Jean Yonnel

Jean Yonnel (1891-1968) was a French stage and screen actor of Romanian origin. He acted with Mounet-Sully and Sarah Bernhardt and was one of the last tragedy players of the grand tradition of the actors from the turn-of-the-century. In the cinema, he became known as Musketeer D'Artagnan in the silent serial Vingt ans après / The Return of the Musketeers (1922).


French postcard by Editions Cinémagazine, no. 45. Photo: Pathé Consortium. Jean Yonnel as D'Artagnan in Vingt ans après / The Return of the Musketeers (Henri Diamant-Berger, 1922).


French postcard in the Nos artistes dans leur loge series, no. 287. Photo: Comoedia.


French postcard. Photo: G.L. Manuel Frères. Caption: Yonnel, Sociétaire de la Comédie Française.

Tragic and romantic Jeune Premier

Jean Yonnel was born Estève Schachmann in 1891 in Bucharest, Romania.

After his stage debut at the Théâtre de l'Odéon, he worked at the Gymnase and the Théâtre Sarah-Bernhardt, where he created 'La Gloire' by Maurice Rostand. In 1926, he was engaged at the Comédie-Française, where he was a sociétaire for over 25 years, from 1 January 1929 to 31 December 1955.

For years, he played the tragic and romantic Jeune Premier. Yonnel was the favourite performer of Henry de Montherlant, who created for him the part of King Ferrante in 'La Reine morte', a role he played 330 times. Some of the classic roles in the repertory of the Comédie, he also played dozens of times, such as Oreste in Jean Racine’s 'Andromache', Mithridate in Racine’s 'Mithridate', Don Saluste de Bazan in 'Ruy Blas' by Victor Hugo, and in particular Don Diego in 'El Cid' by Pierre Corneille, which he played 212 times between 1949 and 1963.

After being nominated teacher at the Conservatoire National Supérieur d'Art Dramatique, he taught the classic tradition there from 1947 to 1962. According to Noëlle Guibert and Jacqueline Razgonnikoff in the 'Dictionnaire des comédiens français', he was "a demanding, rigorous and terribly honest actor".

Between 1913 and 1966, Jean Yonnel acted in French cinema. Probably his first part was in the Gaumont production Le crime enseveli / The Buried Crime (Henri Fescourt, 1913), where he had the lead. In 1915 he acted in Abel Gance’s Film d’Art production Strass et compagnie / Strass and Company, with Harry Baur en Emile Keppens. In 1917 Yonnel had again leads in Les lois du monde / The Laws of the World (Fanny Liona, 1917), and La flamme cachée / The Hidden Flame (Roger Lion, Musidora, 1918).


French postcard. Photo: Pathé. Béatrice Bretty as La belle hôtelière, Jean Yonnel as D'Artagnan, and Armand Bernard as Planchet in Vingt ans après / The Return of the Musketeers (Henri Diamant-Berger, 1922).


French postcard. Photo: Pathé. Jean Yonnel as D'Artagnan, Charles Martinelli as Porthos, and Jean Périer as Cardinal Mazarin in Vingt ans après / The Return of the Musketeers (Henri Diamant-Berger, 1922).


French postcard by Cine Max Linder, Paris. Photo: Jean Yonnel in Les Nuits blanches de St-Petersbourg / Kreutzer Sonata (Jean Dréville, 1938).

The new D’Artagnan

Jean Yonnel became well-known when he played D’Artagnan in the sword and dagger serial Vingt ans après / The Return of the Musketeers (Henri Diamant-Berger, 1922), a sequel to Diamant-Berger’s Les trois mousquetaires (1921). Both were based on Alexandre Dumas’ homonymous novels on the adventures of D’Artagnan, the fourth musketeer.

While most actors of the cast from Les trois mousquetaires were kept in the sequel – Henri Rollan as Athos, Charles Martinelli as Porthos and Pierre de Guingand as Aramis, Armand Bernard as their aid Planchet - Yonnel substituted the original D’Artagnan, played by Aimé Simon-Girard.

Despite the large budget, the fine sets by Mallet-Stevens and costumes by Paul Poiret, the film didn’t mean an intense career in silent cinema for Yonnel. His only silent film afterwards was a major part in the Alphonse Daudet adaptation Jack (Robert Saidreau, 1925), in which young Jean Forest played the title role.

Jean Yonnel became much more active in French sound cinema. He played in 9 films in the 1930s. He acted opposite Pola Negri in the period piece Fanatisme (Tony Lekain, Gaston Ravel, 1934), opposite Marcelle Chantal in the abortion melodrama Amok (Fyodor Otsep, 1934), based on Stefan Zweig’s story 'Letter from an unknown woman', and opposite Pierre Fresnay and Elisa Landi in Königsmark / Crimson Dynasty (Maurice Tourneur, 1935). He had the lead in the colonial drama L’appel du silence / The Call of Silence (Léon Poirier, 1936), co-starring Pierre de Guingand and Suzanne Bianchetti.

Then followed Les nuits blanches de Saint-Petersbourg / Kreutzer Sonata (Jean Dréville, 1938), with Gaby Morlay, and Les 3 tambours (Maurice de Canonge, 1939), co-starring Jacques Brécourt. During the war, Yonnel did not act in the film, but in the years after he played in several films until the mid-1950s. These were always minor parts, as in the Franco-German co-production Marianne de ma jeunesse / Marianne of My Youth (Julien Duvivier, 1955), shot in Bavaria and starring Marianne Hold. One of his last roles was as the father of Bourvil in the comedy Un drôle de paroissien / Heaven Sent (Jean-Pierre Mocky, 1963). Jean Yonnel died in Paris in 1968. He was 77.


Vintage photo by Harcourt, Paris. French staging of the play 'Iphigénie en Tauride', based on Goethe, directed by Jean Yonnel and performed by the actors of the Comédie française in 1942. Georges Marchal as Pylades and Renée Faure.


Vintage photo by Harcourt, Paris. French staging of the play 'Iphigénie en Tauride', based on Johan Wolfgang Goethe and translated by Pierre Colombier, directed by Jean Yonnel and performed by the actors of the Comédie française as of 10 April 1942. Mary Marquet as Iphigenia and Louis Seigner as Arkas. Sets and costumes by Jean-Gabriel Daragnès.


French postcard by EC, no. 98. Photo: Pathé Natan.


French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 969. Photo: Pathé Natan.

Sources: Wikipedia (French and English) and IMDb.