Published by S.I.P.

S.I.P. was an abbreviation for Société Industrielle de Photographie. This French industrial society published countless postcards in the early 20th Century. Before early 1906, the logo changed from the straight letters S.I.P. to the roundel with the big S between cards 1347 and 1372. S.I.P. published many portraits of the grand stage stars of the Belle Époque, and the design of the cards reflected the current styles of the era. We also love the collection of black-and-white cards of famous artists, which S.I.P. published for Vin Désiles. By 1914, the marque had been taken over by J. Courcier (marque JC).


French postcard by S.I.P. (Société Industrielle de Photographie). Photo: Waléry, Paris. Collection: Marlène Pilaete.

Dutch-born exotic dancer and executed spy Mata Hari (1876-1917) was an international society figure between 1905 and the First World War. She never appeared in a film, but her life was filmed several times.


French postcard by S.I.P., series 34, no. 9. Photo: Reutlinger, Paris.

Gabrielle Réjane (1856-1920) was a successful French stage actress and early silent film actress. She is most famous for her role of Catherine in Victorien Sardou's play 'Madame Sans-Gene' (1893), which she filmed twice.


French postcard by S.I.P, series 52, no. 12. Photo: Reutlinger, Paris. Sent by mail in 1902.

Around 1900, Italian soprano Lina Cavalieri (1874-1944) was considered the most beautiful woman on earth. She was famous for her hourglass-like corsets, visible in photographs and portraits by Cesare Tallone and Giovanni Boldini. Between 1914 and 1919, she starred in several American and Italian silent films.


French postcard by S.I.P., no. 342. Photo: Reutlinger, Paris. Sarah Bernhardt in 'La princesse lointaine' by Edmond Rostand, which she played for the first time in 1895, at the Renaissance Theatre in Paris. The 'Lilies' diadem for 'La Princesse lointaine' (c. 1895) was designed by Alphonse Mucha and created by René Lalique.

French vedette Sarah Bernhardt (1844-1923) has been referred to as 'the most famous actress in the history of the world'. She developed a reputation as a serious dramatic actress, earning her the nickname 'The Divine Sarah'. Bernhardt made her fame on the stages of Europe in the 1870s and was soon in high demand in both the Americas. And she was one of the first film stars. What a woman!


French postcard by S.I.P., no. 1537. Photo: Stebbing, Paris. Sent by mail in 1906.

French dancer and actress Gaby Deslys (1881-1920) (aka Gaby Delys) was an internationally celebrated - and notorious - star of the early 20th Century. She was famous for her extravagant clothes, jewels, and millinery. She had many admirers, most notably King Manuel II of Portugal, and during World War I, she reportedly worked as a spy for the French government. Before her tragic early death, she also made a series of silent films.


French postcard by S.I.P., no. 1975. Photo: Paul Boyer, Paris.

Yvette Guilbert (1865-1944) was a French cabaret singer and actress of the Belle Époque. In 1888, Guilbert debuted at the Varieté Theatre. In 1890, she sang at the popular Eldorado club, then at the Jardin de Paris before headlining in Montmartre at the Moulin Rouge. She stayed there for a long time and later succeeded at the Folies-Bergère for nine years. Her ingenious delivery of songs charged with risqué meaning made her famous. She also appeared in some classic silent films, including the successful serial Les deux gosses / The two kids (1924) and Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau's classic Faust (1926).


French postcard by S.I.P., no. 2500. Photo: Reutlinger, Paris. Sent by mail in 1909.

Miss Campton, aka Emily Campton or Aimée Campton (1882-1930), was a British-born French stage and screen actress between 1900 and 1930. Miss Campton was a fashion icon in ladies’ magazines of the Belle Epoque and was photographed as a vaudeville star by Valery, Sazerac, Cautin & Berger, Reutlinger, and Stebbing.

