Charles Vanel
Charles-Marie Vanel was a French actor and director. During his 76-year film career, which began in 1912, he appeared in more than 200 films and worked with many prominent directors, including Alfred Hitchcock, Luis Buñuel, Jacques Feyder and Henri-Georges Clouzot. He is perhaps best remembered for his role as a desperate truck driver in Clouzot's The Wages of Fear for which he received a Special Mention at the Cannes Film Festival in 1953.
In Hitchcock's 1955 film, To Catch a Thief, he played a restaurateur who had served in the French Resistance with Cary Grant.
Selected filmography
- Jim Crow
- La p'tite du sixième
- Miarka as Mario, le garde-chasse
- Crépuscule d'épouvante as Guillaume Brohan
- La fille de Camargue
- Possession as Dimitri
- Tempêtes as Raoul Mauduit
- Tillers of the Soil as Bernard Larade
- The House of Mystery as Henri Corradin
- Calvaire d'amour as Georges Brémond
- L'autre aile as Gaston Lager
- Du crépuscule à l'aube
- In the Spider's Web as Stephen Powers
- La mendiante de Saint-Sulpice as Gilbert Rollin
- La Flambée des rêves as Lucien Réneval
- Le vol as Favier
- Heart of an Actress
- Pêcheur d'Islande as Jan
- Le réveil as Le Prince Jean
- Barocco as Barocco
- L'Orphelin du Cirque as Garment, le traitre / Legru
- The Flame as Boussat
- 600,000 Francs a Month as John Durand
- La Nuit de la revanche
- Nitchevo as Captain Cartier
- Charité
- The Prey of the Wind as Pierre Vignal
- Feu! as Le lieutenant Frémiet
- Queen Louise as Napoleon
- The White Slave as Dr. Warner
- Martyr
- Die Apachen von Paris as Bécot
- Da hält die Welt den Atem an
- The Crew
- Da hält die Welt den Atem an
- The Passenger
- Waterloo as Napoleon
- Drei Tage auf Leben und Tod - aus dem Logbuch der U.C.1 as Der Steuermann
- The Love of the Brothers Rott
- An Ideal Woman
- Les Fourchambault
- Chiqué as Francois
- Dans la nuit as L'ouvrier carrier
- Accused, Stand Up! as Henri Lapalle
- L'Arlésienne as Mitifio, un gardian
- Le capitaine jaune as Le capitaine
- Dance Hall as Ramon
- La maison jaune de Rio as King-Fu / Scalpa
- Montmartre as André Marco, dit Dédé
- Wooden Crosses as Caporal Breval
- In the Name of the Law as Lancelot
- Daïnah la métisse as Le mécanicien Michaux
- Gitanes as Léon
- Les Misérables as Inspecteur Javert
- Au bout du monde as Georges Laudy
- Le Grand Jeu as Clément
- Roi de Camargue as Rampal
- L'Équipage as Le lieutenant Maury
- The Green Domino as Nebel - un sculpteur
- L'impossible aveu as Fred
- The Volga Boatman as Le colonel Goreff
- Michel Strogoff as Ivan Ogareff
- La Peur as Robert Sylvain
- The Flame as Victor Boussat
- They Were Five as Charles Billot aka Charlot
- Jenny as Benoit
- Les Grands as Henri Lormier
- Port Arthur as Commander Vassidloff
- ' as Alexandre Mérital
- Southern Mail as L'ambassadeur Herlin
- Police mondaine as Salviati
- Troïka sur la piste blanche as Michel Steinberg
- Abused Confidence as Jacques Ferney
- Les Pirates du rail as Henri Pierson
- La Femme du bout du monde as Durc, l'officier mécanicien
- The West as Jean Cadière
- Légions d'honneur as Captaine Dabrau
- Bar du sud as Le capitaine Olivier
- S.O.S. Sahara as Loup
- Crossroads as Roger de Vétheuil
- Savage Brigade as Général Kalitjeff
- Yamilé sous les cèdres as le chef maronite Rachid el Hamé
- La Loi du Nord as Le caporal Dalrymple
