French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 441. Photo: Engberg. Jean Weber as the Chevalier Marc Rétaux de Villette Le Collier de la reine (Gaston Ravel, Tony Lekain, 1929).
French postcard by EC (Editions Cinematographiques), Paris, no. 1020. Photo: Production Albatros-Chavez. Publicity still for Un Coup de Téléphone/A Phone Call (Georges Lacombe, 1932).
French postcard, no P.T.5. Photo: Film Osso. Jean Weber in L'Aiglon/The Eagle (Victor Tourjansky, 1931).
French postcard. Collection: Didier Hanson.
French postcard by PC, Paris, no. 14. Photo: Albatros / Chavez.
Cherubino
Jean-Édouard-Constant Weber was born in Paris, France, in 1906.
In 1925 he joined the Comédie-Française and played that year in plays like 'Les Corbeaux' (The Raven) by Henry Becque, and 'Fantasio' by Alfred de Musset. In 1926, he made his film debut in Eh bien! dansez maintenant/Well, let’s dance! (Émilien Champetier, 1926).
In the following years, he appeared in silent films like Figaro (Gaston Ravel, Tony Lekain, 1929), as the pageboy Cherubino, and the historical drama Le Collier de la reine/The Queen's Necklace (Gaston Ravel, Tony Lekain, 1929), with Marcelle Chantal and Diana Karenne.
He played the title role in the early sound film L'Aiglon (Viktor Tourjansky, 1931) opposite Victor Francen. It was a remake of a silent film, and a remake that made sense because it was based on Edmond Rostand's play so it is necessary to hear the actor's voices.
D.B. du Monteil at IMDb: “The performances may seem old-fashioned for today's audience, the actors overplay as if they were on a stage; Jean Weber, who plays the lead, may seem ridiculous to some, but his performance, which seems extra-terrestrial - he displays some female sensitiveness, one should remember that the part was created on stage by Sarah Bernhardt - is deeply moving, particularly in the last scenes (last act: ‘broken wings’): they wouldn't film a dying man that way nowadays.”
French postcard, no. P.T. 2. Photo: Film Osso. Publicity still for L'aiglon/The Eagle (Victor Tourjansky, 1931).
French postcard, no P.T. 3. Photo: Film Osso. Jean Weber in L'Aiglon/The Eagle (Victor Tourjansky, 1931).
French postcard, no P.T. 4. Photo: Film Osso. Jean Weber and Henri Desfontaines in L'Aiglon/The Eagle (Victor Tourjansky, 1931).
French postcard, no P.T. 6. Photo: Film Osso. Jean Weber and Henri Desfontaines in L'Aiglon/The Eagle (Victor Tourjansky, 1931).
French postcard Photo: Studio Demontrond, Nancy. Jean Weber in L'Aiglon/The Eagle (Victor Tourjansky, 1931).
French card. Photo: Harcourt, Paris. Jean Weber in L'Aiglon/The Eagle (Victor Tourjansky, 1931).
Chéri
In 1932, Jean Weber became a sociétaire at the Comédie-Française. The sociétaires of the famous French stage company are chosen from among the pensionnaires who have been in the company a year or more. On becoming a sociétaire, an actor automatically becomes a member of the Société des Comédiens-Française and receives a share of the profits as well as receiving a number of shares in the société to which he or she is contractually linked.
Weber continued to be a sociétaire till 1949. During this period he appeared in a dozen films, including the comedy Tricoche et Cacolet/Tricoche and Cacolet (Pierre Colombier, 1938), starring Fernandel, and the adventure film Le Capitaine Fracasse/Captain Fracasse (Abel Gance, 1943), based on the novel by Théophile Gautier.
During the 1950s he appeared in a few more films. He was among the star cast of Si Paris nous était conté/If Paris Were Told to Us (Sacha Guitry, 1955) about the history of the city of Paris. His final film was Action immédiate (Maurice Labro, 1957), starring Henri Vidal.
In 1961 he appeared on stage in 'Henri III et sa cour' by Alexandre Dumas, directed by Pierre Bertin at the Théâtre de l'Athénée. Later he could be seen on TV in the series Café du square (Louis Daquin, 1969) with Catherine Allégret, and finally, in an registration of Colette’s play Chéri (Yves-André Hubert, 1984), starring Michèle Morgan and Jean-Pierre Bouvier as Chéri.
Jean Weber died in Neuilly-sur-Seine near Paris in 1995. He was 89.
French autograph card.
French postcard by Studio Comedia. Photo: G.L. Manuel Frères. Caption: Jean Weber of the Comédie Française.
French postcard. Photo: G.L. Manuel Frères. Caption: Jean Weber, Sociétaire de la Comédie Française.
French postcard by CE (Cinémagazine-Edition), Paris, no. 935. Photo: Studio Rudolph.
French postcard by CE (Cinémagazine-Edition), no. 1095. Photo: Isabey.
French postcard, no. 99 Photo: Jean Weber in La petite sauvage/The little savage (Jean de Limur, 1936).
French postcard by Editions et Publications Cinematographiques, no. 19. Photo: Arnal.
French postcard by EC (Editions Chantal, Paris), no. 108 Photo: Studio Piaz.
Sources: D.B. du Monteil (IMDb), Thomas Staedeli (Cyranos), Wikipedia (French) and IMDb.
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