Popular stage performers, as well as other prominent social figures

The Société Industrielle de Photographie (S.I.P.) was a major French company engaged in the photographic and paper industry during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The company issued countless high-quality portrait postcards of stage and musical personalities. Its main office and factory were located in Rueil in the Seine-et-Oise section of Paris and had a store in Paris at 37, Rue des Mathurins. The company published various artists' collections under the trademark S.I.P. and sold equipment, including stereoscopic systems.

The Société Industrielle de Photographie was founded in December 1898. The company published stereographs of the Exposition Universelle Paris 1900 and cards in the undivided era. The Société is first listed as a postcard publisher in the 1900 issue of the Didot-Bottin Annuaire-Almanach du Commerce de l'Industrie. The 1903 issue of the same directory pairs the registered trademark, 'S.I.P.', with the company.

Much of the Société's postcard production during the first years of the 20th century reproduced the photos of the Reutlinger studio in Paris. Reutlinger was one of the premier portrait studios of the Belle Époque, known for capturing glamorous and artistic images of actors, actresses, dancers, and opera stars. At the time of the postcards' production, the studio was run by Léopold-Émile Reutlinger, a French photographer born to a German-Jewish family of successful photographers. His uncle, Charles Reutlinger, had founded the studio in Paris circa 1850. Charles passed the studio to his brother, Émile Reutlinger, Léopold's father, in 1880. Around 1890, Léopold assumed the studio. Léopold's son, Jean, started work in the studio at an early age, around 1910; however, he died in battle during WWI in 1914. Léopold continued to run the studio until he died in 1937.

Another photographer who often worked for S.I.P. was Edouard Stebbing, who was active in Paris between 1890 and 1910. Stebbing taught at a University in Paris and invented the Stebbing camera, and was known for his work with emulsions. Stebbing was a prolific photographer in Paris during the Belle Epoque. Stebbing photographed many theatrical stars. It is reported that he was friends with Auguste Monet, the famous French painter and the founder of Impressionism. He appears to have been an expatriate from England. He published many articles in British Photographic journals. Edouard Stebbing died in 1914.

Before early 1906, the S.I.P. logo changed from the straight letters to the roundel between cards 1347 and 1372. S.I.P. was dissolved in 1913. By 1914, the trademark had been taken over by J. Courcier (trademark JC) in Nanterre. Ross Postcards has catalogued hundreds of series of S.I.P. postcards with popular stage performers as well as other prominent social figures photographed by Reutlinger. The catalogue entries are presented by series number, where the series was predominantly comprised of Reutlinger's photos. Not all S.I.P. series featured photos by Reutlinger, and those that did not are not reproduced in the Ross catalogue. However, the highest series number of the impressive Ross Postcards catalogue is 2150!


French postcard in the Collection Artistique du Vin Désiles by S.I.P. Photo: G.P., Paris. Caption: If only he had known that marvellous tonic known as Vin Désiles, what wonders might my master Cyrano not have achieved?

French actor Benoît-Constant Coquelin (1841-1909), known as Coquelin aîné (Coquelin the Elder), was known as one of the greatest theatrical figures of his age. He entered the Comédie-Française in 1860. Coquelin had a triumph in 1897 with Edmond Rostand's 'Cyrano de Bergerac' and would play it many times. In 1900, when he was almost sixty, Coquelin toured in America with Sarah Bernhardt and appeared on Broadway in 'Cyrano de Bergerac' with Bernhardt as Roxane.


French postcard in the Collection Artistique du Vin Désiles by S.I.P. Photo: Reutlinger, Paris. Caption: Olé! Olé! Viva el vino Desilés, C. Otero.

Carolina 'La Belle' Otéro (1868–1965) was a Spanish-born dancer, actress and courtesan. She had a reputation for great beauty and was famous for her numerous lovers. In 1898, she became 'the first star in the history of cinema'. Countless postcards with her circulated.


French postcard in the Collection Artistique du Vin Désiles by S.I.P. Photo: Bonfort. Caption: Whenever I drink Vin Désiles, my voice is flexible and easy.

