sa chance 1933: Du haut en bas 1934: Maria Chapdelaine 1934: Zouzou 1935: Golgotha (by Julien Duvivier) 1935: La Bandera 1936: The Lower Depths (Les Bas-fonds) 1936: La belle équipe 1937: Pépé le Moko 1937: The Grand Illusion (La Grande illusion) 1937: Le Messager 1937: Gueule d'amour 1938: Le Récif de corail 1938: Port of Shadows (Le quai des brumes) 1938: The Human Beast (La Bête humaine) (by Jean Renoir) 1939: Le Jour se lève (Daybreak) (by Marcel Carné) 1941: Remorques 1942: Moontide 1946: Martin Roumagnac (The Room Upstairs) (by Georges Lacombe) 1949: The Walls of Malapaga (Italian: Le mura di Malapaga, French: Au-delà des grilles) (by René Clément) 1951: His Last Twelve Hours 1952: La Vérité sur Bébé Donge 1952: Le Plaisir (by Max Ophüls) 1952: La Minute de vérité 1954: Touchez pas au grisbi (Don't Touch the Loot) (by Jacques Becker) 1954: Razzia sur la chnouf (Razzia in Paris) (by Henri Decoin) 1955: French Cancan (by Jean Renoir) 1956: Des gens sans importance 1956: Voici le temps des assassins (by Julien Duvivier) 1958: Les Misérables 1959: Archimède le clochard (The Magnificent Tramp) (by Gilles Grangier) - won the Silver Bear for Best Actor at the 9th Berlin International Film Festival[1] 1960: Le Président (by Henri Verneuil) 1961: Le cave se rebiffe (The Counterfeiters of Paris) (by Gilles Grangier) 1962: Un singe en hiver (by Henri Verneuil) with Jean-Paul Belmondo 1962: Le Gentleman d'Epsom (by Gilles Grangier) 1963: Mélodie en sous-sol (by Henri Verneuil) 1963: Maigret voit rouge (by Gilles Grangier) 1964: Monsieur (by Jean-Paul Le Chanois) 1964: L'Âge ingrat (by Gilles Grangier) 1965: Le Tonnerre de Dieu (by Denys de La Patellière) 1965: Du rififi à Paname (by Denys de La Patellière) 1966: Le Jardinier d'Argenteuil (by Jean-Paul Le Chanois) 1967: Le Soleil des voyous (by Jean Delannoy) with Robert Stack 1968: Le Pacha (by Georges Lautner) 1968: Le Tatoué (by Denys de La Patellière) 1969: Sous le signe du taureau (by Gilles Grangier) 1969: Le Clan des Siciliens (by Henri Verneuil) with Alain Delon 1970: La Horse (by Pierre Granier-Deferre) - Auguste Maroilleur 1971: Le Chat - Julien Bouin - won the Silver Bear for Best Actor at the 21st Berlin International Film Festival[2] 1971: Le Drapeau noir flotte sur la marmite - Victor Ploubaz 1972: Le Tueur - Commissaire Le Guen 1973: L'Affaire Dominici - Gaston Dominici 1973: Deux hommes dans la ville - Germain Cazeneuve 1974: Verdict - Leguen 1976: Échos de plateau 1976: L'Année sainte - Max Lambert [edit] Bibliography World's Coolest Movie Star: The Complete 95 Films (and Legend) of Jean Gabin, by Charles Zigman (Allenwood Press 2008). Features introductions by Gabin's co-stars Michele Morgan and Brigitte Bardot, and an 'appreciation' by David Mamet.
