21 November 2016

Gil Vidal

Good-looking French actor Gil Vidal (1931) was a popular jeune premier of the 1950s.

Gil Vidal
French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 1009. Photo: Studio Vallois.

A potential rival for Alain Delon


Gil Vidal was born in Narbonne, France in 1931. He became popular popular as an actor in the 1950s.

Gil played the lover of Annie Girardot in L'Homme aux clés d'or/The Man with the Golden Keys (Léo Joannon, 1956) and was the fiancé of Sophie Daumier in À pied, à cheval et en voiture/On Foot, on Horse, and on Wheels (Maurice Delbez, 1957).

The handsome, young Vidal seemed to become a potential rival for Alain Delon, but soon he was outstripped by the latter.

Vidal mostly played supporting parts, but he did co-star with Dalida in Le Masque de Toutankhamon/The Mask of Tutankhamun (Marco de Gastyne, 1955), which was filmed in Egypt.

Other films in which he played supporting roles were Filles de nuit/Girls Night (Maurice Cloche, 1957) and Péché de jeunesse/Youthful sin (Louis Duchesne, 1958) with Agnès Laurent. He also worked in the French theatre, especially on tour though the provinces.

Gil Vidal
French postcard by Editions du Globe, Paris, no. 873. Photo: Studio Vauclair, Paris.

Gil Vidal
French postcard by Editions du Globe, Paris, no. 678. Photo: Lucienne Chevert.

Photonovel Heartthrob


In 1957, parallel to his film career, Gil Vidal made his first steps into the world of the Roman-photo (photo comic or photonovel) where he got the leading roles thanks to his good looks.

He appeared alongside Marie-Jose Nat in Notre amour est sans issue (Our love is hopeless), published by the magazine Lectures d'Aujourd'hui.

But he was especially interested in the cinema although he did not get the chances he hoped for. In 1959, he played the young emperor in the operetta Sissi in the Mogador theatre in Paris. In the 1960s, he recorded some records.

Then he tried a second career in Italy where we appeared with Anna Magnani in the French-Italian film Le magot de Josefa/Josefa's Loot (Claude Autant-Lara, 1963).

Later, he worked in Spanish films, such as Presagio/Presage (Miguel Iglesias, 1970) and also appeared in some French television productions, including the popular TV series Les Rois maudits/The Cursed Kings (Claude Barma, 1972).

His last film credit is the Spanish comedy El lio de papa/The mess of dad (Miguel Iglesias, 1985).

Gil Vidal
French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 889. Photo: Studio Vallois.

Sources: Wikipedia (French) and IMDb.

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