Félix Mayol (1872-1941) was a popular French singer of the Belle Époque. In 1905, he performed at Gaumont in 14 phonoscènes under the direction of Alice Guy, such as La Paimpolaise. These were short sound films using a sound-on-disc system. Several still exist. Mayol later acted in five more films.


French postcard in the Collection Artistique du Vin Désiles by S.I.P. Photo: P. Berger. Caption: During my long tours across France, it is your wonderful Vin Désiles that supports me and gives me strength.

French comedian Polin (1863-1927) was one of the greatest stars of the café-concerts of Paris. His interpretations were sober and had nuance and finesse, which were rare in the café-concerts. From 1910 on, he also appeared in film and theatre, including Sacha Guitry's play 'Le Grand Duc/The Grand Duke' (1921) with Lucien and Sacha Guitry and Yvonne Printemps.


French postcard by S.I.P. no. 185/2. Photo: Reutlinger. Sent by mail in 1905.

Gabrielle Robinne (1886-1980) was a French stage and film actress who had the peak of her film career in the 1910s.


French postcard by Ed. S.I.P., Paris, no. 918/5. Photo: Reutlinger, Paris.

Suzanne Miéris (?-?) was a French stage actress who peaked in the early 1900s at the Théâtre Antoine and the Théâtre de la Gaité, but her breakthrough part was that of Eunice in the 1901 staging of 'Quo vadis?' at the Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin.


French postcard by S.I.P., no. 941. Photo: Reutlinger, Paris. Sent by mail in 1904. The S.I.P. company produced this series of photomontages showing actresses adorning a fan. In Anna Held's case, they even went so far as to choose a portrait of her holding a fan herself, a kind of 'mise en abyme', we could say. Collection: Marlene Pilaete.


French postcard by S.I.P., Paris, no. 1074. Photo: Reutlinger, Paris.

French singer and actress Polaire (1874-1939) had a career in the entertainment industry which stretched from the early 1890s to the mid-1930s, and encompassed the range from music-hall singer to stage and film actress. Her most successful period professionally was from the mid-1890s to the beginning of the First World War.


French postcard by S.I.P. no. 1239. Photo: Reutlinger, Paris.

Jeanne Delvair (1877-1943) was an acclaimed French stage actress of the Comédie-Française. She also had a rich career in French silent cinema, mainly at Pathé Frères. She is the sister of actress Germaine Dermoz (1888-1966) and of animal painter Henri Deluermoz (1876-1943).


French postcard by Ed. S.I.P., no. 1461. Photo: Reutlinger, Paris. Sent by mail in 1908.

Around 1900, Italian soprano Lina Cavalieri (1874-1944) was considered the most beautiful woman on earth. As a young girl, she ran from the orphanage with a theatre group and made a career as a Vaudeville singer first in Paris and soon all around Europe. In 1900, she debuted as an opera singer, soon conquering the opera houses of Monte-Carlo, Paris and New York.


French postcard by Ed. S.I.P., no. 1591. Photo: Reutlinger, Paris.

We could not find any information about Beauregard, but we suspect she was an opera or operetta singer.

Gabrielle Robinne (1886-1980) was a French stage and film actress who had the peak of her film career in the 1910s.


French postcard by Ed. S.I.P., no. 1442. Photo: Reutlinger, Paris.

Natalia/ Natasha Trouhanova (1885-1956) was a Franco-Russian dancer and silent film actress. From 1904, she lived in France, where she soon became a great master of dance. She worked with Sergei Diaghilev, Fyodor Chaliapin, Richard Strauss, and Isadora Duncan. Trouhanova appeared in several French silent films between 1909 and 1916.


French postcard by S.I.P. Photo: scene of the French stage play 'Les deux gosses', at the Théâtre de l'Ambigu in Paris. Tableau 4. Caption: Maison la Limage. Zéphirine & C.ie. (The Slug's house, Zephirine & company).

