Catelain, Jacque

(1897-1965)

   Actor and director. Born Jacques Guerin-Castelain, Jacque Catelain got his start in the silent cinema as an actor for Gaumont. His first film role was in René Hervil and Louis Mercanton's Le Torrent (1917). Catelain went on to be the dashing star of many of Marcel L'Herbier's films of the day, including Rose-France (1918), Le Bercail (1919), Le Carnaval des vérités (1920), L'Homme du large (1920), Eldoradao (1921), Don Juan et Faust (1922), L'Inhumaine (1924), Le Vertige (1927), Le Diable au corps (1928), and Nuits de princes (1929). He also appeared in Léonce Perret's Koenigsmark (1923), Viktor Tourjansky's Le Prince charmant (1925), and Henri Fescourt's L'Occident (1927), among other films.

   In 1923, Catelain tried his hand at directing, directing himself in Le Marchand de plaisirs. He directed himself again the following year in the film La Galérie des monstres (1924). He did not direct again for most of his career, with the exception of two turns at assistant director, one on L'Herbier's La Porte du large (1936), and one on the

   French version of Giorgi Ferroni and L'Herbier's film Terra di fuoco (1939).

   Catelain managed the transition to sound with little difficulty. His first speaking role was in Jacques de Baroncelli's Le Rêve (1930). He also continued to work with L'Herbier, appearing in films such as L 'Enfant de l'amour (1930), Le Bonheur (1934), La Route impériale (1935), Adrienne Lecouvreur (1939), Entente cordiale (1939), and La Comédie du bonheur (1942). He also appeared in Gaston Ravel's Monsieur de Porceaugnac (1932), Abel Gance's Le Voleur de femmes (1936), Jean de Limur's La Garçonne (1936), and Jean Renoir's LaMarseilleise (1938). Catelain's talent was attested to not only by L'Herbier's strong preference for the actor (he was more than a pretty face), but also by the number of other directors he worked with. It is also attested to by the fact that he maintained a successful stage career as well.

   Catelain fled to the United States during the Nazi Occupation of France. There, he had a handful of uncredited roles in Hollywood films but did not have much other luck. The time away from France also took its toll on his French career. After the war, Catelain appeared in such L'Herbier films as La Révoltée (1948) and Les Derniers jours de Pompei (1950), but apart from that, he managed only small roles in Gilles Grangier's Amour et compagnie (1950), Renoir's French Can Can (1955), Élena et les hommes (1959), and Le Testament du Docteur Cordelier (1959), which was his last film.

   Historical Dictionary of French Cinema by Dayna Oscherwitz & Mary Ellen Higgins