Pierre Magnier (1869-1959) was a French stage and screen actor and director, known for such films as La roue (Abel Gance, 1923), and La règle du jeu (Jean Renoir, 1939). He was the second actor to portray Cyrano de Bergerac in any film in Cirano di Bergerac (Augusto Genina, 1923). Magnier continued acting until the 1950s and appeared in over 100 films.
Italian postcard. Photo: UCI. Pierre Magnier as Cyrano de Bergerac in Cirano di Bergerac/Cyrano de Bergerac (Augusto Genina, 1923). Caption: During the siege of Arras, Cyrano writes to Roxane on behalf of Christian the most ardent words an enamoured heart could have suggested.
French postcard in the Les Vedettes de l'Écran series by Editions Filma, no. 115.
Pierre Frédéric Magnier was born in 1869 in Paris in the Second French Empire (now France).
He debuted as a stage actor in the 1890s at the Théâtre de l'Odéon, and afterward the Théâtre du Vaudeville.
In 1900 he debuted on-screen in Hamlet's Duel, a short dialogue between Hamlet and Laertes, with Sarah Bernhardt playing Hamlet. It was part of the Phono-Cinéma-Théâtre spectacle during the 1900 Paris World Fair. This was a series of filmed performances presented with sound via wax cylinder recordings, and dealing with famous French actors of stage, opera, and operetta singers, vaudeville performers, and dancers.
Pierre Magnier also acted with Sarah Bernhardt in the plays 'Théodora' (1902) and 'Théroigne de Méricourt' (1902) at Bernhardt's own theatre.
After performances at the Théâtre de la Renaissance and the Théâtre du Gymnase, Magnier worked with Bernhardt's rival Réjane in 1906-1908. From the early 1910s, Magnier worked at the Théâtre de la Porte-Saint-Martin, with occasional sidesteps to other theatres.
After his incidental 1900 short sound film, Pierre Magnier started a more substantial career as a film actor in 1909 at Pathé Frères, debuting in La Maison sans enfant (Georges Monca, 1909).
He remained at the Théâtre de la Porte-Saint-Martin until the late 1920s, and also did in 1924 a stage tour with Andrée Pascal and other actors of the Porte-Saint-Martin to French-speaking Canada.
French postcard. photo: Paul Boyer. Pierre Magnier as Andréas in Théodora (Victorien Sardou, 1884), performed in 1902 at the Théâtre Sarah-Bernhardt.
French postcard. Photo: Paul Boyer. Sarah Bernhardt and Pierre Magnier in Théodora (Victorien Sardou, 1884), performed in 1902 at the Théâtre Sarah-Bernhardt.
Apart from a few more incidental collaborations, Pierre Magnier's film career really took off in 1912. He then had the male lead in L'ambitieuse/The ambitious (Camille de Morlhon, 1912) opposite Gabriel Signoret. It was the first of a whole string of films with de Morlhon, such as L'usurier/The loan shark (1913), La broyeuse de coeurs/A Thief of Hearts (1913), La Calomnie/Slander (1913), and La marchande de fleurs/The flower seller (1915). In these films Léontine Massart often played the female lead. He also appeared with her in La reine Margot/Queen Margaret (Henri Desfontaines, 1914).
Magnier was absent from the screen in 1916-1917, probably because of the war. In 1918, he returned to Pathé. There he made such films as L'ibis bleu/The blue Ibis (Camille de Morlhon, 1919) co-starring Paule Maxa. After a few films, he moved to Eclipse, where he made the film Le siège des trois K/The seat of the three Ks (Jacques de Baroncelli, 1919) with Suzanne Grandais.
In the early 1920s, Magnier continued to play male leads or the most important male antagonist in French films, of which he made several with the directors Gaston Roudès and Camille de Morlhon.
Memorable was his - supporting - part as Jacques de Hersan in Abel Gance's film La roue/The Wheel (1922), starring Séverin-Mars, Ivy Close, and Gabriel de Gravone. The film used then-revolutionary lighting techniques, and rapid scene changes and cuts. The original version encompassed 32 reels, which ran for either seven and a half or nine hours (sources disagree). In 1924, Gance edited it down to two and a half hours for general distribution.
Magnier had the male lead in the Franco-Italian co-production Cirano di Bergerac/Cyrano de Bergerac (Augusto Genina, 1923) with Linda Moglia as Roxanne, and Angelo Ferrari as Christian. The film was spectacularly stencil-colored from beginning to end, adding much to the grand period sets and costumes.
Wikipedia: "This involved cutting stencils for each frame of the film, one for each of up to four colors. This was done in Paris by Mme. Thullier, the most famous stencil-color artist, by projecting each frame onto a ground glass screen and tracing with a Pantograph. These stencils were then used to apply colors to black-and-white prints in a process similar to silk-screening. Each shot was processed separately, so different color palettes could be used for each shot."
It took three years to complete this Pathé Stencil Color process, delaying the film's release until 1925. Then the critics praised the restrained performances by Magnier and the others. On IMDb today several reviewers still praise the film and don't consider it outdated.
