Photo by Charles Vandamme, Paris

Photographer Charles Vandamme portrayed many French film stars of the 1940s and 1950s. He was located in Paris. Vandamme was active in the Groupement National de la Photographie Professionnelle for which he directed the magazine 'L'Officiel de la Photographie et du Cinéma', created to satisfy a growing population of amateur photographers. For EFSP, we chose fifteen postcards with his portraits.


French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 19. Sent by mail in 1944. Photo: Ch. Vandamme / Les Mirages.

French actress Gaby André (1920-1972) was a film star during World War II, who later became the mother of another gorgeous French film star, Carole André.


French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 140. Photo: Ch. Vandamme / Les Mirages.

French actress Suzy Carrier (1922-1999) was a pretty ingénue who appeared in several comedies and crime dramas of the 1940s and early 1950s.


French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 69. Photo: Ch. Vandamme / Les Mirages.

With his heroic physique, Jean Marais (1913-1998) was France’s answer to Errol Flynn, the epitome of the swashbuckling romantic hero of French cinema. The blonde and incredibly good-looking actor played over 100 roles in film and on television and was also known as a director, writer, painter and sculptor. His mentor was the legendary poet and director Jean Cocteau, who was also his lover.


French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 172. Photo: Charles Vandamme / Les Mirages.

Handsome and athletic Georges Marchal (1920-1997) was one of the main lead actors in the French cinema of the 1950s, together with Jean Marais. He starred in several costume dramas and Swashbucklers and later appeared in films by Luis Buñuel.


French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 7. Photo: Charles Vandamme, Paris.

Dynamic Zappy Max (1921-2019) was one of the most popular radio hosts in France and Belgium from the 1950s till the 1970s. He worked for Radio Luxembourg (now RTL) and Radio Monte Carlo (RMC), and his partner was Mr. Champagne. He also appeared in several French films, often as himself.


French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 63. Photo: Ch. Vandamme / Les Mirages.

Gipsy guitarist Django Reinhardt (1910-1953) was one of the first prominent European jazz musicians. His fret hand was severely burned and disfigured which caused his unique style of playing. He performed with such greats as Count Basie, and Duke Ellington, and also had his own band, the Quintette du Hot Club de France, which he had co-founded with violinist Stéphane Grappelli. Django has been portrayed in several films, even as a cartoon character and his music graces the soundtracks of many films, especially those of Woody Allen.


French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris. no. 40. Photo: Charles Vandamme / Les Mirages.

French actress Micheline Presle (1922) is well-known for films like Le diable au corps/Devil in the Flesh (Claude Autant-Lara, 1947), in which she plays the Red Cross nurse Martha who has an adulterous love affair with a young man (Gérard Philippe) during the First World War.


French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 82. Photo: Ch. Vandamme / Les Mirages.

French actress Marie Déa (1912-1992) became famous through two classics of the French cinema, Marcel Carné 's Les Visiteurs du Soir/The Devil's Envoys (1942) and Jean Cocteau's Orphée/Orpheus (1950).


French postcard, no. 57. Photo: Ch. Vandamme / Les Mirages.

Raymond Rouleau (1904-1981) was a French actor and director, who had a most prolific career as a film actor in French cinema of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, but was also active as a film director of mostly adaptations of stage plays.


French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, offered by Les Carbones Korès, no. 27 E / 458. Photo: Ch. Vandamme.

French actor and singer Armand Mestral (1917-2000) started his film career after the Second World War. At first, he often played bad guys and later he played character roles both in the cinema and on television.


French postcard by Editions du Globe (E.D.U.G.), Paris, no. 291. Photo: Ch. Vandamme, Paris.

André Bourvil or simply Bourvil (1917-1970) was an endearing comic French actor and singer. He is best known for his roles opposite Louis de Funès in the classic comedies Le Corniaud (1965) and La Grande Vadrouille (1966).


French postcard by Editions du Globe, Paris, no. 297. Photo: Charles VanDamme, Paris. Georges Marchal.


French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 523 presented by Les Carbones Korès. Photo: Ch. Vandamme. Georges Marchal.


French postcard by P.I., Paris, no. 165, presented by Les Carbones Korès 'Carboplane'. Photo: Ch. Vandamme, Paris.

Gisèle Pascal (1921-2007) was an attractive French film actress and a lover of Rainier III, Prince of Monaco.


French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, offered by Les Carbones Korès Carboplane, no. 123. Photo: Charles Vandamme / Les Mirages.

Madeleine Renaud (1900-1994) was an acclaimed French stage actress, who also had a career in film. One of her best-known films was La Maternelle (1933).