'Les deux gosses' was a melodramatic tale, published first as a novel in 1880 by French author Pierre Decourcelle. In 1896, the first stage adaptation of the novel premiered at the Théâtre de l’Ambigu in Paris. The characters of the two boys were performed by two young female actresses, with Fanfan played by Mlle. Mélo and Claudinet by Mlle. Reyé. This postcard may depict this production. The novel and play were extremely popular and led to various film adaptations by Louis Feuillade (1906), Adrien Caillard (1912), Albert Capellani (1914), Louis Mercanton (1924), and Fernand Rivers (1936).


French postcard by S.I.P. Photo: scene of the French stage play 'Les deux gosses', at the Théâtre de l'Ambigu in Paris. Tableau 7. Caption: L'écluse du Pont d'Austerlitz (The Lock of the Pont Austerlitz). Fanfan opens the lock, causing the drowning of The Slug. Originally, the highlight of the play was the drowning of The Slug at the lock, but creating water on stage was considered too difficult for some theatres.


French postcard by Ed. S.I.P., no. 361. Painting 'Héliogabale et ses convives' by Henri(-Paul) Motte, exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1909.


French postcard by S.I.P. Photo: Reutlinger, Paris. Caption: Otéro, A. Held (Anna Held), C. de Mérode (Cléo de Mérode). This picture was cited in the Gaumont film L'Orgie romaine / The Roman Orgy (Louis Feuillade,1911).


French postcard by Ed. S.I.P. Photo: Paul Boyer, Paris. Caption: Martha.

Sources: RTH Cards, The Cabinet Card Gallery, Turkish Postcards, Wikimedia and Ross Postcards.

Richard Berry

Richard Berry (1950) is a French actor, film director and screenwriter. He has appeared in nearly 100 films since 1972.


French postcard by Editions Humour à la Carte, Paris, no. ST-62.


French postcard by Ciné-Temaris. Photo: M. Jamet. Dominique Sanda and Richard Berry in Une chambre en ville / A Room in Town (Jacques Demy, 1982).

My first love

Richard Berry was born Richard Élie Benguigui in 1950 into a Jewish family in Oran, in French Algeria. He is the son of Moïse (Maurice) Benguigui and Stella Valency Levy, who were shopkeepers. When he was 14, his father changed his surname to ‘Berry’. Richard, his sister Marie-Claire and his brother Philippe grew up in the working-class neighbourhood of Bonne-Nouvelle, Paris, and later in Boulogne-Billancourt, where their parents ran a ready-to-wear shop. His brother Philippe Berry is a sculptor and the former husband of actress Josiane Balasko. In 1966, as a pupil at the Lycée Janson-de-Sailly, the 16-year-old developed a passion for the theatre, joined an amateur theatre group and developed a fondness for the classics by Racine, Corneille, Molière and Beaumarchais. Berry entered the Conservatoire National Supérieur d'Art Dramatique – CNSAD (French National Academy of Dramatic Arts) in 1969.

In 1973, Berry joined the Comédie-Française and remained until 1980, during which time he performed in around twenty classical plays. He started his film career with a bit part in the drama Absences répétées / Repeated Absences (Guy Gilles, 1972). In 1978, he had his breakthrough opposite Anouk Aimée in the romantic drama Mon premier amour / My First Love (Élie Chouraqui, 1978). It is the sentimental story of the relationship between a lovely mother and her 20-year-old son who never really knew her. When he learns that she is dying of leukaemia, he tries to get to know her. From then on, he made four or five films a year.

In the crime drama Le Grand Pardon (Alexandre Arcady, 1982), he played the son of Jewish gangster Roger Hanin. Arcady would direct him in several films. Another success was La Balance / The Nark (Bob Swaim, 1982) starring Nathalie Baye and Philippe Léotard. It won the César Award for Best Film, Best Actor and Best Actress, and was nominated for Most Promising Actor (twice), Best Director, Best Writing - Original and Best Editing. The film had more than 4 million admissions in France, becoming the 5th highest-grossing film of the year.