After a few more silent films, Magnier quit film acting and only returned in 1930, when the sound film had set in. From then on, he mainly focused on film acting, less on stage acting. By now, he had become the 'older man' in film plots, e.g. playing Metternich in Le congrès s'amuse/The congress has fun (Jean Boyer, Erik Charell, 1931), the French version of the popular German musical film Der Kongress tanzt, in which Conrad Veidt performed this part.
Magnier shifted also genre-wise, acting in many comedies, such as French musical comedy film Coups de roulis/Tossing Ship (Jean de La Cour, 1932) starring Max Dearly, and La Garnison amoureuse/The garrison in love (Max de Vaucorbeil, 1934) with Fernandel. More and more his parts became smaller, sometimes even uncredited, even if he kept acting in many films.
In 1939 he played a general in La règle du jeu/The Rules of the Game by Jean Renoir, starring Nora Gregor and Marcel Dalio. Magnier has one of the films more poignant quotes (and the film's final line) when he praises Marcel Dalio's character as one of "a vanishing breed."
During the 1940s and early 1950s, Magnier kept acting in minor parts in the film. His final film was the comedy Le Chasseur de chez Maxim's/The Porter from Maxim's (Henri Diamant-Berger, 1953) starring Yves Deniaud, Pierre Larquey, and Raymond Bussières. It is based on the 1923 play of the same name by Yves Mirande which has been made into several film adaptations.
Pierre Magnier died in Clichy-la-Garenne, in 1959, at the high age of 90 years.
Italian postcard. Photo: UCI. Pierre Magnier as Cyrano de Bergerac, Linda Moglia as Roxane, and Angelo Ferrari as Christian de Neuvillette in the Franco-Italian historical film Cirano di Bergerac/Cyrano de Bergerac (Augusto Genina, 1923), based on Edmond Rostand's famous play 'Cyrano de Bergerac'. The film was scripted by future film director Mario Camerini.
Italian postcard. Photo: UCI. Pierre Magnier as Cyrano de Bergerac in Cirano di Bergerac/Cyrano de Bergerac (Augusto Genina, 1923). Caption: Hidden between the foliage in the garden, Cyrano suggests Christian the magic, sublime words that the latter isn't capable to invent and that aside Roxane's delicate inhibitions.
Italian postcard. Photo: UCI. Pierre Magnier as Cyrano de Bergerac, and Linda Moglia as Roxane in Cirano di Bergerac/Cyrano de Bergerac (Augusto Genina, 1923). Caption: A few cronies from the Duke de Guiche have treacherously hit Cyrano. He still has the force to go to his beloved Roxane, and involuntarily he reveals his heroic sacrifice.
Sources: Wikipedia (French and English), and IMDb.
Italian postcard. Photo: UCI. Pierre Magnier as Cyrano de Bergerac in Cirano di Bergerac/Cyrano de Bergerac (Augusto Genina, 1923). Caption: During the siege of Arras, Cyrano writes to Roxane on behalf of Christian the most ardent words an enamoured heart could have suggested.
French postcard in the Les Vedettes de l'Écran series by Editions Filma, no. 115.
Duelling with Sarah Bernhardt
Pierre Frédéric Magnier was born in 1869 in Paris in the Second French Empire (now France).
He debuted as a stage actor in the 1890s at the Théâtre de l'Odéon, and afterward the Théâtre du Vaudeville.
In 1900 he debuted on-screen in Hamlet's Duel, a short dialogue between Hamlet and Laertes, with Sarah Bernhardt playing Hamlet. It was part of the Phono-Cinéma-Théâtre spectacle during the 1900 Paris World Fair. This was a series of filmed performances presented with sound via wax cylinder recordings, and dealing with famous French actors of stage, opera, and operetta singers, vaudeville performers, and dancers.
Pierre Magnier also acted with Sarah Bernhardt in the plays 'Théodora' (1902) and 'Théroigne de Méricourt' (1902) at Bernhardt's own theatre.
After performances at the Théâtre de la Renaissance and the Théâtre du Gymnase, Magnier worked with Bernhardt's rival Réjane in 1906-1908. From the early 1910s, Magnier worked at the Théâtre de la Porte-Saint-Martin, with occasional sidesteps to other theatres.
After his incidental 1900 short sound film, Pierre Magnier started a more substantial career as a film actor in 1909 at Pathé Frères, debuting in La Maison sans enfant (Georges Monca, 1909).
He remained at the Théâtre de la Porte-Saint-Martin until the late 1920s, and also did in 1924 a stage tour with Andrée Pascal and other actors of the Porte-Saint-Martin to French-speaking Canada.
French postcard. photo: Paul Boyer. Pierre Magnier as Andréas in Théodora (Victorien Sardou, 1884), performed in 1902 at the Théâtre Sarah-Bernhardt.
French postcard. Photo: Paul Boyer. Sarah Bernhardt and Pierre Magnier in Théodora (Victorien Sardou, 1884), performed in 1902 at the Théâtre Sarah-Bernhardt.