- Cristobal's Gold as Le Coronel - le chef de la police
- The Marvelous Night as Le fermier
- The Black Diamond as François Mitry
- Les affaires sont les affaires as Isidore Lechat
- Promesse à l'inconnue as Bernard Parker
- Haut-le-Vent as François Ascarra
- Le soleil a toujours raison as L'homme du mas
- Les Roquevillard as Maître François Roquevillard
- The Woman Who Dared as Pierre Gauthier
- Hanged Man's Farm as François
- Gringalet as Ravaut
- Le Bateau à soupe as Le capitaine Hervé
- La Cabane aux souvenirs as Lauragais
- Le diable souffle as Laurent
- La Femme que j'ai assassinée as François Bachelin
- In the Name of the Law as Massaro Turi Passalacqua
- Vertigine d'amore as Mugnaio Resplanton / France: Emile Resplandin
- The Fighting Men as Don Salvatore Sparaino
- Hearts at Sea as Nostromo Norus
- The Crossroads as Lubiani
- Tragic Spell as Bastiano
- The Last Sentence as Giudice Marco Valsetti
- Malaire as Noguère aîné
- The Wages of Fear as M. Jo
- Royal Affairs in Versailles as Monsieur de Vergennes
- Maddalena as Giovanni Lamberti
- On Trial as Wolf Andergast
- The Cheerful Squadron as Il capitano Hurluret
- Les Diaboliques as Alfred Fichet, le commissaire
- To Catch a Thief as Bertani
- Tom Toms of Mayumba as Carlo Leonardi
- A Missionary as Père Gauthier
- Sunset in Naples
- Difendo il mio amore as Verdisio
- Death in the Garden as Castin
- Burning Fuse as Albatrasse
- Les Suspects as Commissaire Perrache
- ' as Léonce Pozzi, dit "Le Fondu"
- Le Piège as Caillé
- The Mask of the Gorilla as Colonel Berthomieu
- Les Naufrageurs as Marnez
- Prisoner of the Volga as Ossip Semjonowitsch
- ' as Berthomieu dit 'Le Vieux'
- Pêcheur d'Islande as L'armateur Mével
- The Truth as Maître Guérin
- Maria, Registered in Bilbao as El viejo
- Tintin and the Golden Fleece as Père Alexandre
- La steppa as Pére Christophore
- Lo sgarro
- ' as Van Hekken
- ' as Paoli
- A King Without Distraction as Le procureur du Roi
- Magnet of Doom as Dieudonné Ferchaux
- Le Chant du monde as Marinau, le matelot
- Shock Troops as Passevin
- La prisonnière as L'invité au vernissage qui dit 'Oui, ça correspond au schéma du bonhomme'
- Ballade pour un chien as Viachet
- Sébastien et la Mary-Morgane as Louis Maréchal
- Ils as Le professeur Swaine
- ' as Juliani
- La nuit bulgare as Bohringer
- Gang War in Naples as Don Mimo De Ritis
- The Most Wonderful Evening of My Life as Il Presidente, Giudice Dutz
- Par le sang des autres as Le curé
- Sept morts sur ordonnance as Old Brézé
- Es herrscht Ruhe im Land as Großvater Parra
- Illustrious Corpses as Procurator Varga
- Boomerang as Me Ritter
- Golden Night as Charles Fournier
- À l'ombre d'un été as Jean Landot
- Alice or the Last Escapade as Henri Vergennes
- Ne pleure pas as Le grand-père
- Le chemin perdu as Léon Schwarz
- La Puce et le Privé as Mathieu Fortier
- Three Brothers as Donato Giuranna
- Si le soleil ne revenait pas as Anzevui
- Les Saisons du plaisir as Charles Van Bergh
Awards
- 1953: Cannes International Film Festival - Special Mention - The Wages of Fear
- 1954: Karlovy Vary International Film Festival - Best Actor - L'Affaire Maurizius
- 1957: San Sebastian International Film Festival - Best Actor - Le feu aux poudres
- 1979: Honorary César Award for his career
- 1981: David Di Donatello Award - Best Supporting Actor - Three Brothers