Berry co-starred with Dominique Sanda and Danielle Darrieux in Une chambre en ville / A Room in Town (Jacques Demy, 1982), a musical in which every line of dialogue is sung. Eleanor Mannikka at AllMovie: “Enhanced by excellent choreography, this film still did poorly at the box office when it was first released. In order to save it and encourage audiences to see it for its own merits, 76 French critics took out an ad in Le Monde to promote the film, and some critics said that if this movie failed, so would all of French cinema. Perhaps it is not surprising then that Chambre En Ville won the French Critics' Prix Méliès in 1982.” Other films included the thrillers La Garce / The Bitch (Christine Pascal, 1984) starring Isabelle Huppert, and Lune de miel / Honeymoon (Patrick Jamain, 1985) with Nathalie Baye.

He had a big role next to Jean-Louis Trintignant and Anouk Aimée in Un homme et une femme, 20 ans déjà / A Man and a Woman: 20 Years Later (Claude Lelouch, 1986), a sequel to Lelouch's classic Un homme et une femme (1966). With Isabelle Huppert, he also appeared in the French–Yugoslavian drama film Seobe / Migrations (Aleksandar Petrović, 1988). And he played painter Amedeo Modigliani in Modí (Franco Brogi Taviani, 1989).


French postcard. Sent by mail in 1986.


French postcard by Editions F. Nugeron. Photo: Richard Berry and Patrick Bruel in L'Union Sacrée / Brothers in Arms (Alexandre Arcady, 1989).

Gay comedy

During the 1990s, Richard Berry starred in a stream of interesting French films. He played the lead in the drama L'entraînement du champion avant la course / The Drive Champion Before the Race (Bernard Favre, 1991), which was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1991 Cannes Film Festival.

He played a banker with a criminal father (Roger Hanin) in the sequel Le Grand Pardon II / Day of Atonement (Alexandre Arcady, 1992). The film, shot in France and the US, also features the American film stars Christopher Walken, Jill Clayburgh and Jennifer Beals. He co-starred with Claudia Cardinale and Omar Sharif in 588 rue paradis / Mother (1992), a semi-autobiographical film written and directed by French-Armenian filmmaker Henri Verneuil.

He received a César nomination for his lead in the French-Swiss drama Le Petit Prince a Dit / And the Little Prince Said (Christine Pascal, 1992), which follows an estranged Swiss couple (Berry and Anémone) who re-evaluate their relationship with the discovery of their daughter's terminal illness. For his role, he won the Best Actor Award at the Montreal Film Festival. Then he played the title role in the French-Belgian drama Le joueur de violon / The Violin Player (Charles Van Damme, 1994), which was entered into the 1994 Cannes Film Festival.

Another critical success was L'Appât / The Bait (Bertrand Tavernier, 1995) about two boys and a girl who commit a murder, with the girl acting as a 'bait'. The film is based on the 1990 book by Morgan Sportès, which is in turn based on a true event in 1984. The film won the Golden Bear Award at the 45th Berlin International Film Festival.

Next he appeared with Patrick Timsit in the gay comedy Pédale douce / Soft Pedal (Gabriel Aghion, 1996), for which their co-star Fanny Ardant won the 1997 César Award for Best Actress. Timsit directed him in Quasimodo d'El Paris (Patrick Timsit, 1999), a comedic adaptation of the novel 'Notre-Dame de Paris' (The Hunchback of Notre Dame) by Victor Hugo. He co-starred with Jacqueline Bisset in the dramedy Les Gens qui s'aiment / People Who Love Each Other (Jean-Charles Tacchella, 1999).


French autograph postcard by La Roue Tourne, Paris. Richard Berry and Josiane Balasko.


French postcard by Editions Photomania, Paris, no. P 238. Photo: Chimène Lasserre.


