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Personal Info

Birth date

1919-12-15 (105 Years)

Day of death

1996-05-01

Gender

Male

Known for

Acting

Place of birth

Strasbourg, Bas-Rhin, France

Also known as

Франсуа Шале
Шарль-Франсуа Бауэр
François-Charles Bauer

François Chalais

Biography

François Chalais (December 15, 1919 – May 1, 1996) was a prominent French reporter, journalist, writer and film historian. The François Chalais Prize at the annual Cannes Film Festival is named after him.

Born in Strasbourg in 1919, Chalais' real name was François-Charles Bauer. His journalism career began under the German occupation of France during World War II, as a writer for several collaborationist publications. Nevertheless, he was awarded the Médaille de la Résistance after the liberation and continued a lengthy and distinguished career, most notably with France Soir from 1976 to 1986 and Le Figaro from 1980 to 1987. Chalais was a regular fixture on French television during the Cannes festival, interviewing celebrities and movie stars, often with his first wife and cohost France Roche.

In 1949 he fought and lost a duel with swords with director Willy Rozier, provoked by comments Chalais had made about actress Marie Dea. In one of his reports for the French television program Panorama, titled "Spécial Vietnam: le nord vu par François Chalais" (Vietnam Special: The North Seen by François Chalais), Chalais interviewed an American pilot who was in a North Vietnamese prison hospital, John McCain. The report offered a rare glimpse of everyday life in North Vietnam during the war and featured an interview with North Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Van Dong.

Chalais was the author of numerous books, including 18 novels and 3 memoirs.

Chalais married his second wife, Mei-Chen (née Nguyen Thi Hoa), after his famed 1968 broadcast on North Vietnam. In 1969, he was a member of the jury at the 19th Berlin International Film Festival.

Chalais died of leukemia in Paris in 1996.

Source: Article "François Chalais" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Filmography

Acting

2019Alain Delon, la beauté du diable et les femmes... as Self (archive footage)

2010Code Name: Melville as Self (archive footage)

1986A Man and a Woman: 20 Years Later as Un spectateur de '40 ans déjà'

1984La Chance aux chansons (1 Episode) as Self

1982Champs-Elysées (1 Episode) as Self

1975Système 2 (1 Episode) as Self

1975Les Rendez-vous du dimanche (3 Episodes) as Self

1975Apostrophes (4 Episodes) as Self

1975Midi Première (3 Episodes) as Self

1974Spécial cinéma (7 Episodes) as Self

1972Midi trente (1 Episode) as Self

1971Samedi soir (2 Episodes) as Self

1966Jean-Pierre Melville on the Set of Le Deuxième Souffle as Self - Host

1962Le Chien as Unknown

1960Candide or The Optimism in the 20th Century as Narrator (voice)

1956En direct de... (1 Episode) as self

1956Cinépanorama (104 Episodes) as Self - Host

1954Reflets de Cannes (28 Episodes) as Self - Host

Directing

1964L'Été en hiver ... Director

1962Le Chien ... Director

1954Reflets de Cannes (20 Episodes) ... Director

Writing

1964L'Été en hiver ... Scenario Writer

1962Le Chien ... Writer

1956Pity for the Vamps ... Writer

1953Inside a Girls' Dormitory ... Writer

1953The Night Is Ours ... Writer

Creator

1956Cinépanorama ... Creator

1954Reflets de Cannes ... Creator