René Dary

1905-07-18 Paris, France

Biografia

René Dary (19 July 1905 – 6 October 1974) was a French film actor. Dary began his career as a child actor. Young Clément Mary, as was his original name, was born 18 July 1905 in Paris 6th arrondissement. He got his chance in the Spring of 1910 when he was only five. His father Abélard Mary had put in his head to go and promote himself and his two young kids as extras at the Gaumont studio. Mary, who had been an actor, had become a rundown clown in bars because of his gambling and kept things going with some furniture trade. He had set his hopes for his kids, and gambled well this time, as they were all hired for a peplum, Les Derniers Jours de Babylone. Young Clément's native playfulness, his histrionic acting making him older than he was, his borrowed street talk, and his ease on the set to charm everyone, from actors to technicians, soon began to attract the attention of producer-director Louis Feuillade. Feuillade tested him and designed a whole series around him, the Bébé series. All in all Mary would play in 74 Bébé comedies between 1910 and 1912, according to Braquet (76 between December 1910 and February 1913, according to Lacassin, while IMDb lists 73 titles), such as Bébé apache, Napoléon, Bébé et les cosaques, Bébé en Maroc etc. Feuillade permitted little Mary to do anything forbidden at home. Often his character would be a spoiled brat, have impossible tantrums and pester all adults around him, but he could also help children and old people in distress, showing his good heart after all. Often his mother would be played by Renée Carl, a leading Gaumont actress in her own. And often the child was placed in adult situations, as millionaire, marriage candidate or underworld 'apache'. For over two years Bébé was the best known child actor worldwide. The extremely good box office made papa Mary wealthy too, but his money hunger caused also the downfall of his son. Abélard bought a small cinema in Ménilmontant and called it Bébé-Cinéma, counting on a franchise by Gaumont to show his son's films. This was the limit for Feuillade, who was already fed up with the pretense of the father's self-promotion as his son's manager and his continuous demands for raises for his son. Besides, Clément was reaching an age where his cuteness as child actor was passing. Already mid-1912 another young kid had been picked up in Belleville, near the studios, and had started as supporting actor to Clément in the film Bébé adopte un petit frère, but replaced him completely in March 1913 (February 1913, according to Francis Lacassin) under the character name of Bout-de-Zan (a name he already wore as Bébé's co-actor). Abélard went to court against Gaumont. The court ruled that the breach of contract was just, but also that Mary was allowed to continue acting as Bébé at Pathé's subsidiary Eclectic Films, and he did so until 1916. Yet, it was no competition for Gaumont's Bout-de-Zan. As Abel mentions, Bout-de-Zan was more plebeian while Bébé was 'au fond' bourgeois as type. Still, in the end Poyen did some 50 films for Gaumont, less than Mary.

Películas

	Goto, l'île d'amour	Gomor	1969-01-29
	L'horizon	Father	1967-04-12
	Les Risques du métier	le maire	1967-12-21
	Le feu de Dieu	Marois	1967-04-28
	Piège pour Cendrillon	Doctor Doulin	1965-10-22
	Passeport diplomatique agent K 8	Head of the D.S.T.	1965-03-31
	Règlements de compte		1963-03-05
	Jusqu'à plus soif	Bardin	1962-05-16
	De quoi tu te mêles Daniela!	Lanzac	1961-04-28
	Napoléon II, l'aiglon		1961-11-01
	La Peau et les os	Director	1961-04-28
	L'Exécution	Lavaur	1961-01-29
	Les Mordus	Le Goff	1960-06-22
	Gli amori di Ercole	Il generale	1960-08-19
	Y'en a marre	Franz	1959-09-15
	Péché de jeunesse	L'oncle Léon Bertier	1958-10-31
	Touchez pas au grisbi	Henri Ducros dit Riton	1954-03-17
	Son copain	Pierre Chambrac	1950-11-17
	Un certain monsieur	Le Pouce, membre de la bande	1950-05-24
	L'inconnue n° 13		1949-06-21
	Suzanne et ses brigands		1949-06-15
	5 tulipes rouges	Pierre Lusanne	1949-03-23
	Cité de l'espérance	Pierre Maufranc	1948-10-27
	Le diamant de cent sous	Clive Morgan	1948-01-07
	Le Fugitif	Fred	1947-02-07
	120, rue de la Gare	Nestor Burma	1946-06-06
	Bifur 3	Georges	1945-08-29
	Le Carrefour des enfants perdus	Jean Victor	1944-04-26
	Port d'attache	René	1943-02-10
	À la Belle Frégate		1943-04-01
	Forte tête	René Rocher	1942-06-10
	Mélodie pour toi		1942-11-11
	Huit hommes dans un château	Mr. Paladine	1942-12-09
	Après l'orage	René Sabin	1941-01-02
	Moulin Rouge	Lequérec	1940-12-08
	Le café du port		1940-05-08
	Nord-Atlantique	Barnes, second in command	1939-04-13
	L'Esprit de Sidi-Brahim	Jean Varin	1939-07-28
	Un fichu métier	Jean-Paul	1938-10-05
	Le Révolté	Pimaï	1938-10-28
	S.O.S. Sahara		1938-08-17
	Nostalgie	Captain	1938-03-03
	À nous deux, madame la vie		1937-03-26
	Hélène	Marcel	1936-10-17
	Sidonie Panache		1934-10-19
	Bébé et Jeanne d'Arc	Bébé	1913-01-10
	Bébé juge	Bébé	1912-01-01
	Le suicide de Bébé	Bébé	1912-01-10
	Bébé n’aime pas sa concierge	Bébé	1912-01-01
	Bébé veut payer ses dettes	Bébé	1912-01-01
	Bébé, victime d'une erreur judiciaire	Bébé	1912-01-01
	Bébé soigné son père	Bébé	1912-01-01
	Bébé fait du spiritisme	Bébé	1912-10-01
	Napoléon, Bébé et les Cosaques	Bébé	1912-08-30
	Bébé tire à la cible	Bébé	1912-01-01
	Le petit Poucet	Le petit Poucet	1912-10-31
	Bébé sur la Canebière	Bébé	1911-02-10
	Bébé a le béguin	Bébé	1911-05-01
	Bébé veut imiter Saint-Martin		1911-10-19
	Bébé court apres sa montre		1911-05-26
	Bébé court apres sa montre	Bébé	1911-05-26
	Bébé nègre	Bébé	1911-01-20
	Bébé corrige son père	Baby	1911-11-10
	Bébé apache	Bébé	1910-12-24
	Les chefs-d'oeuvre de Bébé	Bébé	1910-01-01
	Bébé pêcheur	Bébé	1910-12-30
	La trouvaille de Bébé		1910-12-16