Gélin was born in Angers, Maine-et-Loire, the son of Yvonne and Alfred Ernest Joseph Gélin. When he was ten, his family moved to Saint-Malo where Daniel went to college until he was expelled for 'uncouthness'. His father then found him a job in a shop that sold cans of salted cod. It was seeing the shooting of Marc Allégret's film Entrée des artistes that triggered his desire to go toParis to train to be an actor. He trained at the Cours Simon in Paris before entering the Conservatoire national d'art dramatique. There he met Louis Jouvet and embarked on a theatrical career. He made his first film appearance in 1940 in Miquette and for several years was an extra or played small roles in French films. He appeared with Jean Gabin and Marlene Dietrich in Martin Roumagnac.
Career
He won his first leading role in Rendez-vous de juillet. From that time, he went on to appear in more than 150 films, including Max Ophüls' films La Ronde and Le Plaisir, Sacha Guitry's films Si Versailles m'était conté and Napoléon, Alfred Hitchcock'sThe Man Who Knew Too Much, Jean Cocteau's Le Testament d'Orphée, Le souffle au cœur , and La Nuit de Varennes . He also wrote and directed one film, The Long Teeth, in 1952. Gélin was a leading man in French cinema during the 1950s, but his career declined with the coming of the New Wave. He worked in theater for several years, but later found new success on screen as a character actor. He appeared extensively in French films and television productions from the 1970s until his death, often playing cynical characters or grumpy old men.
Personal life
In 1946, Gélin married actress Danièle Delorme with whom he had a son, actor, director and producer Xavier Gélin. They divorced in 1954. While still married to Delorme, he had an affair with model Marie Christine Schneider that produced a daughter, Maria Schneider. Due to his status as a married man, Gélin could not recognize Maria as his daughter. He visited the child several times but eventually severed his relationship with her mother. Maria Schneider and Daniel Gélin reconnected when she was sixteen and came to visit him. They remained in contact, although their relationship was irregular. Gélin was married to model Sylvie Hirsch from 1954 until their divorce in 1968. This marriage produced three children, Pascal, Bénédicte, who became an actress under the name Fiona Gélin, and Manuel, who is also an actor. In 1973, he remarried with Lydie Zaks with whom he had a daughter, Laura.
