Paul Meurisse (French pronunciation:[pɔlmøʁis]; 21 December 1912 – 19 January 1979) was a French actor who appeared in over 60 films and many stage productions. Meurisse was noted for the elegance of his acting style, and for his versatility. He was equally able to play comedic and serious dramatic roles. His screen roles ranged from the droll and drily humorous to the menacing and disturbing. His most celebrated role was that of the sadistic and vindictive headmaster in the 1955 film Les Diaboliques.
Meurisse was born in Dunkirk, on the north-east coast of France. He grew up on the island of Corsica, to where his bank manager father had been transferred when Meurisse was a small child.
After leaving school, Meurisse moved to Aix-en-Provence, where he became a solicitor's clerk. But his passion was for the stage, and he acquired evening work in the chorus of music hallrevues.
In 1936, Meurisse moved to Paris, where he found work in musical theatres and nightclubs, and appeared with performers such as Marie Dubas. He specialised in taking cheerful, upbeat songs and singing them in a comically downbeat, lugubrious fashion.
In 1939, Meurisse met singer Edith Piaf, and the two became lovers for two years. Piaf, however, did not see a future for Meurisse as a singer, and encouraged him to try acting instead.[1]
Meurisse first performed in film in Vingt-quatre heures de perm, which was filmed in 1940 but not released until 1945. Ne bougez plus (1941) was the first of his films to be released. Thereafter he was in steady demand as an actor (in 1948, for example, he was credited in seven films). Meurisse played a wide range of roles, from gangsters (Macadam, Impasse des Deux-Anges) and policemen (Inspecteur Sergil, Le Dessous des cartes), to comedy (the Monocle films) and historical (La Castiglione, L'Affaire des poisons). The quality of the films was varied, but Meurisse's versatility brought him recognition, with his performance often considered the best part of an otherwise mediocre effort.[2]
Meurisse's most famous role was that of Michel Delasalle in Henri-Georges Clouzot's 1955 thrillerLes Diaboliques, with Simone Signoret and Véra Clouzot. In a thoroughly unsympathetic part, Meurisse was compelling. The film, with its dark, claustrophobic atmosphere and celebrated twist ending, became an international success. It was among the earliest foreign-language films to be widely distributed in English-speaking markets and is the film for which Meurisse is best known.[3]
The 1969 film L'Armée des ombres, in which Meurisse had a leading role, was released in 2006 on DVD, under the title Army of Shadows, in the UK and US, to critical acclaim.
Meurisse married three times: to Michèle Alfa (1942, divorced); Micheline Cheirel (1951, divorced; she was previously married to British actor John Loder); and Micheline Gary (1960 to his death).
Meurisse suffered from asthma for much of his life. He was taken ill following a performance at the Théâtre Hébertot in Paris. He died at age 66 on 19 January 1979 of an asthma-related heart attack.