A spectacularly stencil-colored Cyrano de Bergerac
Apart from a few more incidental collaborations, Pierre Magnier's film career really took off in 1912. He then had the male lead in L'ambitieuse/The ambitious (Camille de Morlhon, 1912) opposite Gabriel Signoret. It was the first of a whole string of films with de Morlhon, such as L'usurier/The loan shark (1913), La broyeuse de coeurs/A Thief of Hearts (1913), La Calomnie/Slander (1913), and La marchande de fleurs/The flower seller (1915). In these films Léontine Massart often played the female lead. He also appeared with her in La reine Margot/Queen Margaret (Henri Desfontaines, 1914).
Magnier was absent from the screen in 1916-1917, probably because of the war. In 1918, he returned to Pathé. There he made such films as L'ibis bleu/The blue Ibis (Camille de Morlhon, 1919) co-starring Paule Maxa. After a few films, he moved to Eclipse, where he made the film Le siège des trois K/The seat of the three Ks (Jacques de Baroncelli, 1919) with Suzanne Grandais.
In the early 1920s, Magnier continued to play male leads or the most important male antagonist in French films, of which he made several with the directors Gaston Roudès and Camille de Morlhon.
Memorable was his - supporting - part as Jacques de Hersan in Abel Gance's film La roue/The Wheel (1922), starring Séverin-Mars, Ivy Close, and Gabriel de Gravone. The film used then-revolutionary lighting techniques, and rapid scene changes and cuts. The original version encompassed 32 reels, which ran for either seven and a half or nine hours (sources disagree). In 1924, Gance edited it down to two and a half hours for general distribution.
Magnier had the male lead in the Franco-Italian co-production Cirano di Bergerac/Cyrano de Bergerac (Augusto Genina, 1923) with Linda Moglia as Roxanne, and Angelo Ferrari as Christian. The film was spectacularly stencil-colored from beginning to end, adding much to the grand period sets and costumes.
Wikipedia: "This involved cutting stencils for each frame of the film, one for each of up to four colors. This was done in Paris by Mme. Thullier, the most famous stencil-color artist, by projecting each frame onto a ground glass screen and tracing with a Pantograph. These stencils were then used to apply colors to black-and-white prints in a process similar to silk-screening. Each shot was processed separately, so different color palettes could be used for each shot."
It took three years to complete this Pathé Stencil Color process, delaying the film's release until 1925. Then the critics praised the restrained performances by Magnier and the others. On IMDb today several reviewers still praise the film and don't consider it outdated.
After a few more silent films, Magnier quit film acting and only returned in 1930, when the sound film had set in. From then on, he mainly focused on film acting, less on stage acting. By now, he had become the 'older man' in film plots, e.g. playing Metternich in Le congrès s'amuse/The congress has fun (Jean Boyer, Erik Charell, 1931), the French version of the popular German musical film Der Kongress tanzt, in which Conrad Veidt performed this part.
Magnier shifted also genre-wise, acting in many comedies, such as French musical comedy film Coups de roulis/Tossing Ship (Jean de La Cour, 1932) starring Max Dearly, and La Garnison amoureuse/The garrison in love (Max de Vaucorbeil, 1934) with Fernandel. More and more his parts became smaller, sometimes even uncredited, even if he kept acting in many films.
In 1939 he played a general in La règle du jeu/The Rules of the Game by Jean Renoir, starring Nora Gregor and Marcel Dalio. Magnier has one of the films more poignant quotes (and the film's final line) when he praises Marcel Dalio's character as one of "a vanishing breed."
During the 1940s and early 1950s, Magnier kept acting in minor parts in the film. His final film was the comedy Le Chasseur de chez Maxim's/The Porter from Maxim's (Henri Diamant-Berger, 1953) starring Yves Deniaud, Pierre Larquey, and Raymond Bussières. It is based on the 1923 play of the same name by Yves Mirande which has been made into several film adaptations.
Pierre Magnier died in Clichy-la-Garenne, in 1959, at the high age of 90 years.
Italian postcard. Photo: UCI. Pierre Magnier as Cyrano de Bergerac, Linda Moglia as Roxane, and Angelo Ferrari as Christian de Neuvillette in the Franco-Italian historical film Cirano di Bergerac/Cyrano de Bergerac (Augusto Genina, 1923), based on Edmond Rostand's famous play 'Cyrano de Bergerac'. The film was scripted by future film director Mario Camerini.
Italian postcard. Photo: UCI. Pierre Magnier as Cyrano de Bergerac in Cirano di Bergerac/Cyrano de Bergerac (Augusto Genina, 1923). Caption: Hidden between the foliage in the garden, Cyrano suggests Christian the magic, sublime words that the latter isn't capable to invent and that aside Roxane's delicate inhibitions.
Italian postcard. Photo: UCI. Pierre Magnier as Cyrano de Bergerac, and Linda Moglia as Roxane in Cirano di Bergerac/Cyrano de Bergerac (Augusto Genina, 1923). Caption: A few cronies from the Duke de Guiche have treacherously hit Cyrano. He still has the force to go to his beloved Roxane, and involuntarily he reveals his heroic sacrifice.
Sources: Wikipedia (French and English), and IMDb.
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