Raimu


Jules Auguste Muraire, whose stage name was Raimu, was a French actor. He is most famous for playing César in the 'Marseilles trilogy'.

Life and career

Born in Toulon in the Var department, Muraire made his stage debut there in 1899. After coming to the attention of the great music hall star Félix Mayol who was also from Toulon, in 1908 he was given a chance to work as a secondary act in the Paris theatre scene. He worked primarily in comedy. In 1916, writer/director Sacha Guitry gave him significant parts in productions at the Folies Bergère and other major venues. In addition to his appearances on stage, Raimu also developed a successful career in films, sometimes under the name Jules Raimu.
He starred in the premiere of Messager's operetta Coups de roulis in 1928. The following year, already a leading actor, he gained wide acclaim for his starring role in the stage production of the Marcel Pagnol play Marius. Reluctantly, owing to his disappointment with his first film role many years earlier, he agreed to act in Guitry's film Le Blanc et le Noir and then reprised his Marius role on film a year later. By his late forties Raimu had become one of his country's most respected actors, and was considered the ultimate actor by luminaries such as Alec Guinness, Marlene Dietrich, and Orson Welles.

Family

He married Esther Metayer in 1936. He had a daughter, Paulette Brun.

Death

Raimu died of a heart attack on 20 September 1946, brought on by complications with anesthesia after a relatively minor leg operation, in the American Hospital of Paris in Neuilly-sur-Seine, while he was asleep.

Legacy

He was interred in the cemetery of Toulon, where the Cinéma Raimu Toulon has been named in his honor.
In 1961, the government of France honored him with his image on a postage stamp. A small museum created by his granddaughter Isabelle Nohain exists in the town of Cogolin in the Var department in France.

Partial filmography