French postcard. Photo: Hachette Première / BAC Films. Richard Berry in Quasimodo d'El Paris (Patrick Timsit, 1999). Captions: (Front:) You shall turn away from prostitutes! (Back:) Frollo: "Lambs of God, before the Almighty’s thunderbolt strikes your straying souls, return to the right path of light. Hallelujah!"

A pain in the ass

Richard Berry continued to be a major French star in the new Millennium. He starred in the comedy 15 Août / 15 August (Patrick Alessandrin, 2001) about several middle-aged men who have a crisis on their hands when their wives depart, leaving them to look after the boisterous kids. Berry was the treacherous boss of Jean-Pierre Darroussin in Ah! Si j'étais riche / If I Were a Rich Man (Gérard Bitton, Michel Munz, 2002). He co-starred in the hilarious comedy-crime caper Tais toi! / Shut up! / Ruby & Quentin (Francis Veber, 2003) starring Jean Reno and Gérard Depardieu.

His film Moi César, 10 ans 1/2, 1m39 / I, Cesar (Richard Berry, 2003) was inspired by his childhood, which was sometimes painful. Berry also directed the mystery La Boîte noire / The Black Box (2005), which he also wrote with Éric Assous, adapted from a novella by Tonino Benacquista. The film starred José Garcia and Marion Cotillard. He had a supporting part in the comedy La doublure / The Valet (Francis Veber, 2006). In 2008, he reunited with Patrick Timsit for a remake of the black comedy L' Emmerdeur / A Pain In The Ass (Édouard Molinaro, 1973) about the unlikely friendship between a hitman (in 1973 Lino Ventura) and a suicidal guy (in 1973 Jacques Brel). The new L' Emmerdeur (2008) was directed by farce master Francis Veber, who had also written the original version.

Berry himself directed the action thriller L'immortel / 22 Bullets (Richard Berry, 2009) with Jean Reno, based on the novel 'L'Immortel' by Franz-Olivier Giesbert. He appeared in Avant l'hiver / Winter Rose (Philippe Claudel, 2013) with Daniel Auteuil and Kristin Scott Thomas. He directed and acted in the crime thriller-drama Tout, tout de suite (Richard Berry, 2016). Written by Richard Berry and Morgan Sportès, it is based on a novel by Sportès which was in turn inspired by the events of the Affair of the Gang of Barbarians in 2006. The Gang of Barbarians (les barbares) were the kidnappers and murderers of Ilan Halimi (Hebrew: אילן חלימי), a young Frenchman of Moroccan Jewish ancestry in France in 2006. The case drew national and international attention as an example of antisemitism in France.

He played a supporting part in the romantic drama Eva (Benoît Jacquot, 2018) based on the 1945 novel 'Eve' by James Hadley Chase, and starring Isabelle Huppert and Gaspard Ulliel. In 2018, he staged Matthieu Aron’s 'Plaidoiries'at the theatre. He performed the play, based on five major legal arguments, including that of Gisèle Halimi at the Bobigny trial in 1972, alone on stage. In 2019, 'Plaidoiries' won an award at the Globes de Cristal in the ‘Best Play’ category. In 2019, he played the lead role in Arnaud Sélignac’s TV film La Loi de Damien, in which he took on the role of a lawyer to defend a seemingly hopeless case. In 2025, he appeared in the French film La Tournée (Florian Hessique, 2025).

Richard Berry was married three times. First with actress and photographer Jessica Forde and later with Jeane Manson. He is the father of the actresses Coline Berry (1976) from his relationship with actress Catherine Hiegel, and Joséphine Berry (1992) with Jessica Forde. In 2005, he donated a kidney to his sister Marie-Claire Berry, to whom he is very close and who was then suffering from end-stage kidney failure due to Alport syndrome, a genetic condition. In 2005, Marie-Claire wrote a book about her illness, 'Le Don de soi'. Since 2009, he has been in a relationship with actress Pascale Louange, with whom he has a daughter, Caroline, born in 2014. The couple have been married since 2016. On 2 February 2021, it was revealed that Berry's daughter Coline had recently filed a complaint with Paris prosecutors alleging incest and sexual abuse by Berry. In a story on his Instagram account, Berry claimed Coline made the allegation for the first time seven years prior, writing: "As I announced to my family (in 2014) that my wife and I were expecting a child, Coline, herself pregnant, reacted with extreme violence, then, in an email sent to my wife, she for the first time alluded to the fact that she [had] been 'abused'."


French poster postcard by Editions F. Nugeron, no. E 157. French affiche by Landi par Spadem for La Balance / The Nark (Bob Swaim, 1982) with Nathalie Baye, Philippe Léotard and Richard Berry.


French poster postcard. Isabelle Huppert and Richard Berry in La Garce / The Bitch (Christine Pascal, 1984).


Trailer L' Emmerdeur / A Pain In The Ass (1980). Source: Rialto Distribution (YouTube).

Sources: Eleanor Mannikka (AllMovie - Page now defunct), Wikipedia (English and French), AllMovie and IMDb.

André Roanne

André Roanne (1896-1959) had a long-standing career in French cinema with more than 90 films. He started as a kid actor in short silent films in 1914, and ended with the part of the commissioner in Henri Verneuil's Une manche et la belle / A Kiss for a Killer (1957).


French postcard by A. N. Paris, no. 699. Photo: Paramount.


French postcard by Cinémagazine-Edition. Photo: Raquel Meller and André Roanne in Violettes impériales / Imperial Violets (Henry Roussel, 1924).


Vintage postcard. Photo: publicity still for the early sound film Accusée levez-vous / Accused, Stand Up (Maurice Tourneur, 1930).


French postcard by CE (Cinémagazine-Edition), no. 848. Photo: Studio Lorelle, Paris. Publicity still for the early sound film Accusée levez-vous / Accused, Stand Up (Maurice Tourneur, 1930).


French postcard by P.C., Paris, no. 83. Photo: Paramount.

Big moustache

André Roanne was born André Albert Louis Rahou in the 6th arrondissement of Paris in 1896. He made his film debut as a kid in the short and silent Gaumont production Le films de la divette / The Son of La Divette (Gaston Ravel, 1914).

Roanne played in various other Gaumont shorts by Gaston Ravel during the First World War. Even though he wore a big moustache in it, Roanne came to the footlights in a parody of the crime serial, Le pied qui étreint (Jacques Feyder, 1916) opposite Musidora.

After more serious Gaumont productions, Roanne had a major part as Segheir ben Cheikh in Jacques Feyder's lengthy oriental drama L'Atlantide / Missing Husbands (Jacques Feyder, 1921). The leads were Jean Angelo as Captain Morhange and Stacia Napierkowska as the cruel queen Antinea.

L'Atlantide / Missing Husbands (Jacques Feyder, 1921) was partly shot on location in the Sahara. The film was recently restored in its original colourful tinting.

In those years, Roanne often played the jeune premier, both in dramas such as Violettes impériales / Imperial Violets (Henry Roussel, 1924), and comedies such as Chouchou poids plume / Chouchou Featherweight (Gaston Ravel, 1925), which was one of Roanne's first leads.


Spanish collector card (cromo) by Chocolate Salas, Sabadell, no. 5. Photo: Gaumont. André Roanne in the comedy Têtes de femmes, femmes de tête (1916), the debut of the Belgian director Jacques Feyder. Before her leave for the spas, Princess Orazzi (Georgette Faraboni) gives a farewell dinner as a 'bal costumé'. Here she sits left, flirting with the married Lord (André Roanne), who is head-over-heels in love with her. His sister-in-law (Suzanne Delvé), to the right of them, has her head on her shoulders instead, defending her sister.


French postcard by Cinémagazine-Edition. Photo: publicity still for Violettes impériales / Imperial Violets (1924).


French postcard by Cinémagazine-Edition. Photo: publicity still for Violettes impériales / Imperial Violets (1924) with Raquel Meller.


French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 616. Photo: Films Paramount.

Abroad

In the mid-1920s, André Roanne played more and more in international coproductions, shot either in France or abroad. Opposite British silent star Betty Balfour, he appeared in La petite bonne du palace / The Little Maid of the Palace (1926) and Cinders (1926), both by Louis Mercanton.

He starred opposite Mady Christians in the Austrian production Die Köningin von Moulin Rouge / The Queen of Moulin Rouge (Robert Wiene, 1926), opposite Liane Haid in the German production Der goldene Abgrund / The Golden Abyss (Mario Bonnard, 1927), and opposite Carmen Boni in Augusto Genina's La storia di una piccola Parigina / The History of a Little Parisian Girl (1928).

In the late 1920s, Roanne was often matched with comédienne Dolly Davis, as in La merveilleuse journée / The Wonderful Day (René Barberis, 1928).

In Berlin, he played opposite Anny Ondra in Sündig und süss / Sinful and Sweet (Carl Lamac, 1929) and Die Kaviarprinzessin / The Caviar Princess (Carl Lamac, 1930), and opposite Louise Brooks in Tagebuch einer Verlorene / Diary of a Lost Girl (1929) by Georg Wilhelm Pabst.

André Roanne's last silent film was Quand nous étions deux / When We Were Two (Léonce Perret, 1930).


French postcard by A.N. (Armand Noyer), Paris, no. 741. Photo: Jacques Haïk.


French postcard by Cinémagazine-Edition, no. 8. Photo: Franz Lowy.


French postcard by Editions Cinemagazine, Paris, no. 847. Photo: Studio Lorelle, Paris.


French postcard, no. 141. Photo: J. Kruger.

Fernandel

André Roanne made a smooth passage to sound film. He acted in films made at Paramount's new sound studios at Joinville, such as La lettre / The Letter (Louis Mercanton, 1930). He also worked for other companies.

The international element remained with the Franco-German comedy Ma cousine de Varsovie / My cousin of Warsaw (Carmine Gallone, 1931), Calais-Douvres / Calais - Dover (Jean Boyer, Anatole Litvak, 1931) opposite Lilian Harvey, Ne sois pas jalouse / Don't Be Jealous (Augusto Genina, 1931), and Le triangle de feu / The Triangle of Fire (Edmond T. Gréville, Johannes Guter, 1932).

He also collaborated again with Dolly Davis in La chanson des nations / The Song of Nations (Maurice Gleize, Rudolf Meinert, 1931). During the 1930s, Roanne played in many average dramas and comedies, of which most titles are forgotten now. He often performed opposite Fernandel, like in Les cinq sous de Lavarède / The Five Cents of Lavarède (Maurice Cammade, 1939).

During the war years, Roanne did not play in films. After an isolated part in Macadam (Jacques Feyder, 1946), he had major parts again in the 1950s in comedies starring Fernandel, in addition to smaller parts in other films. An unusual role was a Commissioner in the crime film Une manche et la belle / A Kiss for a Killer (Henri Verneuil, 1957), starring Henri Vidal and Mylène Demongeot.

André Roanne died in 1959 in a hospital in Cannes, France. He was 62. He was married to the actress Fernande Albany in 1917, then to Marie-Louise Iribe in 1921, and finally to Geneviève Callix.


French postcard. Photo: Studio Lorelle, Paris.


French postcard. Photo: Studio Lorelle. Caption: "Qui dit Campari, dit appétit!"


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 6121/2, 1931-1932. Photo: Ufa.


French postcard by Edition Ross, no. 3238. Photo: Ufa. André Roanne and Lilian Harvey in Calais-Douvres / Calais - Dover (Jean Boyer, Anatole Litvak, 1931). This was the alternate-language version of Nie wieder Liebe! / No More Love (Anatole Litvak, 1931).

Sources: Wikipedia (English and French) and IMDb.